GARE's Advancing Racial Equity in Government Online course is for government employees who want to begin their work as racial equity practitioners in government and the public sector. The self-paced online course is designed to create a shared understanding of key concepts like:
- The history of racism in the United States
- The 4 levels of racism, with an emphasis on institutional and structural racism
- Implicit and explicit bias
- Racial equity
- The role of government in advancing racial equity
- Actions you can take in your workplace to advance racial equity
This self-paced online course includes video, audio, quizzes, readings, and recorded presentations. A personal learning journal is designed to spur individual reflection and retention of core concepts. Enrollment is complemented by an online peer learning community where you can ask questions, comment and reflect with others taking the course and build lasting connections with peers working toward racial equity in public service.
The overall course typically takes up to 8 hours to complete. Each learning module includes an estimated amount of time. We recommend scheduling up to 2 hours a week to complete this course over the course of a month.
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Course Introduction
Motivation Survey Select the "Take the Survey" button to begin.
Select the "Take the Survey" button to begin. Before beginning this training, we would like for you to answer a few questions.Note: While the form may list your email address, we do not collect that information.
You must register to access.
Course and Community Guidance Agree to terms to continue.
Agree to terms to continue. We request that you formally acknowledge our community guidelines before moving forward with this course. We also provide general guidance for navigating the course materials.
You must register to access.
Change Starts with You! Open to view video.| Closed captions available
Open to view video.| Closed captions available A brief introduction to the course and expectations.*If you require additional accommodation, a visually narrated version of the videos in this course is available upon request.
You must register to access.
Course Learning Journal Open to download resource.
Open to download resource. This Learning Journal will guide you through the course material. The journal contains reflective exercises, and related content that will help you on your personal journey toward supporting racial justice.
You must register to access.
Acknowledgement Complete tasks and continue
Complete tasks and continue This acknowledgement reiterates the "Change Starts with You" video content and asks that you next work through the introduction of the Course Learning Journal and introduce yourself to the Course Learning Community by responding to the appropriate topic provided.
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Laying it on the Line Complete a poll and reflect on the results
Complete a poll and reflect on the results After completing the brief survey "Laying it on the Line," please review this content and respond to the associated topic within the course learning community.
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Why We Lead with Race
Why We Lead with Race Open to view video.| Closed captions available
Open to view video.| Closed captions available This segment introduces the GARE approach and rationale for focusing on race and provides the foundation for the next course segments.*If you require additional accommodation, a visually narrated version of the videos in this course is available upon request.
You must register to access.
Early Experiences with Race Complete a poll and reflect on the results
Complete a poll and reflect on the results Your personal experience with race is important. Reflecting on this experience will help to inform your understanding of the topics that are upcoming in the course, specifically the institutional and structural impacts on racial experiences. Please complete this reflective exercise in your learning journal and acknowledge before moving forward to the next course component.
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Teachers & Race Read feedback and continue
Read feedback and continue After reviewing the feedback provided by others regarding early experiences with race, this feedback provides historical insight into teachers' impact on early experiences with race and how structural racism has played a role in these experiences.
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Defining Race and Equity
Defining Race and Equity Open to view video.| Closed captions available
Open to view video.| Closed captions available This segment informs participants what race means and how race is a social and political construct that has power to impact people’s lives when government creates and enforces laws that assign privilege based on race. The segment concludes with distinguishing between other terms such as equality, diversity, equity, and inclusion. The goal is to normalize the vocabulary and concepts while beginning to form an understanding of how it is applied.*If you require additional accommodation, a visually narrated version of the videos in this course is available upon request.
You must register to access.
Normalizing Racial Vocabulary Select the "Engage the Exercise" button to begin.
Select the "Engage the Exercise" button to begin. The words we use matter as they represent broader concepts. We need to normalize the conversation. Let’s take a moment to discuss the terms we just learned with Jerold, a racial equity language coach. Note: While the form may list your email address, we do not collect that information.
You must register to access.
Biases Open to view video.| Closed captions available
Open to view video.| Closed captions available This segment introduces the concept of bias with a strong focus on institutional implicit biases. The segment instructs participants as to how to identify different biases (implicit v. explicit and individual v. institutional) that may form racial prejudice.*If you require additional accommodation, a visually narrated version of the videos in this course is available upon request.
You must register to access.
Biases
Understanding Bias Exercise Select the "Engage the Exercise" button to begin.
Select the "Engage the Exercise" button to begin. Let’s test your understanding of types of racial bias based on the segment you just completed. For each described scenario, select the appropriate level of racial bias that is being described. The scenarios may either be “personal explicit,” “personal implicit,” institutional explicit,” or “institutional implicit.” You have unlimited attempts to complete this exercise before moving forward.
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Levels of Racism
Levels of Racism Open to view video.| Closed captions available
Open to view video.| Closed captions available This segment expands the concept of biases and ties in the previous segment on defining race to deliver the GARE perspective on racial bias and racism. Focused at the Institutional/structural level, participants will be looking to identify acts of racism through clearly defined data.*If you require additional accommodation, a visually narrated version of the videos in this course is available upon request.
You must register to access.
Turning Theory into Action Select the "Engage the Exercise" button to begin.
Select the "Engage the Exercise" button to begin. Please take a moment to respond to the following scenarios. Each scenario is based on a real event that has had a response. In each example you will be asked to identify characteristics that contributed to inequities and provide a possible response that would be taken within that context. The feedback will let you know the actual response that was taken with each scenario.Note: While the form may list your email address, we do not collect that information.
You must register to access.
History of Race and the Role of Government
Role and History of Government and Institutions Open to view video.| Closed captions available
Open to view video.| Closed captions available This segment explains the role of government to provide and support equity while also demonstrating the racially biased history of the US. The segment ties together the vocabulary and lenses of bias and racism to real events that demonstrate the complex nature of current events. Participants will learn how the GARE approach to change applies as they are able to critically apply the data and narrative toward further identifying problems and solutions within the current context.*If you require additional accommodation, a visually narrated version of the videos in this course is available upon request.
You must register to access.
Examining Contemporary Issues Completed tasks and continue
Completed tasks and continue Before proceeding to the final segment, please take a moment to review course materials and apply what you have learned in your learning journal.
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Conclusion and Next Steps
What We Do Open to view video.| Closed captions available
Open to view video.| Closed captions available This segment concludes the training. It reviews the materials that were presented and the process of GARE that can be applied moving forward. The goal of this segment is to provide a vision for the future. The segment thus highlights the concept of choice points for proactively incorporating a racial justice lens on choices and directs participants to resources and the community for seeking answers to racial justice questions as they continue their personal and institutional journey.*If you require additional accommodation, a visually narrated version of the videos in this course is available upon request.
You must register to access.
Learning Journal Submission Select the "Upload Form" button to begin.
Select the "Upload Form" button to begin. Please submit a copy of your course learning journal to us as an artifact that we may use to assure that we are meeting our goals at GARE. We also encourage you to continue to use the journal for the next 6 months and submit another copy at that time.
You must register to access.
Training Survey Select the "Take the Survey" button to begin.
Select the "Take the Survey" button to begin. Thank you for completing this portion of the training, we would like for you to answer a few questions about your experience. Note: While the form may list your email address, we do not collect that information.
You must register to access.
Certificate of Completion No credits available|Certificate available
No credits available|Certificate available If you require a certificate indicating completion, you may now access that here. We do not grant credits, but the course length is described as 8 hours of training.
You must register to access.
Dennis Chin
Vice President, Narrative, Arts and Culture
Race Forward
Dennis Chin serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at the new Race Forward. The new Race Forward is the union of two leading racial justice non-profit organizations:Race ForwardandCenter for Social Inclusion (CSI).
In addition, Dennis serves as an organizational trainer/presenter, specializing in 1) thebasics of structural racial inequity and 2) communicating effectively about structural racial inequity.Some of the organizations that he has trained/worked with includeEmerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP), Arcus Foundation, Kresge Foundation, The California Endowment, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Detroit Equity Action Lab (DEAL), National College Access Network, Council of Michigan Foundations, Grantmakers in the Arts, and theUnited States Breastfeeding Committee.
Dennis is a member and former Co-Chair of theGay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY). At GAPIMNY, Dennis grew the organization's leadership, helped launch the Asian Pride Project, anddeepened volunteer engagement on issues of race, gender and sexuality. As a result of his work, hewas awarded the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance's (NQAPIA) Community Catalyst Award in 2015.
Dennisalso serves on the Board of Directors ofCAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, an organization that builds grassroots community power across working-class Asian immigrants and youthin New York City. A five-year member of the Board, he currently serves as its Co-Chair.
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Gordon Goodwin
GARE Senior Director
Race Forward
Gordon brings significant experience to Race Forward working with senior leadership teams to help nonprofit organizations achieve mission and program alignment. His specialties include organizational strategy development, program delivery and impact, and governance and leadership.Gordonhas worked for 30 years with and for foundations, community development organizations and public : private sector consortia in metropolitan and rural settings. He has worked extensively with organizations that have formed collaborative efforts to advance their advocacy and public policy objectives—specifically, designing and facilitating working group meetings, trainings, governance discussions and organizational strategic alliances. Gordon has contributed to poverty reduction and racial equity public policy efforts with PolicyLink, Northwest Area Foundation, WK Kellogg Foundation, Foundation for the Mid South, CFED and The Aspen Institute.
He is based in Saint Paul, MN. He is married, a proud parent of twoadult children, a caretaker for twosmall dogs, and repairs and rides motorcycles in his spare time.
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Sarah Lawton
GARE Director of Online Community
Race Forward
Sarah is a librarian and organizer dedicated to building strong community-driven networks that advance racial equity. As Director of Online Community for the Government Alliance on Race & Equity, Sarah provides strategic leadership to the GARE Network Portal - a space for racial equity practitioners working in government to make connections and share resources, tools and practices that center racial justice. Prior to joining Race Forward in 2020, Sarah managed public libraries in three states and participated as a founding member of the GARE network.
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Julie Nelson
Senior Vice-President of Programs, Race Forward; Founding Director of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE); Senior Fellow, Othering and Belonging Institute, University of California, Berkeley
Race Forward
Julie Nelsonis the Founding Director of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, Senior Vice President at the new Race Forward, and a Senior Fellow with theHaas Institute for and Fair and Inclusive Society (HIFIS)at the University of California, Berkeley. Nelson is the former Director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights where she served eight years, providing both vision and hands-on work to Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative. She also served in other government positions including the City of Seattle Human Services Department, Administrative Services and Public Utilities, Housing and Urban Development, and Pima County Community Services in Tucson, Arizona.
She has a Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Washington and has served on the boards of multiple nonprofits. She is actively involved with community groups working for racial and social justice. Nelson is driven by her passion to realize equity and social justice.
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Lenore Wyant
GARE Director of Network Engagement
Race Forward
Lenore is an advocate, a prevention specialist and transformative leader with a desire to challenge and inspire systems to think strategically, engage collaboratively and plan creatively when tackling the work of becoming anti-racist. She is a skilled problem solver with an unwavering dedication to race equity, fairness and racial healing.
With over 20 years of leadership and management experience built on a foundation of hands-on, community-based prevention and intervention work with youth and families, her most recent experience was as Pennsylvania’s Racial and Ethnic Disparities Coordinator. This role was for the Office of Justice Programs at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
Lenore is a 2018 Youth Justice Leadership Institute fellow of the National Juvenile Justice Network. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work and a Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice both from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.
For over 10 years she served as a volunteer on her local planning and zoning commission working toward equity in new development. In her free time Lenore enjoys painting, stitching, knitting, drawing and graphic design. She is a daughter, little sis, wife and mother to a teenage daughter and a dog, Logan. Her family enjoying laughing, road trips, camping, board games and meals together.
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Leslie Zeitler
GARE Director of Learning Strategies
Race Forward
Leslie started out working for GARE in 2017 as a California Regional Manager and is now stepping into the role of GARE Director of Learning Strategies. As Director of Learning Strategies for the Government Alliance on Race & Equity, Leslie provides strategic leadership for the GARE network with respect to developing and refining learning strategies, tools, and approaches that support people at various phases of their racial equity journeys who are stepping into institutional change work for racial equity in the government sector. Leslie is a social worker by training with a background in child welfare direct services as well as training and workforce development, with an eye to racial equity throughout her career.
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