Trainings

Equity Pause Training

As a follow up to our CARAT Training we have been offering organizations a training to teach the skill of Equity Pauses. 

Over hundreds of years the systems we live and work within have been structured to ensure and maintain inequities. When we identify problems within these systems, we ofter look to fix the issues without fixing the system, and sometimes, our solutions do not actually help those we are looking to support.

In order to do so we need to first recognize what biases, structures and assumptions are at play. We must learn to pause to recognize who may not be represented. Please contact us to schedule a training.

  • An equity pause is literally a pause in planning, preparation, or observation to consider who is doing the work, in what way it empowers others from as many perspectives as possible, and how our identity influences our thinking.

 

  • An equity pause should be part of all planning. It is designed to help us “see” issues of racial bias, of socio-economic bias, of gender bias, of family structure bias and make conscious decisions about how to address the biases once revealed.

 

  • An equity pause is a series of prompts to help us understand more about our own identities and therefore the decisions we make and why we make them. 

 

  • An equity pause is something we do to consider who is being seen, by whom, and for what reason.

 

 

CARAT Training

In the Spring of 2021 WIDE offered a Community Anti-Racist Advocate Training (CARAT). Participation from 127 community members representing 49 organizations the Town of Lincoln on all levels means the almost every organization and individual encounters in town will be actively working toward enact its own Equity Action Plan. This will allow the Town to shift away from the deeply embedded structures of inequity towards Anti-racism, equity and justice. Town organizations will review policies, procedures, cultural norms and individual biases in order to make real, lasting change. WIDE is committed to supporting organizations long-term through Office Hours, targeted, individualized Technical Assistance, and Trainings.

CARAT was a three-session training open to members of all Lincoln organizations, boards and departments who were looking to deepen their knowledge and develop skills in the practice of anti-racism. This virtual series invited participants to explore individual biases, cultural messages, and institutional structures that hold racism in place. We discussed strategies for implementing sustainable change in their organization to support equity and inclusion. The sessions were run by Kathy Lopes of InKlusion Consulting. Thanks to the support of the Ogden Codman Trust, we offered this training for free, beginning this Spring 2021.

Each of the 49 Town Boards, Commissions, Departments and Organizations will be responsible for submitting their Action Plan and 6- and 12-month progress reports.

 

Participants

Town Departments
Town of Lincoln, Conservation Department
Town of Lincoln, Council on Aging
Town of Lincoln, Fire Department
Town of Lincoln, Public Library
Town of Lincoln, Parks and Recreation
Department
Town of Lincoln, Police Department
Town of Lincoln, Public Schools
Town of Lincoln, Select Board
Town of Lincoln, Water Department 
Town of Lincoln, Administrator
Town of Lincoln, Clerk’s Office
Town of Lincoln, Finance Department
Town of Lincoln, IT Department

Town of Lincoln, Planning Department

Town Boards and Commissions

Bemis Free Lecture Series
Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee
Friends of COA
Green Energy Committee
Lincoln Land Conservation Trust
Town of Lincoln, Capital Planning
Committee
Town of Lincoln, COA Board
Town of Lincoln, Finance Committee 
Town of Lincoln, Housing Commission
Town of Lincoln, Friends of the Library
Town of Lincoln, Library Trustees
Town of Lincoln, School Committee
Town of Lincoln, Water Commission
Town of Lincoln, Planning Board
Organizations
First Parish in Lincoln
Garden Club
Girl Scouts
Goodnow Library
Lincoln Cultural Council
Lincoln Democratic Town Committee
Lincoln Family Association
Lincoln Nursery School
Lincoln School Foundation
Lincoln Woods
Lincoln Youth Soccer
Lovelane Special Needs Horseback Riding
Program Inc.
Magic Garden Children’s Center
METCO Coordinating Committee
Mothers Out Front
PTO
Saint. Vincent. de Paul Lincoln Weston
The Commons
The Food Project
The Lincoln Foundation 
The Walden Woods Project
WIDE