Initiatives of Change

2007 Curriculum

Catalysts for Community Change

Focus: overview of the Hope in the Cities methodology. Participants learn the vital linkage between personal and social change,explore new concepts of community, and examine attitudes, skills and behaviors that enable individuals to initiate and sustain constructive community change.

Acknowledging and Healing History

Focus: capacity building process in racial reconciliation. Participants develop a deeper understanding of how history impacts our lives today. They explore the role of forgiveness in moving from hurt to healing, and examine how to create new narratives for our communities.

Facilitating Honest Conversation

Focus: moving communities and discussions from polarizing debate into authentic dialogues through which tranformative change can occur. Participants practice creating safe environments, faciltating difficult conversations, and managing self and group dynamics.

Creating A Dialogue

Focus: developing a conceptual framework for designing dialogue models for group discussions and formal community dialogues. Participants work together to create a dialogue model for a specific issue.

Building and Sustaining Effective Teams and Networks

Focus: building and sustaining diverse teams and partnerships capable of engaging all sectors of the community in constructive action for reconciliation and justice.

Outcomes

Awareness: Increased inner resources that support effectiveness
- Identify daily reflective practices that support ongoing learning and effective problem solving.
- Identify personal strengths and areas of growth needed to be a more effective change leader.
- Identify personal, group and/or insitutional values that form the foundation of decision making and create challenges when working in culturally diverse groups.

Interpersonal Communications Skills:Increased capacity for communication, risk taking, and trust buildinga across diverse cultural and social boundaries
- Manage disagreements in ways that support learning and forward movement.
- Create environments that support open dialogue and creative problem solving.
- Communicate understanding, respect and openess to differences.
- Utilize awareness of the impact of history on current dynamics to support productive discussion of difficult issues.

Professional Skills:Increased capacity to form and sustain diverse partnerships to address institutional and/or community change
- Identify parties/partners needed when planning initiaitves and problem solving current dilemmas.
- Design strategies to enage people of different views as potential allies.
- Develop dialogue models that support transformational rather than incremental change.
- Discern unaddressed core underlying issues.
- Develop shared visions of desired future outcomes.