Bring Class Action to You
Class Action schedules programs in several cities across the country each year. Below are descriptions of some of our standard offerings for general audiences specific organizations and institutions. Each workshop or training is adaptable to a variety of settings and contexts. Our experienced trainers work with individual community members as well as groups in higher education, professional and community organizations, public and private primary schools, and foundations.
In addition, our skilled trainers are available to present customized keynote speeches or workshops at conferences and for individual organizations. We are also available for consulting services.
Exploring Class
Exploring Class workshops offer in-depth exploration of the way that class impacts our personal identities, our institutions, and our work for social change. In the United States, discussing class issues is taboo; and often more challenging to talk about than race, sexuality and religion. Feelings of shame, and/or guilt at being poorer or richer than others lead to secrecy and silence, which only perpetuates myths around class in America and reinforces the growing divisions among us. In this period of renewed hope, increased engagement, and financial crisis, it is more important than ever to gain experience and skills in talking about class. Together we develop a shared language as well as a common ground from which to take action. In this workshop, we examine:
- Our own class identities
- Assumptions we have about other classes
- Economic policies
- Changes in wealth distribution
- Understanding the complexities of class
- Steps to take in our lives and within our institutions to overcome class barriers
Exploring Class is available in both one- and two-day formats.
Color of Class: A Workshop for People of Color
In the United States, class has been racialized. As the economic divide among people of color widens, it becomes even more important to explore the dynamics of class as a vital part of our identities and a central part of our communities. Class and race are interconnected, but they are not the same. In this workshop, we will develop a shared language and understanding of class issues that takes race fully into account. We work to better understand how our current economic inequality has been and continues to be shaped by policies and behavior that has benefited whites and disadvantaged people of color. Using experiential activities, dialogue, and documentary videos, we will explore the ways that race and class intersect on individual and societal levels and how to take action. Come join us on our journey towards hope, change, and solidarity.
Color of Class is available in both one- and two-day formats.
Talking About Class
In this experiential workshop, we use dialogue, personal reflection, pair/share exercises and an interactive facilitation style to examine the complexities of class in our lives and communities. This workshop addresses the following questions: What is class? What does classism look like? How does class affect our relationships with people of similar and different backgrounds? What tools and resources can we use to think about and address class and classism?
This brief introduction to class can be delivered in 2-3 hours.
Talking Class On Campus: Class and Higher Education
Class Action provides trainings to students, staff and faculty at small liberal arts colleges and large universities. Class issues are prevalent at higher education institutions where diverse communities live and work together on a daily basis. Due to the transient nature of the student population, it is expected that issues regarding class and race will continue to surface as new groups of students enroll. Our trainers provide trainings as well as ongoing support to establish an initiative that will sustain pro-active attention to class and race on campus—between students, staff and faculty.
In addition to workshops for students—including specialized training for those who serve as residence life staff, government representatives, leaders and organizers, Class Action offers training for staff and faculty to sensitize them to their class biases and assumptions, and includes strategies for negotiating class and race on campus. We also provide consultation to administrators interested in changing policies and practices. Recent clients include: University of Vermont, Gustavus Adolphus College, and the University of Florida.
Inspired by a multi-year effort at Dartmouth College, we designed our own comprehensive, multi-year campus initiative with several stages and tiers. We have begun to develop these initiatives in partnership with both elite colleges and community colleges with the goal of creating a national model for higher education. By helping these colleges make changes at the institutional level, our work will have systemic and sustained impact on thousands of students, and the faculty, staff, and trustees who are entrusted with educating them. Class Action has launched campus-wide initiatives on race and class at Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges.
Class and Race at Independent, Middle, and High Schools
Class Action has developed a variety of resources and ways of thinking about class that are specifically geared towards middle and high school students. In addition to the engaging, interactive content of our workshops and trainings, our trainers bring humor and heart to the particular experience of young people who are negotiating their emerging identities within a school setting. Class and race issues can be particularly challenging at private independent schools where administrators strive to build diverse communities with affirmative action and financial aid policies. Class Action consults with educators and educational institutions interested in creating learning environments that address the needs of students from a range of class backgrounds. We also offer resources for educators including:
- Enough: A Kid's Perspective—the award-winning short has a companion curriculum that contains information and activities to further explore the issues of class, race and inequality for middle school and high school students.
- Class in the Classroom (in final development)—a stand-alone, accessible curriculum filled with lesson plans, interactive games, activities and a wealth of other resources to explore issues of class and poverty with middle and high school students.
Recent clients include: The Charles River School, The Common School, The Francis Parker School, Hopkins Academy (public high school), and Upward Bound/Northfield Mount Hermon.
Class and Race in Philanthropic Organizations
Foundations and philanthropists have the power and the means to challenge or to perpetuate classism. Given the intermingling of people from a variety of class situations – trustees, donors, staff, grantees – through the daily work of philanthropy, foundations are a great setting in which to address classism and to build cross-class relationships. In our work in this sector during the past few years, we have discovered that few foundations have made the time and/or space to reflect on the impact of classism on their work. When they do, they find the process invaluable. Class Action is providing the framework and opportunity for foundations to begin this critical conversation.
Some points we consider with foundation staff and Board: How do we look at the impact of classism within the organizations we fund and the movements that we hope to catalyze? How can we ensure that our processes for raising and distributing funds are free of classism? What are the best practices in philanthropy to address class internally and externally? How does building cross-class alliances help foundations be more effective and open to the full breadth of employees and donors? This process offers reflection on how to talk about, and how the philanthropic sector can better address, the causes and consequences of growing economic inequality.
Class Action presented on the impact of class in philanthropy at the Council on Foundations 2009 Annual Conference.
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