Each week, we’ll have a discussion during the coffee hour that invites people to join in a conversation about what we’ve all just heard. There will be different facilitators week by week, but it is a free form, conversational chance to chat and reflect––think of it like a standing chat during coffee hour that everyone can join!

This is a yearlong opportunity! It should happen every Sunday that we have a coffee hour and there’s no registration at all. Show up as you are with your questions and ideas. If you’d like to be a facilitator, reach out to [email protected]

The Sum of Us: A Conversation about Heather McGhee’s Book

Join our minister, Rev. Randy Partain, in conversations around the book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee. McGhee’s study is part history and part social analysis, reflecting on the harms of systemic racism by considering its impacts across all kinds of communities in America. Systemic racism harms people of color first, but in the end it harms everyone.

In addition to digesting the content of the book, we’ll explore one suggestion by McGhee: a comprehensive and community-based approach to racial equity work where healing and systemic transformation are directly connected.

We hope participants will read The Sum of Us before the course takes place. It’s available from the Cleveland Public Library, or you can purchase a copy from your favorite book source. Support for the cost of purchasing is available for any who would like to take the course.

Intercultural Competency Workshop

Does cultural diversity make us a stronger community? Explore why culture matters and how understanding and adapting to cultural differences within our community and around the world create opportunities for true belonging. 

This workshop will be facilitated by intercultural competency trainer, Dr. Molly Watkins. Molly supports global strategy at Case Western Reserve, teaches global citizenship, and is trained in helping people assess and develop their intercultural competency. Participants will explore their own cultural perceptions and develop strategies to enhance their own cultural competency by taking the Intercultural Development Inventory and developing their own Intercultural Development Plan.

There is a $23 cost to this course to pay for the Intercultural Development Inventory assessment tool. Support for this cost is available to any who would like to take the course.

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Allan T. Georgia, MDiv, MTS, PhD

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