June 15-20, 2010

Doing Our Own Work is an intensive seminar for white people who seek to deepen their commitment to confronting racism and white privilege where they live, study, and work. It is our conviction that those of us who are white need to "do our own work" – educating ourselves, challenging racism, holding each other accountable, and demonstrating good faith as we seek to build genuine and lasting coalitions with people of color. Doing Our Own Work is designed as a supplement to, not a substitute for, contexts where people of diverse races discuss and strategize together how racism can be challenged.

• Leaders: Melanie S. Morrison and Hillary Stephenson (bios)
• Time: Tuesday, 7 pm – Sunday, 1 pm.
• Location: Tower Hill Retreat and Conference Center, Sawyer, Michigan (link)
  
  

February 13-16, and March 27-30, 2009

DOING OUR OWN WORK:
A SEMINAR FOR ANTI-RACIST WHITE PEOPLE

For 15 consecutive years, Doing Our Own Work has a provided a unique context for white people who seek to deepen their commitment to confronting and challenging white racism. Offering more than 40 hours of “class time,” Doing Our Own Work equips white people with the analysis, skills, and tools needed to be more effective anti-racist allies with people of color and to help bring about institutional change.

• Leaders: Melanie S. Morrison and Aaron Wilson-Ahlstrom (bios)
• Location: The Leaven Center near Lyons, Michigan.

February 1, March 8, April 19, and May 17, 2009

A SACRED CONVERSATION ON RACE

The Sacred Conversation on Race is a national program of the United Church of Christ (UCC) launched in April 2008. This four-part series, sponsored by First Congregational UCC of Angola, Indiana, will address a variety of topics including:

1. The sacred work of racial justice
2. The dynamics of privilege and oppression
3. Building authentic relationships across difference
4. How to be an effective anti-racist ally
5. Discerning our spiritual resources for change
6. Practicing the skills of interrupting racism
7. Strategies for institutional change

• Leaders: Monique Savage and Melanie S. Morrison (bios)
• Location: First Congregational United Church of Christ, Angola, Indiana

February 28 – March 1, 2009

ANTI-RACISM WEEKEND

Anti-Racism Workshop, Saturday, Feb. 28, Lecture/Sermon, Restoring Hope: The Sacred Work of Confronting Racism, Sunday, March 1,

Workshop presenter and preacher: Melanie S. Morrison
Location: Unitarian Universalist Church of Flint, Flint, Michigan

July 7-12, 2009

DOING OUR OWN WORK:
A SEMINAR FOR ANTI-RACIST WHITE PEOPLE

For 15 consecutive years, Doing Our Own Work has a provided a unique context for white people who seek to deepen their commitment to confronting and challenging white racism. Offering more than 40 hours of “class time,” Doing Our Own Work equips white people with the analysis, skills, and tools needed to be more effective anti-racist allies with people of color and to help bring about institutional change. Learn more about the seminar.

• Leaders: Melanie S. Morrison and Aaron Wilson-Ahlstrom (bios)
• Location: Tower Hill Retreat and Conference Center, Sawyer, Michigan

September 11-13, 2009

CELEBRATING OUR CREATIVITY AND CULTURE: THE 9TH ANNUAL RETREAT FOR DISABILITY ACTIVISTS & ALLIES

The Disability Rights Movement has a long and powerful history of resisting oppression and generating pride through the creation of art, music, literature, poetry, and other expressions of disability culture. This annual retreat will provide a space for disability activists and allies to celebrate disability culture, reflect on our lives, and nurture creative resources for sustaining our struggle for justice.

We encourage you to bring poems, films, music, and other creative expressions that have inspired you or that you yourself have created. We will weave these offerings into our times together and we will also provide opportunities for new creations. You need not think of yourself as an “artist” ~ you need only bring a desire to celebrate our incredible disability culture!

There will be ample time to enjoy the beauty of the land by traversing The Leaven Center’s accessible trails. There will also be time to rest, relax, and be in community with disability activists and allies who are committed to confronting ableism in ourselves and the world around us.

This event is a collaboration between Allies for Change and The Leaven Center

• Leaders: Mike Ervin, Rahnee Patrick, and Melanie Morrison
• Location: Leaven Center in Lyons, Michigan (www.leaven.org)

October 25 – November 22, 2009

SPIRIT & PRIDE: REIMAGINING DISABILITY IN JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES

Spirit and pride are powerful forces in the disability rights movement and in the lives of many people with disabilities – calling forth a radical wholeness and a passion for justice. All too often, however, theological traditions of pity and charity shape how Christian and Jewish communities treat people with disabilities. There are prayers for healing that aim to “make whole the broken,” scriptural passages that describe disabled people as “blemished,” religious images that depict disability as spiritual deficiency: “I once was blind, but now I see.”

Yet religious communities can provide powerful resources in the struggle for a more inclusive and just society. Spirit & Pride invites disability activists, students, members of congregations, clergy, and others to a four-week process of self-reflection, study, and dialogue. This series draws upon ancient and emerging traditions of liberation to help participants become more effective catalysts for change where they live, work, and worship.

• Leaders: Rabbi Julia Watts Belser and Rev. Melanie S. Morrison (bios)
• Location: Sunday retreats at Church of the Servant, Grand Rapids. Thursday evening sessions at Ahavas Israel, Grand Rapids.

Enrollment in Spirit & Pride is limited to 40 people in order to facilitate in-depth conversation. Attendance at all sessions is required to assure commitment, continuity, and community among seminar participants. If possible, we encourage participants to attend in teams from congregations or organizations.

During this series, there will be time for personal reflection, journaling or creative writing, text study, and small group conversations. We will draw upon poetry, music, videos, case studies, and stories that reimagine disability in ways that are liberating for people with disabilities. Together we will explore:

• How disability is viewed within Christian and Jewish traditions, practices, and sacred texts.
• Learn about the histories and cultures of people with disabilities and the disability rights movement.
• Study the writings of Jewish and Christian scholars, theologians, and spiritual mentors with disabilities.
• How individuals, congregations, and community organizations in West Michigan can work together to challenge ableism and enhance justice for people with disabilities.

Spirit & Pride is sponsored by:

• Ahavas Israel
  (www.ahavasisraelgr.org)
• Allies for Change
  (www.alliesforchange.org)
• Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
  (www.calvin.edu/worship)
• Church of the Servant
  (www.churchoftheservantcrc.org)
• Michigan Disability Rights Coalition
  (www.copower.org/mdrc/MDRC.htm)
• Plymouth Congregational United Church Christ
  (www.plymouthchurchgr.org)

January 15-17, 2010

STRENGTH FOR THE LONG HAUL ~ A DOING OUR OWN WORK REUNION

Over the past 15 years, nearly 200 people from all across North America have taken part in the Doing Our Own Work seminar for anti-racist white allies. If you are a Doing Our Own Work graduate who yearns to deepen your connection with others committed to this work, please join us for this reunion weekend at The Leaven Center.

This will be an opportunity to reconnect with those you know and meet new friends and allies. It will also be a time to pause and reflect – with compassion and clarity – on where we have been and where we are going in our work for racial justice.

We will “check in” with each other, exchange resources, share stories of our continuing efforts to confront racism and white privilege, and consult with each other about our spheres of influence. Most of all, it will be a time for reinvigoration and renewal as we encourage and strengthen each other in this never-ending work of dismantling racism.

Space is limited so we encourage you to register early.

• Facilitator: Melanie S. Morrison (bio)

January 21-24, 2010

UNDERSTANDING PRIVILEGE AND OPPRESSION, PART II

Understanding Privilege and Oppression (UPO) is a two-part training for faculty and doctoral students in the Michigan State University College of Education. UPO explores the dynamics of privilege and oppression by focusing on three systems of structural inequality: racism, sexism, and heterosexism. UPO examines the histories and dynamics unique to each of these systems as well as identifying how these systems intersect and reinforce each other. Participants also explore strategies for recognizing and unlearning the habits and practices that protect their privilege. Core to this training is the assumption that we can become as passionate about dismantling the systems from which we unjustly benefit as we are about eradicating the systems that oppress us. Registration for this training is now closed.

Understand Privilege and Oppression is funded by grant for Creating Inclusive Excellence Office of Inclusion, Michigan State University

Leaders: Melanie S. Morrison and Monique Savage (bios)
Location: The Leaven Center near Lyons, Michigan

February 19-22 and March 19-22, 2010

Doing Our Own Work is an intensive seminar for white people who seek to deepen their commitment to confronting and challenging racism and white privilege where they live, study, and work. It is our conviction that those of us who are white need to "do our own work" – educating ourselves, confronting racism, holding each other accountable, and demonstrating good faith as we seek to build genuine and lasting coalitions with people of color. Doing Our Own Work is designed as a supplement to, not a substitute for, contexts where people of diverse races discuss and strategize together how racism can be challenged.

The seminar consists of two extended weekends, providing more than 45 hours of "class time." Anti-racist action and reflection form the heart of Doing Our Own Work. Each participant is invited to identify a "sphere of influence" in her/his life that will serve as the focus of action and reflection. Utilizing input from the leaders, assigned readings, videos, group discussion, and structured exercises, participants explore the following topics and issues:

• The four realms of racism and change: personal, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural
• Historical roots of racism in the United States
• Movements for racial justice in the U.S.
• White privilege and unearned advantage
• How to be an effective anti-racist ally
• Cultural appreciation versus cultural appropriation
• Discerning our spiritual resources for change
• Practicing the skills of interrupting racism
• Strategies for institutional change

The facilitators are committed to working with participants to create a respectful, loving, and truth-telling environment where we may bring our whole selves to this vitally important work.

• Leaders: Melanie S. Morrison and Aaron Wilson-Ahlstrom (bios)
• Location: The Leaven Center, Lyons, Michigan (www.leaven.org).

February 26-28, 2010

Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.  ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The 2008 Presidential election vividly illustrated the contradictions that continue to surround race and racism in this nation. On the one hand, the election of Barack Obama as President was a profoundly transformative moment in our nation's history, demonstrating that racial barriers once thought intractable can be overcome. On the other hand, we continue to experience daily how race is used to breed fear and suspicion, and divide us from one another.

Racism remains a wound at the heart of our nation that cannot be wished away or treated carelessly. As unemployment rates soar and jobs are outsourced overseas, frustration and rage are unleashed upon the most vulnerable within our borders – immigrants and those we call “illegal aliens.” The divide between rich and poor is greater than at any time since the Great Depression. Despite the rise of a Black middle class over the past 40 years, the average financial net worth of White families in 2009 remains ten times greater than the average financial net worth of Black families.

In May 2008, the United Church of Christ called upon its local churches to engage in a sacred conversation on race, recognizing that racial healing and reconciliation are crucial to our spiritual, physical, and mental wholeness as a people. In response to this call, Community Congregational Church has invited Dr. Rachel Harding of Denver, Colorado, and Rev. Dr. Melanie Morrison, of Lyons, Michigan to lead us in a sacred conversation that promises to be challenging, soul-stretching, and enlivening. Together we will explore:

• The sacred work of racial justice
• Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community
• How to nurture authentic relationships across differences
• How to be an effective anti-racist ally
• Where we draw hope and strength for ourselves, our communities, and our nation as we work for peace and justice.

During worship on Sunday, February 28, Dr. Harding and Dr. Morrison will share their personal journeys as women – one African American; one white – who are passionately committed to the sacred work of racial justice.

Join us for  this extraordinary weekend of conversation, reflection, and "beloved community" for the renewal of our spirits and the revitalization of our commitment to social change.

• Leaders: Rachel E. Harding and Melanie S. Morrison (bios)
• Location: Community Congregational Church of Tiburon, Tiburon, California.

May 24-28, 2010

This course will explore existent and emerging models of ministry with people who are estranged from traditional church settings or are relegated to the margins of religious institutions. For example, we will examine theologies, rituals, spiritual practices, and faith communities that are being forged by people with disabilities, LGBT people, and those who live on the streets. We will also examine the challenges, stresses, and joys of doing ministry on the margins.

• Instructor: Melanie S. Morrison (bio)
• Location: Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, Ilinois

For information about any of our programs, please contact us.