Creating Space for BIPOC Racial Equity Practitioners to Share Experiences, Deepen Skills and Transform Workplaces for Equity

From August 2023 to March 2024, PHI’s State of Equity’s Transformative Leadership Cohort (TLC) inaugural cohort welcomed 28 Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) racial equity practitioners who either work in California state government or in community-based organizations. The group represented 14 different state departments and four Public Health Institute programs.

TLC is part of State of Equity’s Capitol Collaborative on Race and Equity (CCORE) and is a leadership development cohort that specifically centers the learning and growth of BIPOC racial equity practitioners. Pilot participants reflected on their growth as racial equity practitioners and had deep learnings and dialogue about power, organizing, and ways that internalized oppression shows up in our work. They also had an opportunity to analyze a racial equity policy or practice in their organization and offer recommendations for enhancing that work based on learnings from the cohort.

TLC was birthed from the vision of CCORE Co-Lead Giovianna Burrell who brought in her experience and wisdom holding deep dialogue spaces with BIPOC folx as an educator, facilitator, former equity and inclusion government employee. CCORE Co-Lead Holly Nickel and Americorps VISTA member Erica Tolbert served on the implementation team.

Themes and learnings from the cohort:  

• BIPOC employees need racial equity professional development opportunities that center their own learning and relationships. CCORE staff have found that BIPOC workers put considerable labor and energy toward racial equity organizing, as compared to their white coworkers. TLC provides a unique space for BIPOC to share experiences and lean on one another in a way that they could not in a more heterogeneous space. Participants reported gaining a deeper understanding of the importance of centering BIPOC employees and divesting from white organizational culture. While relationships and healing from the harms of racism were at the center of the cohort experience, participants left the cohort with stronger skills as racial equity practitioners, and a deeper focus on enhancing and supporting their organization’s racial equity, DEI, and equity policies. 
• Many BIPOC government workers seeking racial equity professional development had to jump through hurdles to participate. Many participants went to great lengths to justify the value of this experience, particularly because it centers BIPOC workers. Some were denied permission to participate outright. Still others did not even ask for permission because of prior experiences having their needs dismissed. This highlights the risks that BIPOC workers take and the harm that is often done to them by the very institutions they support. In the future, a blend of philanthropic support and government investment will be critical, to ensure that this program is available to those who need it without causing further harm during the recruitment and enrollment process.  
• BIPOC racial equity practitioners need many layers of support within their own institutions and across a broad peer network. Pre- and post-program surveys showed that participants’ sense of who is in their “community pod” expanded over the course of the cohort. Their sense of community with other CCORE TLC peers increased by 25%, with friends increased by 35%, and with colleagues increased more than 200%.
• BIPOC racial equity practitioners seek both personal and practical learning. Participants were given flexibility on how they focused their time, and 86% chose a blend of deepening their personal learnings and pursuing opportunities to apply these learnings to policies, procedures, and practices in their organizations. 
• It is important to provide opportunities for impromptu conversations on key issues arising for participants. For example, participants spent time discussing the term BIPOC, exploring the value of using the term and its limitations.  
• Participants brought emotional vulnerability to the cohort, highlighting the importance of care and intentionality on the part of the facilitators. 

To learn more about CCORE TLC and receive a notification when applications go live, please check out our State of Equity newsletter, CCORE TLC webpage, and/or email us at CCORE@phi.org. 

A version of this impact story first appeared in a State of Equity newsletter and as a blog on their website.