Nurturing Anti-Racism in the Workplace Through Systemic Change
Engage to Change conducts trainings designed to dismantle systems of inequity in the workplace in a way that is relatable, personal, and engaging. Using collaborative exercises, customized small and large group work, and at times, even humor, we teach ways to interrupt racism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression in the world and within ourselves.
Founded in 2017, Rakeem Washington (he/him/his) and Kasia Rutledge (she/her/hers) draw on their legal training, copious amounts of caffeine, and twenty years of experience helping organizations create more antiracist and anti-oppressive environments. Using our legal, non-profit, educational backgrounds, we’ve supported businesses, governments, not-for-profits, and educational institutions with our consulting, training, policy review and strategic planning efforts.
Engage to Change trainings exist in an environment where everyone in the room can find an entry point to engage, reflect, and commit to life-long learning and improvement. At the same time, we work to lift up the voices and experiences of BIPOC to create more equitable distributions of mental and emotional labor.
Once our trainings are complete, participants will have concrete tools they can use in their lives and workplaces to put anti-racist and anti-oppressive thoughts and ideas into action. We also recognize that the work is never done, and emphasize continuous learning and development!
Mission
The mission of Engage to Change is to help individuals, organizations, and communities engage in the necessary anti-racist and anti-oppression education, restructuring, and action that creates healthy transformations. We work towards this change by focusing on the following eight principles:
Intersectionality
We use a trauma-informed and intersectional approach throughout all communications, coaching, trainings, and facilitations, always adhering to anti-racist and anti-oppression practices. We rely on generative knowledge principles to drive organizational change and highlight individual positionality.
Community & Relationship
We create community and connections within a partnered organization to amplify the voices of people with marginalized identities while de-centering dominant culture and seeking to uncover the existing expertise and wisdom within the partnership organization.
Accountability
We demonstrate the ways in which creating individual and organizational accountability leads to healthy and desired outcomes and create common language and shared anti-racism tools so that partner organizations can continue growth and development in the long-term trajectory post-partnership.
Humility & Vulnerability
We respond and adapt to emergent organizational needs with agility and flexibility while we remain unafraid to demonstrate and model vulnerability and humility.
Lived Experience
We use strength-based techniques to avoid overburdening Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (“BIPOC”) to reject scarcity thinking and to prevent burnout while drawing from the diversity of human experiences and communities within the partnered organization.
History
We help our partners understand the ways in which history has created the current individual, interpersonal, systemic and institutional forms of racism, white supremacy, transphobia, ableism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia, and sexism.
Power
We help folks and organizations examine the role of power in its shaping of individual thought, relationships, and organizational structures.
Adaptability & Creativity
We thoughtfully familiarize ourselves with the partnered organization to tailor unique tranings and organizational development strategies.