Workforce Equity and Inclusive Leadership Intersectional Allyship

Register here(2-part series)!

A key component to developing inclusive and equitable workplaces is understanding how each of us can leverage our individual and collective identities, privileges, and positionality to advance equity and inclusion. In this two-part workshop, participants will explore how to integrate effective allyship into their personal and professional lives by reflecting on and naming their different intersectional identities and privileges, learning a model of engaging in allyship through centering people who hold marginalized identities, learning to meet people where they are, and developing action steps to enhance intersectional allyship at Amherst. 

In the first part, participants focus on the intrapersonal and interpersonal levels in order to explore their intersecting identities in relation to systems of power, interrogate hurdles that impact allyship engagement, and brainstorm ways to integrate support and inclusivity into the Amherst community. In the second part, participants build on their knowledge of interpersonal allyship and dig deeper into how to leverage themselves as advocates, allies, or co-conspirators on the institutional level. Participants will explore how to utilize an equity lens to examine and evaluate institutional policies and practices, facilitate conversations to enhance equity of policies and practices, and begin developing individual action steps for strengthening interpersonal and institutional allyship in their work environments.

These two workshops are designed to help participants understand their role in promoting equity within the Amherst community through:

1. Understanding our multiple intersecting identities and how they can be used to address inequities and support historically marginalized communities;
2. Reflecting on the ways we engage in allyship and barriers we may encounter;
3. Identifying strategies that help us engage others in difficult conversations addressing systems of oppression (racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc.) and the need for systemic and organizational change;
4. Developing individual action steps for how we can leverage our intersectional identities and collective power to create equitable environments at Amherst. 

Because this is a two-part workshop, participants will be registered for both parts and should attend the first as content in the second build on the foundation from the first. The workshop is open to all staff and faculty who have completed Identity & Inclusion part 1 and 2. If you have not taken Identity & Inclusion but have done some work around identities, please contact Rocky Wood (rwood@amherst.edu) to check if the prerequisite can be waived.

Presenter: Raquel Wood, Assistant Director of Inclusive Leadership, Office of Diversity and Inclusion