Lessons Learned: The RAPP Agreement

In RAPP, we use "The RAPP Agreement" to help our group members communicate their needs to one another. 

The process of building The RAPP Agreement begins with a list of suggestions from current members on ways they can feel heard and respected within the group as well as ways they can stay present and respectful. After vetting these suggestions the group ends up with a nice set of community guidelines (not rules) that will help them communicate throughout our 9-month process. 

I feel this process and its end product are invaluable to the RAPP group and I highly recommend implementation outside of RAPP. This agreement helps the group promote healthy conversation with the group, while avoiding conflict where no learning takes place. Thinking about needs is a good communication skill for leaders.

Lessons Learned is a RAPP Blog initiative intended for folks who hold formal leadership positions in RAPP programs to share what they're learning through their process

Talk about the "Unmentionables" - Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice

Reposted and updated from June 2012:

Along with our nine-month intensive and our alumni program RAPPORT with its Social Justice League, RAPP staff and volunteers lead an average of 50 workshops and trainings each year in the campus and community.

Through all of this, we hear a very common refrain:  I've never gotten to talk about this before - and I want to talk about it!

Even those who talk about race, gender, sexuality, religious/spiritual identity, and other social identities share the tune with a slight variation:  I've never gotten to talk about this with people who are different from me before!

Many of us experience a lifetime of lessons that these topics are not a part of polite conversation.  Many of us experience a lifetime of lessons that we're not supposed to even notice these identities.  Unsurprisingly, this leaves us with a great set of skills in NOT talking about them and very little experience or practice actually talking about them.

When we do try, some common experiences that remind us yet again we shouldn't be having these conversations come up.  We fumble our words and fail to express what we mean because we're focusing so hard on not being offensive.  We're shut down by others who want to keep these topics off the table.  We ignite anger and conflict ensues.  We're not able to ask foundational questions because we're too afraid of being exposed as ignorant.

A key to success in these conversations is getting support in them from folks who have some practice and can help shift the space from fear of the complexity that these topics entail to appreciation of that messiness.

Accelerating Racial Justice will give you that support!  For five days, you get to learn and teach others about racial justice and inclusive leadership as well as your life experiences.  You get to ask questions.  You get to be celebrated for sharing when you don't know.  You get to build a community that will keep these conversations going.

Apply now for Accelerating Racial Justice!  Applications are due by 5PM on Friday, May 3rd!

A small group conversation at a RAPP meeting.  RAPP integrates solo-reflection, pairs, trios, small group, and large group time into our learning process.

How to Apply There are two steps to apply for this life-changing program:

1. Read the Information for Potential Applicants.  This piece is designed to cover the common questions people may have about Accelerating Racial Justice to help you decide if it's what you're looking for.
2. Complete a written application.  This application gathers basic information from candidates.  Information on how to access the application is available in the Information for Potential Applicants, which you are expected to read before completing a written application.

Please contact Rebecca Lehman at lehmanrl@uc.edu or 513.556.6119 with any questions you may have.

Join the BearChats Conversation Partner Program!

Join the BearChats Conversation Partner Program!

The Learning Assistance Center is piloting a new conversation partner program, called BearChats. Bearchats matches domestic students with UC’s international students to help create cross-cultural communication opportunities. 

BearChat partners will meet once per week for one hour to have a conversation, grab a coffee, or just chat. For more information about the BearChats Conversation Partner Program, visit http://www.uc.edu/aess/lac/bearchats.html.

Journal of Homosexuality Seeking Submissions for "Queering Education: Serving LGBTIQQ Students in P-12 Schools" Issue

From the NAME listserv:

The Journal of Homosexualityinvites submissions for a special issue regarding Queering Education: Serving LGBTIQQ Students in P-12 Schools.  Anticipated publication date for the special issue is 2012/2013. The purpose of this special issue is to call the diverse fields within education to consider new and innovative ways to address lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and questioning (LGBTIQQ) students’ experiences and concerns within the P-12 educational system. Specifically, the special issue seeks to represent interdisciplinary perspectives of established scholars and new voices across teacher and other school personnel professions, including but not limited to the disciplines of teacher and educational leadership, school counselor and other school-based mental health, as well as fields related to the development and implementation of school policy, systemic transformation, and student advocacy.

The guest editors of this special issue invite 1500-2000 word proposals that include an abstract and keywords, in accordance with the 6^th edition of APA style. Proposals should focus on research, theory, or practice-based topics related to the education of LGBTIQQ students from early childhood through high school. The special issue guest editors seek to balance the perspectives of scholars, students, community-based organizers, and activists, as well as encourage collaborative authorship across academics, practitioners, and policy-makers. Authors are encouraged to submit proposals that specifically attend to: a) the intersection of multiple socially constructed identities, b) discuss the tensions between risk factors and resilience, c) incorporate the role of heterosexual allies, peers, or family, as well as d) consider ecological or systems-based conceptualizations or interventions. The deadline for proposal submission is July 30, 2011.

All submitted proposals will undergo a peer-review process and therefore acceptance is not guaranteed.  Submissions must be original and not previously published. Authors will be notified of proposal dispositions by October 31, 2011.

If a proposal is selected to move forward, a full manuscript with a maximum length of 20 double-spaced pages will be due by December 31, 2011. Subsequent anonymous, peer-reviews, and author revisions according to reviewer feedback will occur in 90-day cycles. Due to the publication schedule, no extensions will be provided at any point in the process.  The deadline for proposal submission is July 30, 2011. Please submit an electronic copy of your proposal to both Dr. Kristopher M. Goodrich at kgoodric@unm.edu and Dr. Melissa Luke at mmluke@syr.edu.

We look forward to receiving your proposal!

Kristopher M. Goodrich           and       Melissa Luke               (Special Issue Guest Editors)

University of New Mexico                Syracuse University

Slowly Finding Ourselves

As part of just generally benefitting ourselves and as part of getting ready for our RAPP Reunion, I'm still trying to dig up names of people who've completed RAPP.

More than just digging up names, I'm trying to find ways to contact people. Thankfully, many of us have connected through Facebook. Others have found the RAPP history website and sent me an email or gave me a call. Recently, I enjoyed a visit from Bradford H of RAPP VIII - which involved both a fun conversation as well as garnered a few more names for the list.

Robin Selzer of the UC Alumni Association (and previously of the UC Women's Center) has been beyond helpful in the quest for RAPPers. With her help, I've been searching the names we have in the University system. Today was an exciting one for me: I've found two-thirds of the people based on the first 70 names I have!

The search will continue over the next year as we're trying to get in touch with people for our reunion. If you're a former RAPPer (or happened to know some former RAPPers), you can help! Check out the RAPP History section of our website and help fill in missing names or correct misspelled names by emailing me at lehmanrl@uc.edu.

(pic - a random picture of RAPPORT that I love!)