A Weekend of Color-Brave Conversations         

Nov 2-4, Fairbanks,

Nov 9-11 Anchorage

All welcome! Space limited to 24 participants for each workshop. 

Workshop 1: Color Brave Conversations about Racism and Racial Justice

Simple Meal provided at 5:30 pm; Friday Opening Session from 7-9 pm; Saturday 9am to 5pm

(please plan to attend both Friday and Saturday sessions)

A highly-interactive workshop for people interested in better understanding the forces of racism in our lives. This workshop intends to create a space where participants can join the workshop facilitator in creating a safe, mutually-rich learning environment with an emphasis on outward racial justice action and community change. Through interactive engagement, presentations, film and small group discussions, participants will be immersed in a Color-Brave conversation that 1) encourages self-exploration, 2) offers a systems analysis through a racial justice lens, and 3) asks each of us to consider our own deep accountability to one another and our response to injustices.

Workshop 2: Bystander/Upstander Training, Sunday, 12:30-5:30pm (Fairbanks) 1:00-5:30pm(Anchorage)

Have you witnessed acts of discrimination toward immigrants, women, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, or others who are isolated because of religious, ethnic, racial or social identities?

This Bystander/Upstander Training is a stand-alone training to prepare participants to intervene safely and appropriately when witnessing incidents of discrimination, harassment or harm. Participants engage with real-life scenarios to enable them to effectively identify and challenge negative narratives and behaviors. Join us for this interactive workshop and explore with us together how to foster a culture of safety and respect in your places of influence.

The Facilitator: Marijke van Roojen, LM, CPM, MPH works with the non-profit Fit Oshkosh, Inc., Because Race Matters, a racial literacy organization based in Wisconsin, as the white half of a cross-race training and consulting team. She is an Intercultural Development Inventoryâ Qualified Administrator (https://idiinventory.com/) and also serves as the Program Coordinator for a youth leadership initiative focused on gender-based violence prevention from an intersectional lens.

Marijke served as co-facilitator for the Quaker Friends General Conference (FGC) workshop Fighting Ethnic and Racial Divisions with Vanessa Julye (FGC Ministry on Racism) in 2015, designed and led the White on White Color-Brave Conversations workshop for the last three years at FGC, and has co-led workshops on racial justice at Northern Yearly Meeting and Illinois Yearly Meeting. Marijke has also led Quaker Couples Enrichment workshops at FGC, Pendle Hill and in the wider community with her partner of 18 years. Marijke currently serves on the FGC Institutional Assessment on Racism Taskforce.

Marijke also hosts monthly Color-Brave Community Conversations in her region, co-moderates a national anti-racism and oppression discussion group within her midwifery profession, co-manages healthcare workforce development grants in communities of color in Milwaukee County and serves on a public health community partnership initiative to ensure that equity, cultural relevance and access are considered in all health policies. She also works as a leadership consultant and faculty and staff instructor/mentor on race equity in midwifery education at a Midwifery College in Utah. She writes "I am continually growing in my own white racial justice identity and am deeply committed to sharing this journey with my community and beyond."