Beyond Diversity 101 is a five-day intensive workshop designed to help participants understand how they contribute to racist systems. Led by Niyonu D. Spann, this experience moves beyond guilt and blame toward transformation and wholeness.
The workshop uses whole group discussion, small support groups, single-race groupings, films, games, music, and body work. Through these methods, participants learn to take responsibility for changing systems of separation and power. Beyond Diversity 101 helps Friends grow in love and achieve wholeness within themselves and their communities.
For more information, visit the Beyond Diversity 101 website and read Niyonu Spann’s essay below.
Beyond Diversity 101: Toward Living, True Community
Originally Written by Niyonu D. Spann, October 2007 | Updated by FGC Ministry on Racism Staff on December 12, 2025
I first had the leading to develop the workshop Beyond Diversity 101 after some ten years as a diversity workshop facilitator. At that point, I wanted nothing more than to get noticed and work with the best facilitators in the country. I was well on my way to both goals when I began seeing a disturbing pattern in myself and my colleagues.
When we facilitators measured success during and after each workshop, we often used a troubling scale. Success meant white participants (especially white men) felt guilty. It also meant People of Color, women, or other marginalized groups expressed pain and anger. Most of our workshop activities focused on marginalized groups telling stories of harm. Meanwhile, dominant groups “learned” and hopefully came to feel responsibility—or more usually guilt—about what they had done.
The Problem with Guilt and Anger
Feelings of guilt naturally arise in response to personal wrongdoing. They also arise when someone belongs to a group that has caused harm. Likewise, anger is a natural response to injustice. We are talking about serious matters here. They include rape, slaughter, and conscious attempts to destroy whole cultures—both historically and now.
I certainly believe we should tell the truth, feel the feelings, and act accordingly. However, I noticed a problem with the end result of these workshops. The guilt and anger became disabling for all participants. Both the “oppressors” and the “oppressed” got stuck. We were not moving beyond the disability. We were often just more stuck.
Moving Beyond Guilt and Blame
I have come to understand that uncovering the fullest truth requires acknowledging deeper connections. These connections underlie the divisions between “oppressed” and “oppressors.” What ultimately allows us to recognize the reality of our interconnection comes through the heart.
Yes, we must acknowledge the gross injustices upon which our nation, communities, and religious groups were founded. These injustices continue today. Courage of heart allows us to see and make these difficult acknowledgements. It helps us record the truth, then take necessary action—both within and without—to right the wrongs.
Heartwork: The Foundation of Beyond Diversity 101
Each five-day Beyond Diversity 101 begins with a declaration: the heart is essential to this work. A quote by Gary Zukav frames the opening session:
This is Heartwork that we are doing—therefore we are calling on a wider order of logic than that which comes from the mind. This wider order of logic—this heartwork—requires close attention to feelings and emotions
Not everyone who attends Beyond Diversity 101 arrives at this courage of heart. However, reaching it is surely the goal!
Key Elements of the Workshop
As I followed my leading to advance this work beyond guilt and blame, the required elements came to me one by one. They arrived just like the phrases of a new song. Spirit guided me every step of the way!
Time to Go Deep
This advanced work requires enough time to go deep—to the root level. It also requires staying deep long enough to remember what true safety means. People often request safety in diversity work. They get frustrated if we do not provide it to their satisfaction.
What participants generally hope for is comfort. They want protection from unpleasant feelings, unfamiliar realities, or truths that threaten their self-image. However, transformation runs counter to this kind of comfortable safety.
There is a deeper safety available. It is the “it is well with my soul” kind of safety that we can reach personally and together. This divine safety or wellness lies beyond guilt and blame. Reaching and experiencing it together requires more than a half-day or even a weekend.
Working on Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Levels
The work occurs on mental, spiritual, and physical levels. Guess which one of these gets left out in most Quaker circles? Having a body worker who understands transformation has been essential. Beyond Diversity 101 often incorporates massage, movement, and other physical components. I have found it imperative that the four- or five-day workshop include all three areas.
As Goethe wrote, “If you would create something, you must be something.” We cannot create wholeness and truth by ignoring or dishonoring parts of the whole. That approach is what got us into this situation in the first place.
Grounded in “That of God”
Everything—and I do mean everything—in Beyond Diversity 101 is grounded in a core truth: there is that of God within each of us. This is a central concept in the curriculum and essential to proper facilitation. We each can know love, truth, and therefore wholeness fully. No one has greater access to these than another.
Therefore, as we facilitate this workshop, we see ourselves as guiding a process of remembering. In other words, we hold a space where each person can see and acknowledge current injustice. At the same time, participants remember their divine birthright and deep interconnection.
A Growing Community of Practitioners
Since its creation in 1999, over 300 participants have taken the five-day intensive. About twenty interns have repeated the intensive to learn more about the process. Because no two intensives are the same, the intern experience can be very rich.
In July 2006, we held the first Training for Trainers at Pendle Hill. Since then, trained facilitators have emerged from this program. They now lead Beyond Diversity 101 experiences in various communities.
I continue to learn from amazing teachers. Some of their concepts and activities appear in the Beyond Diversity 101 design. I give particular thanks to Dr. Darya Funches, upon whose teachings much of this work has been built.
Transformation in Action
Certainly there are no more powerful teachers than the participants themselves. On the first day, their expressions often show confusion, guilt, fear, and anger. It is amazing to sit with these participants, my teachers, as their muscles relax. Our eyes meet. Our minds and spirits expand.
In these eternal moments, we move beyond the surface to a deep wholeness—our divine birthright indeed!
About the Author
Niyonu D. Spann is a member of Durham Monthly Meeting in New England Yearly Meeting. She developed Beyond Diversity 101 in 1999 and continues to facilitate the intensive workshop and train new facilitators.
Connect This Work to Your Meeting
To explore Beyond Diversity 101 experiences for your meeting or community, contact Niyonu D. Spann directly at 4circlesbeyond@gmail.com. She can discuss how the intensive workshop might support your meeting’s anti-racism journey.
The Ministry on Racism program can also support meetings in this work. Staff serve as thought partners to help meetings discern their readiness and identify next steps. Additionally, the Ministry on Racism can connect meetings with anti-racist practitioners and resources that fit their specific needs and context.
To learn more about how the Ministry on Racism can support your meeting’s journey, email alician@fgcquaker.org or shainar@fgcquaker.org.