Staff of Color Affinity Group

Mission:

DSHS Staff of Color Affinity (SoCA) Group seeks to provide opportunities for DSHS staff of color to engage, network, build community, and create an accepting and supporting culture within DSHS’s HIV/STD programs.

Goals & Objectives:

SoCA group’s goals and objectives are:

Engage DSHS staff of color in meaningful conversations and activities related to their race, ethnicity, and culture.
Create a safe space where staff of color can discuss ways their work within DSHS may be directly or indirectly connected to them and their own personal experiences.
Promote and assist in creating an environment that fosters growth and development of staff of color.
Promote and assist in creating a culture that is affirming of minority identities and experiences staff of color hold.
Assist in creating opportunities for non-staff of color to have conversations that identify their role in shifting the overall culture and environment.

Values that Guide Action:

Respect
Teamwork
Diversity
Selflessness
Advocacy
Boldness

Additional Resources on Race:

Talking About Race: Race and Racial Identity - National Museum of African American History & Culture

"Although race has no genetic or scientific basis, the concept of race is important and consequential. Societies use race to establish and justify systems of power, privilege, disenfranchisement, and oppression." How do we explore these concepts?

https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/race-and-racial-identity

Ten Lessons for Talking about Race, Racism, and Racial Justice - The Opportunity Agenda

The Opportunity Agenda created some advice based on research, experience, and input from their partners on how to begin and maintain difficult conversations about race.

These points are:

Lead with Shared Values
Use Values as a Bridge, Not a Bypass
Know the Counter Narratives
Talk About the Systemic Obstacles to Equal Opportunity and Equal Justice
Be Rigorously Solution-Oriented and Forward-Looking
Consider Audience and Goals
Be Explicit About the Intertwined Relationships Between Racism, Economic Opportunity, and the Reverberating Consequences
Describe How Racial Bias and Discrimination Hold Us All Back
Listen to and Center the Voices of BIPOC
Embrace and Communicate Our Racial and Ethnic Diversity while Decentering Whiteness as a Lens and Central Focus

Visit the website for more details on each of these points: https://www.opportunityagenda.org/explore/resources-publications/lessons-talking-about-race-racism-and-racial-justice

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man - Emmanuel Acho

Emmanuel Acho sits down to have an "uncomfortable conversation" with white America, in order to educate and inform on racism, systemic racism, social injustice, rioting & the hurt African Americans are feeling today.

https://uncomfortableconvos.com/

Episode 1 - Introduction to Series: