Building Campus Community and Enriching Relationships Across Cultures

Charged with the responsibility for developing relationships across cultures and serving a diverse campus community, Campus Leaders face the necessity of developing a personal and professional cross-cultural competency. These cultures may include: race, religion, age, physical appearance, sexual orientation, gender, politics, national origin, physical ability, economic status, ideological attitudes, relational styles, etc.   Safe to Relate provides a framework for affirming communities, where individuals gain critical understanding and expression.

GOALS

  • To provide a total framework for understanding the complex factors that interact to shape attitudes and behavior towards various cultures.
  • To offer an ongoing means for members of the Student Services staff and student leaders to develop attitudes and behaviors that facilitates open, non-bias, respectful, and creative interaction.
  • To provide hands-on opportunities for applying skills and strategies for crossing lines of difference.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS

Overview of Safe To Relate Community Building Model:  Safe to Relate helps establish and sustain diversity-friendly interaction by equipping participants with insights, skills and strategies for crossing lines of difference and for combating forces that promote division, ignorance and intolerance.  The Safe to Relate Model helps participants acknowledge and address the complexities of Personal, Relational and Systemic factors that interact to create positive changes in the community.

Personal – explores several basic aspects of people’s attitudes and their implications for understanding and expression with a diversity of people.  As the first step in an integrative approach to community unification, this module instructs that personal enrichment in this area will directly impact both outward expressions across lines of difference and the soundness of structures that support diversity-friendly interaction.

Relational – examines the dynamic process by which healthy attitudes are translated into outward expressions that reflect open, non-bias, respectful, and positive interaction between people across perceived cultural barriers.  The comprehensive development and activation of such skills are essential building blocks for improved relationships.

Systemic – translates personal and relational developments within the organization to meaningful systemic reform.                                     

Alignment – investigates the interplay between the complex factors that produce relational changes with the community and seeks to bring the workshop participant’s inward realities, outward expressions and organizational structure into alignment.

Assessment/Evaluation – introduces various measures to assess the effectiveness of the community building process and to evaluate whether outcomes support personal, relational and systemic objectives and targets. 

METHODS

Safe to Relate utilizes a variety of learning methods (instruction, thought experiments, small and large group discussions, role-playing) to support client’s community building learning objectives.

Each method is designed to encourage individuals to actively share ideas, resources, opinions and brainstorming.  Thinking together critically, people share experiences and gain empathy.

Translates concepts in theory to practical skills-development and applications

LOGISTICS

Duration:  ½ day workshop comprised of instructional period, interactive component, and skill development/application.  Can be adapted to a format and time allowance that would be convenient and suitable for individual and group needs.

Who should attend?  Student Services staff and Student Leaders who desire to gain insights and skills necessary to interact effectively with a culturally diverse community.

Group Size: Safe to Relate learning modules can be adapted to accommodate both large and small groups.

Cost: $2500 plus expenses