Shape of Trust
Outcomes and Learning Areas
Outcomes and Learning Areas
<p><a href="documents/Departments/RSJI/Shape-of-Trust/Report/Shape-of-Trust-Report-January-2022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Building Capacity for Transformational, Anti-Racist Organizing within Government: An Analysis of Two Novel Learning Experiences </a></p>
<p>Click the link above to read a report on The Shape of Trust community of practice and the Key Leaders anti-racist training program. Outcomes were evaluated using transformational assessment tools designed by Gia Naranjo-Rivera, with additional consultation from <a href="https://www.raceforward.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Race Forward</a>.</p>
<h2>Outcomes</h2>
<p>Participants in The Shape of Trust will:</p>
<ol>
<li>Root anti-racism work in the undeniable reality of our interdependence, collective health, creativity, and drive to belong.</li>
<li>Center transformational anti-racism in their work as a regular <em>practice</em> and as a <em>way of being</em>.</li>
<li>Lead holistically, emphasizing a connection to mind, body, spirit, creativity, culture, and community.</li>
</ol>
<p></p>
<h2>Learning Areas</h2>
<p>The Shape of Trust builds meaning and skills across five essential and interwoven components of racial equity, social justice, and belonging.</p>
<p><strong>Self & Society</strong></p>
<p>Social targets and agents; power; internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and structural oppression; understanding the whole and acknowledging one's position within the whole.</p>
<p><strong>Creativity & Interconnection</strong></p>
<p>Arts and culture; creative processes and facilitation; centering practices; relationships to spirit, land, and ecosystems; maintaining connection through conflict.</p>
<p><strong>Wellbeing</strong></p>
<p>Personal and collective trauma; resilience and care; mind-body-spirit connection.<br /><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Institutions & System</strong></p>
<p>Living systems; the web of interconnection and wellbeing; the web of structural racism and oppression; relational culture; white supremacy culture; racial and organizational hierarchies; history and policy.<br /><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Advocacy & Action</strong></p>
<p>Transformational, antiracist organizing within institutions; our different roles as agents and targets of oppression; countering resistance; sharing struggle and vision; calling each other in and forward; moving together as social targets and agents; purpose and use of racial caucusing.</p>
Project Elements
Project Elements
<p>Beginning in 2019, City of Seattle employees and the public have been invited to participate in a series of opportunities to build skills and practices that shape trust, shift culture, and change outcomes in their work and working relationships. The opportunities included:</p>
<ul>
<li>An <strong>original performance</strong> written and directed by playwright Sara Porkalob, based on stories from BIPOC women in the City of Seattle workforce. <em>Performed live in 2019.</em></li>
<li>A <strong>Community of Practice</strong> <strong>Pilot Cohort</strong> designed to support supervisors, managers, and HR advisors. Designed and facilitated with Our Bodhi Project and Sonali Sangeeta Balajee. <em>Took place March 2020 - March 2021. Comprehensive assessment report will be available in 2021.</em></li>
<li>The integration of frameworks and practices created through The Shape of Trust into <strong>RSJI Key Leaders</strong>, a series of seven 4-hour online sessions, and two caucuses designed to build the transformational, anti-racist organizing capacity of City employees holding equity-related positions. Designed and facilitated with Our Bodhi Project and Sonali Sangeeta Balajee. <em>Took place October 2020 - February 2021. Evaluation report will be available in 2021.</em></li>
<li>A <strong>video of <em>The Shape of Trust</em> performance</strong>, partnered with a <strong>Video Facilitation Guide</strong> designed to support individuals and organizations seeking anti-racist frameworks, activities, and practices. The goal of the guide is to strengthen the connection between collective health, interdependence, belonging, racial equity, and social justice. <em>Published in September 2021.</em></li>
</ul>
Project History
Project History
<p>The Shape of Trust emerged from over a decade of organizing for racial equity within the City of Seattle workforce. Much of that organizing has been led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women, who are most impacted by racism, sexism, and other intersecting forms of oppression.</p>
<p>In 2017, staff from the City of Seattle's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), and Department of Human Resources (SDHR) began exploring ways that arts experiences could shift workplace culture away from behaviors and expectations that promote white supremacy and other forms of oppression.</p>
<p>We asked ourselves: how can visual arts, theater, music, movement, and mindfulness help cultivate these changes? How can we understand the power dynamics of race, gender, and other identities? And how can we use that knowledge to create racial equity in our workplace and communities?</p>
<p>Soon after, ARTS staff worked with acclaimed playwright Sara Porkalob to produce <em><a href="https://www.seattlechannel.org/videos?videoid=x85617" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Real Talk</a>,</em> an original performance based on stories from BIPOC employees in the Seattle arts community. The concept was inspired by a similar project by Arts Workers for Equity (AWE) in Portland.</p>
<p>These seeds grew into the The Shape of Trust project.</p>
<p>In 2019, Porkalob wove accounts from City of Seattle employees, particularly BIPOC women, into an original performance that debuted on three Seattle stages for over 1,200 people. Their stories reveal patterns of struggle and strategy, disconnection and collaboration, leadership and change. They show how we must move towards behaviors that foster connection and belonging, and behaviors that match our stated values.</p>
<p>What's real and what's possible depend on our institutional cultures. Our ways of being, practices, and patterns uphold our decision-making and policy processes. We either consciously work together to create a culture of racial equity and belonging, or we inadvertently reinforce institutions that maintains the larger system of white supremacy.</p>
<p><img src="images/RSJI/Shape-of-Trust/RSJI-Shape-of-Trust-Cast-Web.png" title="images/RSJI/Shape-of-Trust/RSJI-Shape-of-Trust-Cast-Web.png" width="873" height="235" class="blockImg" alt="" /></p>
<p><em>The Shape of Trust</em> performance cast is Monique Aldred, Tricia Castaneda-Gonzales, Christi Cruz, Anasofia Gallegos, Aishé Keita, Ayo Tushinde, and Nina Williams-Teramachi.</p>
Project Partners
Project Partners
<p>The Shape of Trust is a partnership between the City of Seattle's <a href="/civil-rights" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Office for Civil Rights</a> (OCR), <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/arts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Office of Arts & Culture</a> (ARTS), and <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/human-resources" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Human Resources</a> (SDHR). It is sponsored by the citywide Workforce Equity Planning and Advisory Committee (WEPAC).</p>
<p>Other contributing City of Seattle departments include:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.seattle.gov/sdci" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Construction and Inspections</a> (SDCI)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Neighborhoods</a> (DON)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.seattle.gov/iandraffairs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs</a> (OIRA)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.seattlecenter.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seattle Center</a> (CEN)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.seattle.gov/city-light" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seattle City Light</a> (SCL)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.spl.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seattle Public Library</a> (SPL)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.seattle.gov/utilities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seattle Public Utilities</a> (SPU)</li>
</ul>
<p>Efforts to improve workforce equity at the City of Seattle began in 2008. More recently, those efforts have included the creation of a dedicated workforce equity director and staff within SDHR, as well as internal organizing and advocacy by employee groups.</p>
<p>Individual and organizational partners include:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://acttheatre.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Contemporary Theatre (ACT)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.apichaya.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">API Chaya</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.seattlesymphony.org/BenaroyaHall/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Benaroya Hall</a></li>
<li><a href="http://getblankspace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blank Space</a></li>
<li>Gia Naranjo-Rivera</li>
<li><a href="http://inyewokoma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inye Wokoma</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.langstonseattle.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.milli.agency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Milli Agency</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.ourbodhiproject.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Our Bodhi Project</a> and Sonali Sangeeta Balajee</li>
<li><a href="https://www.raceforward.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Race Forward</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/zorn-b-taylor-6b968347" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zorn B. Taylor</a></li>
</ul>