Train the Trainer Series

Open Buffalo (OB) is a civic initiative to make major, long-term improvements in justice and equity in the City of Buffalo. It is an unprecedented collaboration among a diverse group of partners and allies. OB exists to create an empowered democratic society by training individuals in how to identify problems and create solutions in public policy and public systems. OB sought our expertise as they strive to better equip their staff and clients to advocate for a more just Buffalo. The goals of the deliverables were as follows:  

1. Increase Open Buffalo’s (OB) clients' understanding of their organization’s position on the spectrum to becoming “anti-racist” as informed by an organizational audit.  

2. Increase Open Buffalo’s clients' understanding of the intersectionality and impact of: racism, capitalism, and climate change.  

3. Increase Open Buffalo’s clients' understanding and organizational capacity, via training reflective of their anti-racist position on the spectrum, to implement anti-racist practices and organizational design that will support equitable outcomes in their service model.  

4. Provide Open Buffalo’s clients additional resources and tools which will support their evolution in becoming an anti-racist entity.  Our supports consisted of the following:

• Designed and trained OB staff on An Anti-racist Organizational Audit instrument;
• Developed a +40 slide deck which reviewed the racialized history of the U.S., racialized capitalism as the nation’s economic engine as well as the resulting consequence of climate change;
• Created anti-racist training workshops (e.g. developing a national reconciliation plan); and
• Created toolkits to support OB’s clients (e.g. performance management for equity)