Diversity Dialogues
DIVERSITY DIALOGUES PROJECT
OVERVIEW
Charlie Tomlinson, Mayor of Corvallis and Terryl Ross, Director of Community and Diversity at Oregon State University meet on a monthly basis to mentor each other in their work. They recently discussed the lack of authentic dialogues around diversity for so many people they know. Since that time, they have developed this project to get as many people as possible to meet new people, have authentic dialogues with others around diversity, and to help build community within Corvallis.
Diversity Dialogues is a simple way for people to address diversity in their lives. This project is open to all people and encourages everyone to have as many dialogues as they can. Please take a little time out of your busy life to meet some new people and have fun.
HOW THE DIVERSITY DIALOGUES PROJECT WORKS
- Dialogue #1
Meet with someone you know and have a dialogue about:
- Family of Origin--Talk about your family of origin in terms of diversity (e.g. class, race, religion, birth order, etc.) Be sure to discuss how your family celebrates holidays.
- Life Experiences--Talk about your exposure to other people and cultures over your life time. Be sure to address your education-related experiences, travel, jobs, etc.
- Future Aspirations--Talk about the exposure you want to have with diverse populations for the remainder of your life.
Example: Charlie and Terryl meet and discuss A, B, & C.
- Matching--Meet Someone New
Based upon the conversation you had with someone in the previous section (#1), you both recommend someone new for the other person to meet. The person you recommend should have a different demographic or lifestyle from the original person you interviewed.
Example: Charlie introduces Terryl to Jacque and Terryl introduces Charlie to Linda.
- Dialogue #2--Diversity Dialogue
The new person and you repeat have the following dialogue:
- Family of Origin--Talk about your family of origin in terms of diversity (e.g. class, race, religion, birth order, etc.) Be sure to discuss how your family celebrates holidays.
- Life Experiences--Talk about your exposure to other people and cultures over your life time. Be sure to address your education-related experiences, travel, jobs, etc.
- Future Aspirations--Talk about the exposure you want to have with diverse populations for the remainder of you life.
- Joint Activity--Based upon your dialogue, life experiences, and interests you both discuss possible activities you can do within the next two months.
Example: Charlie and Linda meet, and Terryl and Jacque meet each pair discusses A, B, & C.
- Joint Activity--Do Something Together
Based upon your discussions with each other, you will do an activity together within two months of your previous dialogue. This activity can be as large or small as you want it to be. You can have coffee together, read a book, go to lunch, go to a movie, attend religious services, volunteer, etc. together.
Example: Charlie and Linda decide to read a book together. Terryl and Jacque decide to attend services at Jacque’s church.
- Teachable Moment--Share What You Learned
Once you have done something together, post your experience on Google Groups. We have created a Diversity Dialogues Group at: http://groups.google.com/group/diversity-dialogues. Sign up and share your experience with others. Contact Terryl if you need help on this.
Example: Charlie, Terryl, Linda, & Jacque all sign up via Google Groups and discuss their experiences related to this project.
- Keep The Chain Going--Recruit Two New People
Everyone recruits one new pair of people that do not know each other to join the project and follow all of the steps.
Example: Jacque recruits her co-worker, Mitchell to join the project and encourages him to have a Diversity Dialogue with, Lance, someone from another race. Mitchell and Lance do not know each other. Linda recruits Nancy, the chair of the board she is on to meet with Bill, one of her college buddies. Nancy and Bill do not know each other.
- Joint Meeting--April 2, 2009
This project originates out of Corvallis, Oregon but will be made available to people through out the country. As we come closer to April 2009, we will schedule different joint meetings where ever there is a critical mass of people that participated in the project.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact Terryl Ross, Terryl.Ross@oregonstate.edu, (541) 737-4381 or Charlie Tomlinson,Charlie.Tomlinson@gmail.com, (541) 766-6985.
