Connecting the Dots

As the world celebrates progress on many fronts, there are challenges -- old and new -- that present tumult to many near and far. There’s frustration, hurt. anger, fear, danger -- and there’s a desire by many to drive progress. Conversations about finding a way to “be the change” motivated us to craft a virtual space to advance this dialogue and to open it up to interested people far and wide, particularly at a time of social isolation and prolonged uncertainty when we need connection and collaboration more than ever.

In the creation of this space, we confess that we are neither professional social justice advocates nor purveyors of any specific agenda. What we seek is to explore how we can work to apply empathy and constructively support freedom and opportunity for humanity. We are attempting to hold space for such dialogue and to gain clarity on what action steps to take next, and we expect to learn a great deal ourselves

Please join us at Connecting The Dots for our spotlight speaker Dr. Shelby Kretz : Founder and CEO of Little Justice Leaders. Dr. Kretz holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education from UCLA and wrote her dissertation on social justice education. She has worked with thousands of parents and teachers to bring social justice to elementary kids. She will be speaking on “Creating a Better World Through Education: Teaching Elementary School Kids about Social Justice".

Every week, we shall seek to facilitate opportunities for listening, learning, action, and connection. The partners we invite to curate these experiences range from social justice advocates, academics, activists, to artists, and they share their lived experiences and learned perspectives. With the help of participants like you, we hope to have constructive dialogue that promotes progress. To do that, we recognize our need to acknowledge and reflect upon the positions of privilege we hold in these systems, to lean in with humility and an openness to grow and to commit to specific steps to take in our personal and professional environments to “be the change.”

Our intention is for you to experience new perspectives, arrive at insights, share your voices, and receive upliftment. Our big picture intention is for each participant to take away a greater appreciation of social justice so that Connecting the Dots is more clear and inspires constructive action.

To help us curate the most impactful experience for you, we have a few requests:

-Please arrive on time and participate until the conclusion of the hour and a half. We have a number of components planned for you, and we will need to exercise time management for each component.

-We invite you to answer a few registration questions that will be useful to our planning and preparation.

-By attending this event you consent to be recorded and understand that select portions of this will be made available online for replay.

-A constructive dialogue requires ground rules. Here are some (borrowed from available resources online) that we are hoping to implement in this discussion:

--Judgment-free space

--Listen deeply

--Ask compassionate questions

--Expect to experience discomfort

Zoom details will be provided on Friday via email from connectingthedots@elicit.consulting

EXPRESSED VIEWS DISCLAIMER. Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by the Performer, Presenter, Lecturer, or Opening Speaker, are solely those of the Performer, Presenter, Lecturer, or Opening Speaker, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of Connecting the Dots.