new Bridge Foundry training initiative

[Sarah Allen]

Most of you know that several years ago, we developed a code of conduct where we went beyond the industry standard anti-harassment policy and sought to set a a high bar for an effective learning environment.  

One important aspect that we wanted to have covered was an escalation process beyond reporting to the organizer of the workshop, so we can support organizers and volunteers and ensure that we are consistently creating a safe space at every workshop.

We've been working on this slowly over the past two years (!) but has taken on increased urgency from my perspective with many new chapters and new Bridges that sometimes have whole groups of volunteers who have never been to a workshop before.  We believe in transparency, yet it has been hard to know what shape this would take.  What started as basic training for volunteers who would staff a hotline has grown into a broader initiative. 

Many thanks to Bridget Hillyer and Ilen Zazueta-Hall who have done a lot to get us this far.  (For those of you who might not know them:  Ilen was the RailsBridge volunteer organizer though our whole first year.  Bridget has been a ClojureBridge leader since its inception.)  Read on for more details...

Code of Conduct Escalation training

We hired Andre Koen, who is racial justice advocate in Minneapolis–Saint Paul.  He is very experienced working with working with non-profits and government organizations to create equitable processes, environments and workplaces.

 In August, he led the first iteration of our code-of-conduct escalation training to the group of volunteers who had agreed to take calls from organizers or individuals who needed advice or were reporting an issue (along with a few other volunteers).  Our plan was, and is, to iterate on the training with the same group until we feel like it serves the purpose.  After that training, we realized we really need something more like a decision-tree, as well as reporting guidelines.  Last weekend, Ilen & I created a "hotline" which is just the two of us, via Google Voice, for now.  It is documented at the bottom of this page.

Critical Need from New Volunteers

A few weeks ago, as part of new Bridge on-boarding, I met with Aaron VonderHaar and Tessa Kelly who are leading ElmBridge.  I shared with them what's going on with Bridge Foundry, highlights from our strategy sessions, including the progress on what I had started called "conflict resolution" training.  They had already scheduled their first workshop for Oct 22, but had not figured out how they would train their new group of volunteers.  I thought about how much RailsBridge transmitted a lot of our lore of how to handle awkward situations through our experience with each other that built slowly over time, and realized suddenly that many of the new groups don't have a lot of overlap with experienced volunteers.  Impulsively, I volunteered to lead an experimental training for ElmBridge!

New Training

Just a week ago Ilen, Bridget and I created a new volunteer training curriculum based on the restorative justice framework that Andre Koen introduced.  It's highly interactive, with role plays of some situations that volunteers might encounter at a workshop.  Then last Thursday, I led a training for the new ElmBridge volunteers, focusing mostly on "difficult conversations" -- how to notice when things go wrong and react with appropriate interventions. Andre Koen served as a remote resource person, and Adria Richards observed, taking details notes to inform the next iteration of this training.  

Next Steps 

I've written up our current thinking with the working name of Bridge Foundry Inclusion training.  If anyone wants to volunteer to help with some of the behind-the-scenes coordination work of hiring trainers and coordinating sessions, I really want some kind of open call to expand our team of professionals who can lead these trainings and act as resource people for volunteer leaders. Right now this is moving only as fast as our very small volunteer team has spare cycles to move things forward.

I would love to hear from anyone who would like to get involved in any way, particularly if you would want to pilot the training in your group.  We're experimenting with both virtual and in-person trainings and different formats and expect this to evolve quite a bit.

Very interested in what you all think.  This list tends to be pretty quiet and would love to hear quick feedback from anyone who reads this far!

Sarah

-----------

Sarah Allen

Bridge Foundry Program Director

@ultrasaurus