The Seattle Works White Caucus is for white people to take part in anti-oppression work in a way that’s useful rather than destructive or distracting. We caucus to process feelings, retrain ourselves, and take action to dismantle racism and shift power to people who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC). We are committed to following the leadership of and being accountable to BIPOC staff members at Seattle Works and the Seattle Works’ BIPOC Link-up, including bringing their asks for topics, learning, and action to the White Caucus. We are using "How to Plan a White Caucus Agenda" by Pippi Kessler to inform how we plan and structure our meetings.

As of 2023, we are shifting to a quarterly series model where we explore one topic more deeply each quarter.

• The first session will lay the groundwork for the quarter.
• The second and third sessions will go deeper into the topic.
• The third session will include time to create an action plan for taking your learning out of White Caucus.
• You can still drop-in to one session, and there is now opportunity for deeper engagement with a specific topic by attending all three monthly meetings in a quarter.
• We'll link the three sessions together with reflections and action steps between each meeting.
• We'll focus more on personal reflection, community building, and action in each session.

Transformative relationships and anti-racism education are tenets of the Seattle Works mission; we hope you will join us!

Register for 2023 sessions here!

2023 Topics & Dates - all meetings will be held on Zoom

January-March: Identifying and Countering Patterns of Whiteness & White Supremacy Culture (3rd Wed of the month, 10-11:30am)

• 1/18 - Patterns of whiteness to work on in white spaces
• 2/15 - Countering norms of one right way, individualism, and either/or thinking
• 3/15 - Addressing feelings of powerlessness

April-June: Pro-Blackness (3rd Tue of the month, 10-11:30am)

• 4/18 - Anti-Blackness, pro-Blackness, and how it shows up in us
• 5/16 - Reparations strategies
• 6/20 - Building restorative cultures and systems

July-September: Processing Emotions that Get Us Stuck (3rd Tue of the month, 10-11:30am)

• 7/18 - Moving away from operating from fear, shame, and guilt
• 8/15 - Intent versus impact: white savior complex
• 9/19 - Strategies for processing uncomfortable emotions

October-December: Putting It All into Action (2nd Tue of the month, 10-11:30am)

• 10/10 - Peer workshopping
• 11/14 - Interrupting white silence and bringing more white people into anti-racism work
• 12/12 - Accountability reflection: how are you taking action for racial justice, especially pro-Blackness?

Questions? Email info@seattleworks.org.

Actions Outside of White Caucus

We encourage participants to continue your actions outside of White Caucus. Set a committment to take action to dismantle racism. This should be a specific action beyond attending a training, learning, or reading. Ideally it's something that gets you out of your comfort zone. Choose an accountability person to share your commitment with and schedule a time you'll check-in with them. Do your action and then reflect and check-in with your accountability person.

Resources & Trainings:

• Sign up for a People’s Institute Northwest “Undoing Institutionalized Racism” training
• Sign up for Hollaback's Bystander Intervention Training to stop Anti-Asian Harassment and Xenophobia
• Sign up for a Race Forward training
• Sign up for a Compass Point workshop
• For white women specifically:
• Sign up for Cultures Connecting “Internalized Sexism and White Privilege” training
• Sign up for Fleur Larsen’s “Power With Not Power Over: Accountability in Action for White Women” training