Growing A New Heart to offer online training to facilitate dialogue across race, gender, class lines

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Jan 24, 2024, 07:30 ET

WARE, Mass., Jan. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Growing A New Heart is accepting applicants to one of its most popular, groundbreaking interactive training programs, Dialogues Across Differences, to be presented in a live online workshop in February 2024. The workshop, which will take place on the Zoom platform, will directly work with some of the hottest issues affecting American society today, including race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, and class.

Aiming to provide deeper human connection across these social lines, the workshop engages participants in moving and informative lectures, realistic teaching role plays, and live impromptu dialogue exercises on issues of pressing concern in a way that shines a light on how communities can more successfully engage with each other in a spirit of mutual compassionate accountability, rather than resorting to the knee-jerk responses so often played out in our places of work, education, and across the political landscape.

"We are taking on the hardest dialogues of our fraught time in a way that builds relationships and respect," said Growing A New Heart founder, JAC Patrissi. "Our goal is to provide the skills to build equity in all communities by teaching people how to make connections and foster social change when experiencing tensions across class, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality and gender expression."

The training, which will be facilitated by Growing A New Heart consortium members Tanisha Arena, Regi Wingo, Amparo Cruz, along with Patrissi, will take place over three days, February 14–16, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM EST. Attendees can register online at: https://cvent.me/ax303l

Registered attendees will receive a workbook and can expect to learn specific tools for effectively navigating sensitive issues from a wide range of social perspectives. The cost of registration is $375, with a sliding scale option available.

"Dealing effectively with differences across social location is often the most challenging aspect of working with families, communities, groups and organizations," said Arena, who has been facilitating the Dialogues Across Differences training program with Growing A New Heart for five years. "Too often we unintentionally recreate fear-based, critical 'calling out' cultures instead of fostering and strengthening the changes we seek to make. At Growing A New Heart, we believe there is another way."

For questions and more information about the Dialogues Against Differences interactive training program, contact [email protected].

About Growing a New Heart
Growing A New Heart is a collective of like-minded professionals in the fields of social justice advocacy, sexual and domestic violence, addictions, art, communications, dispute resolution, community building and self healing. The organization facilitates relationships and communications in families, workplaces and communities through training, retreats, writing, storytelling, traditional indigenous healing practices, and the arts. You can learn more about Growing a New Heart by visiting growinganewheart.org.

Media Contact: Michael Rice ([email protected])

SOURCE Growing a New Heart