Our Work

YWCA Greenwich Center for Equity and Justice (CEJ) serves as a community cornerstone, and it embodies our intersectional mission. The four pillars guiding the CEJ are community education, policy advocacy, direct programming, and systemic change initiatives. Together, with individuals and the private and public sectors, we seek to create a society where neither race, ethnicity, nor gender identity determines the trajectory or quality of people’s lives.

The CEJ’s consulting services equip clients to activate equity throughout their organizations. Our hallmark services are: Assessing Organizational Readiness, Defining Opportunities, Building Capacity, and Implementing Solutions for Change.

Designed to equip organizations and practitioners to rethink and develop policies, priorities, and culture through the lens of racial and gender equity, the Center for Equity and Justice seeks to create a society where neither race, ethnicity, nor gender identity determines the trajectory or quality of people’s lives.

Our work is guided by research and proven practice and informed by community and organizational context. The CEJ will be flexible and responsive in its work. Consulting, professional development, and training are key services the CEJ provides to build individual and collective capacity for systemic change.

Four Pillars

Creates space for knowledge building and discourse about gender and race.

Supports legislation and policies at a local, state, and federal level that advance gender and racial equity.

Equips participants with language and foundational knowledge about antiracism and gender equity.

Paves the way for our systems and structures to produce equitable outcomes.

Consulting & Training

The CEJ provides a range of services to build individual and collective capacity for systemic change. By leveraging assessment and evaluation, professional development, training, and coaching, we help leaders, practitioners, organizations, and coalitions co-create just solutions to solve challenges

Our consulting services are designed to support all phases of a project, and we can help you meet your objectives during a single phase.

  • Assessment & Evaluation. This form of data collection provides invaluable information and insights for organizations in the early stages of racial and gender equity efforts. We seek to understand the demographic composition of your organization, uncover opportunities and challenges, and articulate goals in our consulting design and practice. Evaluation is ongoing and woven throughout all phases of a project. Approaching evaluation in this way provides real-time information to inform decision-making.
  • Design & Development. Various conditions hold systems in place. To change systems, organizations must attend to factors such as policies, power dynamics, resource flows, and mental models as they (re)design programs, initiatives, and structures for equitable outcomes.
  • We recognize that the design and implementation phases of initiatives need to be carefully coordinated to achieve successful outcomes. Our responsive approach, as well as a deep understanding of human-centered change management, allows us to support organizations through the implementation of programs and initiatives rooted in equity.

 
 

Workshops: Antiracism & Gender Equity Workshops

Towards Justice: An Antiracism and Gender Equity Workshop Series provides foundational knowledge, skill-building, and resources for organizational leaders, staff, and volunteers to begin to discuss and engage in racial and gender equity, individually and collectively. The workshop series includes four, 90-minute sessions and can be facilitated in-person or virtually. Each session is learner-centered and incorporates instruction through video, large and small group discussion, and reflection.

DIVE training is also available for early learning and youth practitioners, and it is supported by age-appropriate curricula.

Towards Justice Modules

  • Session 1: Diversity Awareness

Participants will explore their personal identity development, reflect on how their identities have shaped their thoughts and behaviors, and discuss how systems of power can cause their identities to be privileged and/or marginalized.

  • Session 2: Managing Implicit Bias

Participants will deepen their understanding of inclusion, unearth how bias impacts their interactions and decision-making, and discuss strategies for managing moments of bias when they occur.

  • Session 3: Everyday Anti-Racism

Participants will explore concepts of race, racism, and antiracism; briefly discuss the legacy of racism in the United States and how it impacts everyone; and identify actions they will take toward antiracism.

  • Session 4: Exploring Equity

Participants will discover the important difference between equality and equity and discuss opportunities for equity within their organizational context or community.

Other Training Opportunities. We understand each organization has unique priorities which call for training that goes beyond DIVE. The CEJ provides additional training on topics such as Marginalized and Privileged Identities, The History of Race in America, The Pervasiveness of Anti-Blackness, Breaking Free of Whiteness, and Human-Centered Change Management. Customized content can also be developed.