August 2019
Inclusive Communities is excited to share some amazing community partnerships that will help us to expand our reach throughout the state of Nebraska and beyond. It is our mission to promote diversity and inclusion through training, advocacy, and conversation - but we know that we can't do it alone.

It takes collaboration and partnerships to create lasting change. There are so many groups and organizations doing amazing work throughout our community, and we're grateful for the opportunity to lean on others for their expertise while offering up our knowledge and services as well!
Maggie Wood, Executive Director
Not Just in Omaha Anymore!
The IC team has been busy this summer making connections and building relationships with partners in Lincoln and throughout the state of Nebraska. As we connect with organizations outside of Omaha, we are finding more and more communities wanting to have transformational conversations to build connections and broaden perspectives about those different from them.

From meetings with the Lincoln Public Schools and Cedars-Kids to workshops with the Child Advocacy Center and the Teammates Conference, these relationships are helping us to affect change! These connections are helping us to expand our IncluCity program into Lincoln High Schools and create opportunities for more people to have crucial conversations around diversity and inclusion.

If you or someone you know in Lincoln or other cities or towns throughout Nebraska or western Iowa are interested in programming from Inclusive Communities, reach out to Cammy Watkins using the link below!
Student Conversation Series
In Spring 2019, Inclusive Communities teamed up with the University of Nebraska Medical Center to create a series of diversity & inclusion conversations and workshops for medical students. "We have workshops and events that discuss unconscious bias, diversity and inclusion for faculty and staff, but there really wasn't anything like this available for students," said Channing Bunch, Director of Recruitment and Student Engagement.

In partnership with Inclusive Communities, UNMC launched a pilot program entitled "Inclusive Nebraska" which included a series of three workshops, each drawing 35-50 students . The workshops covered topics such as “Inclusivity on our Campus,” “Inclusivity in our Career,” and “Inclusivity in our Patient Base.” The goal was to create uncomfortable conversations, while providing a three-fold benefit for students:
  1. Opportunity to become facilitators for Inclusive Communities' events
  2. Opportunity to moderate monthly dialogues
  3. Opportunity to build their resumes for residency

Following the success of the pilot, UNMC plans to continue to grow the program during the 2019-20 school year with monthly workshops on a wider variety of topics. They hope to empower students to take ownership of the series, so it can sustain itself as a student-led program.



Lozier Omaha Table Talk
OTT Facilitation Training
Are you interested in becoming an Omaha Table Talk Facilitator? Do you want to learn to improve your public speaking skills or to guide small group discussions?

Join us for OTT Facilitation Training!
Saturday, September 7
9:00am - 12:00pm
Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center
2019-2020 OTT Season Coming Soon!

We're gearing up for another incredible year of uncomfortable -but crucial- conversations over comfort food. Stay tuned for the full OTT line-up, which will be announced later this month!

If you have any questions on OTT, please contact katherine@inclusive-communities.org .
We thank these IC Board Members for their service!

Inclusive Communities would like to recognize the following board members, whose terms on the board will be ending this month. Thank you to Andrew Rouillard and Kristine Hull for the insights, service, and leadership you have brought to our organization!
Andrew Rouillard
"It has been a pleasure serving on the IC Board for the past six years. The work that IC does is so important, perhaps even more so in today’s climate, and I applaud Maggie Wood and the entire IC team for the outstanding programming they create to help raise awareness of and fight against bigotry and prejudice, and embrace the concepts around diversity AND inclusion."
Kristine Hull
"The mission of  Inclusive  Communities is important to me because I believe deeply in the intrinsic value of all human beings. We're better when we support and build each other up, but there are so many systemic forces that encourage people to separate and tear each other down. I'm proud to be a part of this work in providing education and advocacy opportunities centered around inclusion."