NICNE, in partnership with United Way of Northwest Illinois (UWNI) and United Way of Rock River Valley (UWRRV) is offering FREE diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) trainings for nonprofit staff, board members and volunteers during Spring 2021.

These trainings, made possible by funds awarded by the Healing Illinois Initiative, will be facilitated by Dr. Adrienne Coleman Ed. D., CDP and Traci D. Ellis, JD, SHRM-SCP of Candid Conversations Matter, LLC (CCM). Dr. Coleman and Dr. Ellis are senior leaders in their respective organizations working to address bias and inequities in access and opportunity for historically marginalized groups, and helping organizations create equitable, diverse, and inclusive work environments.

Dr. Coleman and Dr. Ellis will increase your personal awareness of how unconscious biases impact organizational outcomes, and how a lack of awareness about concepts such as White privilege/fragility, systemic inequities, and a lack of cultural competency and cultural humility, combine to impact the development of a diverse and inclusive environment, and ultimately undermine otherwise sincere and constructive DEI-related changes. CCM will take you on a deep dive into systemic racism and work with you to build capacity to address racially based inequities. Tools to assess and examine policies, practices, programs and resources through a racial equity lens will be shared.

Training will be presented across four two-hour workshops from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on the following Fridays. Each session will build upon the previous one and include:

• February 5 - Foundation of DEI-related Definitions, Concepts, Theories, and Exercises

• March 5 - Equity-mindedness

• April 9 - Cultural Competence

• May 7 - Anti-Racism

Candid Conversations Matter, LLC (CCM) is a company created by Dr. Adrienne Coleman in the late fall of 2018 to advance DEI work among clients outside of her full-time employment. Dr. Coleman invited Traci D. Ellis, JD, SHRMSCP to work with her as an independent consultant. Together, they have a combined expertise of over 30 years in leading deep and impactful diversity, equity and inclusion work in government, nonprofit, K-12 and higher education sectors.



Dr. Coleman and Dr. Ellis are senior leaders in their respective organizations specifically addressing bias and inequities in access and opportunity for historically marginalized groups, as well as helping organizations create equitable, diverse and inclusive environments. They are equally adept at addressing systems on the institutional and societal levels and provide workshop focused on DEI, Implicit Bias, Cultural Competence, Social Justice and services and assessments focused on DEI research, DEI policy development, DEI strategic planning, coaching, talent acquisition, e-curriculum development and other related topics.