The Corps Network Town Hall: #12 - Corpsmember Liberation and Leadership

Date: Thursday, June 18
Time: 3:45 p.m. ET
Join by computer: https://meetings.ringcentral.com/j/1485887315
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Meeting ID: 148 588 7315

DESCRIPTION:
This session will be led by Mahdi Berwick Davenport, consultant to The Corps Network and facilitator of the Corpsmember Liberation and Leadership workshop: an interactive program that looks to address racial discrimination and how it translates into “internalized oppression” for the young people we serve. Mahdi will be joined by staff from The Corps Network, as well as staff and Corpsmembers from several Corps that have participated in the Corpsmember Liberation and Leadership workshop.

This workshop helps participants understand the impact that trauma as a result of racial discrimination has on them. “Liberation and Leadership” was born from the belief that internalized oppression – that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within – needs to be addressed. We often talk about empowerment, but we first need to talk about disempowerment and the many ways that young people are disempowered the second they step into the "system," which also includes the school system.

In this workshop, Corpsmembers and Corps staff examine how disempowerment manifests itself as accumulated, counterproductive, unconscious habits. They become an internal force moving us in the opposite direction of our self-confidence. This workshop strives to make the invisible, visible. No one can change a condition in their life that they cannot see or understand. Liberation and Leadership wants young trailblazers to be able to identify these patterns and learn how to interrupt and replace them with new life-giving patterns.

Though we began implementation of this workshop last year, we feel that recent events (protests and COVID-19) have made the training even more relevant and necessary. Join us to learn more.

Learn about Mahdi Davenport: https://corpsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Mahdi-Bio.pdf