CommonGround StreetChoir
Tamara Lebak's Sermon
Community Engagement
You can also visit the 2015 SotSoL Conference in Photographs:
"Standing on the Side of Leadership"
"This conference isn't just for leaders with titles; it's for those who want to participate in the important work of throwing open our congregation's doors."
So let's learn how we can open those doors, and let people know they are open!
Standing on the Side of Leadership
"Breaking Down Walls; Building Bridges"
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,
do more and become more, you are a leader."
- John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States and Unitarian forefather
With these words in mind, NTUUC’s annual Standing on the Side of Leadership Conference focused on developing new skills and opportunities for effective community engagement in a multi-cultural world. The morning sessions, led by Rev. Tamara Lebak, concentrated on Cultural Competence, the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds, particularly in the context of organizations. Ginny Goldman, Texas’ Executive Director of Texas Organizing Project started the afternoon session which continued with breakouts offering a variety of ways to apply knowledge gained in the morning into action in North Texas.
June 13th, 2015
First Unitarian Church of Dallas
2015 Conference Videos and Photo Galleries will be coming shortly.
Rev. Tamara Lebak was featured in a TEDx talked published on Oct 27, 2014.
This is the video Tamara referred to during the morning presentation. This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. in uniform or out, we are essentially the same person. Yet, people engage us differently whenever representing a group while in uniform. What's that about? A secret social experiment and Tamara's personal experience engage this topic in a fascinating way.
Please do not reproduce this material without permission.
Copyright 2015 Tamara Lebak. All rights reserved.
Program Details
Welcome
Anita Mills, NTUUC President
Anita Mills
Keynote Address - Part I & II:
"Cultural Competence"
Presenter: Rev. Tamara Lebak
Rev. Tamara Lebak
The Rev. Tamara Lebak, UU Minister, Organizational Consultant and Executive Coach, will introduce the core skills and goals of Cultural Competence in a keynote presentation and interactive workshop.
Rev. Tamara Lebak said in a recent training for her ministerial colleagues that “we must first understand our own culture if we want to be more open to our neighbors.” This statement aptly captures both the starting place and the ultimate goal of cultural competence, an essential ingredient for building and growing robust multi-cultural, multi-racial communities.
"In Our Own Tongues"
In the Hebrew scriptures, the story of the Tower of Babel warns us against the arrogance that can arise in assuming that we are all speaking the same language and having the same experience. God separates the languages and the cultures and it is good, for we are freed from our arrogance (in theory) and the mystery of God is lifted up once again. In the Christian Scriptures in Acts, the Holy Spirit descends upon a group of people all speaking different languages and allows those present to understand foreigners as though they were speaking in their own tongues. This passage suggests an underlying unity in our diversity, a theme that carries throughout Acts. As we look at the nature of our work in multicultural and intercultural settings the most important work we can do is understanding our own culture and language and being able to listen from the perspective of another cultural point of view without losing site of our own power. I will introduce the concept of cultural competency and the power of this model for our work in congregations and the community.
Tamara Lebak is a noted UU Minister, author, and trainer. Currently serving as an adjunct minister at the All Souls UU Church in Tulsa, she is also a Gestalt-trained Organizational Development Consultant and ICF-Certified Executive coach with six years experience working with C-Suite level executives in corporate and nonprofit settings. Her change management experience focuses on social and emotional intelligence, cultural competency, and maneuvering between multiple levels of system.
Tamara's consulting, training, and coaching is grounded in her philosophy that our values should guide our priorities. Our perception of others and how we are perceived affects our individual and organizational impact and living our values in our relationships and in the workplace. Emotions impact leadership, alignment, credibility, and cultural competency. Tamara is dedicated to developing effective leaders, raising emotional and cultural awareness, promoting truthfulness and authenticity, and ultimately contributing to creating a more just and compassionate world.
Here is the resource list Tamara offered at the workshop:
Whiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It Second Edition Paperback –
January 16, 2010
by Shelly Tochluk
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About
Race
Jan 17, 2003
by Beverly Daniel Tatum
What If?: Short Stories to Spark Diversity Dialogue
May 8, 2008
by Steve Long-Nguyen Robbins
The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb
Jan 1, 1993
by Rev. Eric Law
White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
Sep 13, 2011
by Tim Wise
Tamara Lebak PCC, M.Div
underthecollarinoklahoma.blogspot.com
www.face2faceconsulting.us
www.celebratingdifference.com
Luncheon Speaker
"Engaging Texas Communities"
Presenter: Ginny Goldman
Veteran Community and Electoral Organizer
Ginny Goldman
What does it take to effectively organize multi-racial, multi-cultural communities to ignite progressive change in Texas? Ginny Goldman, founder and executive director of the Texas Organizing Project (TOP), will share her insights gained during fifteen years of successful community and electoral organizing.
Since its founding in 2009, TOP has become the leading voter-turnout organizations in the state focused on communities of color. TOP currently has a staff of forty-five working in the largest metro areas in the state, with a base of more than 40,000 members and supporters. Recent TOP successes include blocking a $92 million tax rebate for oil giant Valero Energy, winning an alternative disciplinary program in twenty-five DISD schools to tackle the “School to Prison Pipeline” problem, and securing a historic agreement with the Mayor of Houston to invest $100 million in low-income neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Ike.
Ginny Goldman’s experience prior to founding TOP includes directing the Texas chapter of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN). She also worked as a neighborhood organizer in Chicago where her work contributed to reforming the discriminatory lending practices of local banks, and massive EPA clean-up of a contaminated industrial sites in the most populated Latino residential area.
Voters Make a Difference
PRESENTERS: Panel Discussion
PROGRAM:
In this session you will learn why voting is important to all citizens and one of the chief responsibilities of being a citizen in the United States and the State of Texas. Unfortunately voter turnout has always been abysmally low – in the last general election only 34% of registered voters went to the polls. Who votes and who doesn’t vote will be analyzed.
Our panel of experts will discuss get out the vote activities (GOTV) and voter registration opportunities in Dallas County. Information about how to become a certified Deputy Registrar will be explained. In the state of Texas it is now a legal requirement to obtain a Deputy Registrar certificate to receive voter registration data from potential voters that is submitted to the Dallas County Elections Office for issuance of a legal voter registration card.
Qualified and highly experienced representatives from the League of Women Voters of Dallas, TeamDallas Votes, and the Democracy Team from the First Unitarian Church Dallas, will provide the information needed for every citizen to become active in voter registration and GOTV.
Cultural Competency - "Going Deeper"
PRESENTER: Tamara Lebak
Rev. Tamara Lebak
Important: If you are interested in signing up for this workshop, you need to contact Lyssa Jenkens by telephone at (214) 477-7291 or by email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before registering.
PROGRAM:
Understanding our own resistances can be a great step to recognizing how we make sense of intercultural work. We will examine resistances in detail as it pertains to cultural competency work in congregations. You will meet a group of people who want to do this work in your region and begin to go deeper with them in this difficult and rewarding work.
Tamara Lebak is a noted UU Minister, author, and trainer. Currently serving as an adjunct minister at the All Souls UU Church in Tulsa, she is also a Gestalt-trained Organizational Development Consultant and ICF-Certified Executive coach with six years experience working with C-Suite level executives in corporate and nonprofit settings. Her change management experience focuses on social and emotional intelligence, cultural competency, and maneuvering between multiple levels of system.
Tamara's consulting, training, and coaching is grounded in her philosophy that our values should guide our priorities. Our perception of others and how we are perceived affects our individual and organizational impact and living our values in our relationships and in the workplace. Emotions impact leadership, alignment, credibility, and cultural competency. Tamara is dedicated to developing effective leaders, raising emotional and cultural awareness, promoting truthfulness and authenticity, and ultimately contributing to creating a more just and compassionate world.
A Noble Harvest for Organized Justice in Texas
PRESENTER: Rev. Chuck Freeman
PROGRAM:
In the late 1880’s the lives of Rev. James Billings and his wife Mary were fully immersed in promoting Universalism in Texas. They founded the Universalist Convention in Texas and All Souls Church in Hico. They lamented that people took “much more pains to support their partial, cruel, and sorrow producing faith, while we do much less to support this most blessed faith.” They warned that “organized error will outdistance unorganized truth every time.” However, they firmly believed that “we have a grand future before us for a noble harvest in Texas.”
The Texas UU Justice Ministry is here to fulfill this promise!
Rev. Chuck Freeman
Rev. Chuck Freeman, Executive Director of TXUUJM, has been a UU Minister in Austin since 1996. He has served our District (SWUUC) in many capacities including the District Board, Adult Program Director of SWUUSI, and President of our UUMA chapter.
Chuck is one of the founding Ministers of the Texas Freedom Network with Cecile Richards in 1995. He is the first and only UU to be a full time Board member of Texas Impact. Rev. Freeman also serves on the executive committee of our national UU State Advocacy Networks.
External Projects - The Texas Organizing Project
PRESENTER: Ginny Goldman
PROGRAM:
The Texas Organizing Project (TOP) operates a Dallas office in the Oak Cliff neighborhood. In this workshop, Ginny Goldman and local TOP organizers will discuss opportunities for North Texans to support and participate in specific projects in Dallas and beyond.
Key campaigns for TOP include voter participation, immigrant rights, fair-wage jobs, public education and other, locally defined initiatives. This is a great opportunity to join with our neighbors to work for justice for all!
Ginny Goldman
Ginny Goldman's experience prior to founding TOP includes directing the Texas chapter of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN). She also worked as a neighborhood organizer in Chicago where her work contributed to reforming the discriminatory lending practices of local banks, and massive EPA clean-up of a contaminated industrial sites in the most populated Latino residential area.
Broad Based Organizing
PRESENTER: Walker Moore
PROGRAM:
What is "Broad Based Organizing," and what does it look like? Participants will learn the basic elements of institution-based community organizing, and learn more about efforts in Texas.
Walker Moore
Walker Moore is a Senior Organizer for Dallas Area Interfaith (DAI), which is a part of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) network. He joined the organization in 2012. Prior to Dallas, Walker organized for six years in Waco, TX.
Walker has worked with institutions to address the immigration crisis, strengthen their internal relationships, turn around low-performing schools, improve healthcare systems and significantly decrease neighborhood crime. He has a B.A. in Biblical Languages from Oklahoma Baptist University, a Master of Social Work from Baylor University, and a Master of Divinity from George W. Truett Theological Seminary. Walker is married to Tasha Moore, who also received her M.S.W. and M.Div. degrees from Baylor.
Closing Ceremony featuring the Common Ground Street Choir
The Common Ground Street in action at the State Capitol!