School & Youth

Our Programming

The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio’s School & Youth Team provides year-round diversity and inclusion centered workshops, conferences, and retreats.  These programs empower youth and youth-serving professionals throughout Northeast Ohio with the skills and abilities to build communities where everyone is connected, respected, and valued.  Students who participate in these programs learn how to become leaders and change agents in their schools.

Our School & Youth programs are customized to the specific needs of the students and educators that we serve.  We allow participants to explore aspects of diversity and build skills in a non-threatening and open environment.  We have a variety of options that are able to fit within any budget.

R.I.S.E. High School Retreat

The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio's Camp RISE (Respect, Inclusion, Social Justice, and Empathy) is a gathering of high school students who will spend 2 ½ days exploring topics of diversity and inclusion through experiential activities and discussions. Camp RISE returns April 18th – April 20th, 2024, with the theme of ACTIVISM: Student Change-Makers.

Through interactive workshops and team-building activities, students will:

  • Practice effective problem solving, collaboration, and leadership.
  • Identify instances of prejudice and examine biased behavior or beliefs.
  • Build relationships with young people from different backgrounds.
  • Shape conflict resolution, self-awareness, and relationship skills.

Camp RISE provides young people with life-changing experiences, fostering respect, integrity, and self-empowerment.

For more information, Click Here.

YouLEAD 

The Diversity Center’s student programs promote understanding, respect, and inclusion through facilitated conversations, simulations, and hands-on activities. YouLEAD (6-12) and YouLEAD Junior (K-5) are our premiere on-site student leadership programs.  Grounded in Social and Emotional Learning, these series of workshops promote the development of self and social awareness, relationship skills, and self-management, and responsible decision making, and action.  Throughout their participation in this series, YouLEAD participants are empowered with the awareness, knowledge and skills needed to be leaders in today’s ever growing, diverse, and changing environments.

After participating in YouLEAD:

  • 88.13% of students agree that they are empowered as an individual to identify diversity challenges within their surroundings and become a positive change agent as a result of the workshop.
  • 90.47% of students agree they are challenged to make better decisions based upon program learning.
  • 78.54% of students agree they have been given the opportunity to understand different perspectives based upon listening opportunities from their peers.
  • 73.49% of students agree that they were reminded to review their own perceptions of others and show appreciation for various diversity differences.
  • 75.28% of students agree that through the program they have been able to practice positive communication skills, both verbal and listening.
  • 85.52% of students agree that they can use what they learned in the session in their daily life.

YouLEAD Junior

(Grades K-2)

  • Diversity 101
  • Anti-Bullying
  • #RethinkBeauty
  • Race and Ethnicity
  • Conflict Resolution

YouLEAD Junior

(Grades 3-5)

Foundations:

  • Diversity 101
  • Conflict Resolution
  • #RethinkLabels
  • Anti-Bullying

General:

  • Race & Ethnicity Part One
  • Race & Ethnicity Part Two
  • #RethinkBeauty

Leadership Development:

  • Problem Solving & Teamwork

YouLEAD

(Grades 6-12)

Foundations:

  • Diversity 101
  • Conflict Resolution 101
  • Bystander Training
  • #RethinkLabels

Identity Specific:

  • Race & Ethnicity
  • Sexuality and Gender Acceptance (SAGA)
  • Socioeconomics
  • Religion, Non-Religion and Spirituality
  • (Dis)Ability
  • #RethinkAmerican
  • #RethinkBeauty

Advanced:

  • Conflict Resolution 102
  • Diversity 102

Leadership Development:

  • Problem Solving & Teamwork
  • Student Leadership
  • Student Facilitation (Series)

Student Facilitation Training

This training helps students refine their leadership and group facilitation skills; provides tools to build community in their clubs, organizations, and schools; and improves their ability to host brave and honest conversations about social justice and diversity topics. Students learn the importance of verbal and nonverbal communication, and practice skills like paraphrasing and the use of open-ended questions in group discussions. These guided discussions and collaborative activities enable students to take on community leadership and peer mentor roles, and assist in small group activities during other DCNEO events and workshops.

Culture and Climate Survey

A school’s culture and climate reflect the behaviors, interactions, attitudes, norms, and perceptions within the school.  These dynamics impact the experiences of everyone in contact with the system.   The experiences of students in relation to diversity, acceptance, inclusion / exclusion and support, influence their growth and development, individual and collective experiences, performance, and outcomes.

The Diversity Center is available to help you assess your institution’s culture and climate for diversity through our Culture and Climate Survey.  This 25-item survey includes a series of questions that gauge the culture and climate of the educational environment, through a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens.  The results of the survey are provided to the school, along with recommendations which can be used to address challenges or further support your various stakeholder groups.

Objectives:

  • Identify the needs of the population surveyed
  • Identify areas of strength and opportunities for growth through a diversity lens
  • Provide strategic plan related or programmatic recommendations

Diversity Through the Arts 

The Diversity Center’s arts-centered  diversity education program integrates music, visual, theatrical, and English language arts with lessons focused on inclusiveness, tolerance, race relations, and communication skills while promoting students' creativity, leadership, and academic  success.

Click Here for more information about Diversity Through the Arts.

  • teen with her Future college student sign

Adult Programming and Consultation Services

Professional Development

The Diversity Center is committed to working with educators and youth-serving professionals to create classrooms where all students are connected, respected, and valued. This environment fosters a healthy learning community in pursuit of academic excellence. Educators and youth-serving professionals can become influential advocates for social justice in schools, districts, or programs with tools and resources shared in the following workshops. Recommended programs are included below, program descriptions are available upon request

  • Bias & Micro Messages
  • Sexuality and Gender Acceptance (SAGA): An LGBTQ+ Workshop for Educators
  • Racial Justice for Educators Series
       -Our History
       -Anti-Racist Praxis and Pedagogy
  • Privilege and Systemic Inequities in the United States (Two-Part Educator Series)
  • Culturally Responsive Teaching & Pedagogy (2 hours)
  • Diverting the School to Prison Pipeline
  • Building Relationships & Creating Inclusive Educational Environments (2 Hours)
  • Navigating Bias and Bullying Online for Educators (3 hours)
  • Leveraging Diversity in Thought

 

Diversity Climate Survey

Measuring an organization’s diversity climate is a best practice for understanding the impact of diversity and inclusion within an organization, tracking and measuring success, and identifying ways to support staff. An organization’s diversity climate can be understood as the extent to which diversity is valued and employees are included in an organization. Inclusion can be measured in the extent to which individuals feel a sense of social cohesion, and the extent to which fair employment practices are implemented for all employees. 

As a way of gathering data on the climate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio utilizes an anonymous online platform to gather participant feedback data. This data is analyzed and compiled into an analysis report SCHOOL. The analysis includes overall data, significant disaggregated findings, and qualitative comments. Quotes from qualitative comments are used as additional evidence to support (or show a different opinion) of what the quantitative data shows. This can serve as important baseline data and can be used to inform future diversity and inclusion work.

The survey covers six main areas:

  • Demographic Information: Participants are asked to fill out demographic questions using the most up-to-date best practices for demographic data collection. This data is used to report demographic data of who answered the survey, and to present disaggregated information for questions with significant findings (i.e., if every or most participants who reported that they are a person of color also reported certain types of discrimination).
  • Perceptions of Climate: Partcipants fill out questions, based on their experiences and observations, about how a variety of different social identities are treated within the context of the overall organization and within their specific department.
  • Professional Development Opportunities: Participants fill out questions about their perceptions of trainings and professional development offered through organization.
  • Experiences of Discrimination and/or Harassment: Participants answer questions about a variety of different instances of discrimination and harassment as it relates to their personal experience and what they have witnessed, and how it relates to social idenities.
  • Deeper Experiences of Organizational Climate & Deeper Experiences of Social Cohesion: Participants fill out a series of questions related to their experience in their job and their social experiences in the workplace.

For more information on Educator Training please contact us at programs@diversitycenterneo.org

#Rethink Series

The Diversity Center, in partnership with Goldfarb Weber Creative Media, is proud to present #RethinkLabels, a video and corresponding two-day lesson plan for reducing bias and stereotypes in the classroom.

Click here to download this FREE lesson plan

#RethinkLabels with Spanish subtitles. Watch by clicking the link below

Click Here: 

Watch the 2016 #RethinkLabels follow up video!

 

 

 

Our Team:

Amanda Cooper, Ph.D.
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Email 

 

All of our programs align with Ohio State Learning and Social Emotional Learning Standards

SEL

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