Embracing Authenticity: Highlights from Citizen Schools at the 2024 MSA Conference
Citizen Schools staff Shanay Reed, Victoria Thornton, and Meme Cisse at the Conference on Volunteerism in Worcester, MA.
The excitement and anticipation was palpable. As attendees registered and entered the ballroom to hear the opening keynote address, the energy spread from table to table. Everyone was eager to learn, excited to make new professional connections, ready to take concrete tools back to their organizations, and hungry to be challenged in the learning environment.
It was Citizen Schools’ second time leading a workshop at the 2024 Massachusetts Service Alliance Conference on Volunteerism in Worcester, MA. The day brought together nonprofit leaders and executives, board members, and volunteer administrators to explore new trends in volunteerism, discover new strategies for challenges that nonprofits face, and receive resources to build the capacity of their organizations. This year’s theme was Redefining Leadership with Authenticity; this prompted attendees to reflect on the ways they can improve their organizations’ volunteer diversity, while cultivating an authentic and inclusive culture for their stakeholders and communities. The keynote address, given by Christal M. Cherry who is the Principal and CEO of The Board Pro, implored us to first take a self-assessment of the biases and predispositions that we bring to our work. For one to lead with authenticity, they must first look inward to understand how their lived experiences have shaped their perspective of others and the world around them. Once that work is done, we can then begin to lead with intentionality, elevate and listen to all the voices in the room, and appropriately share the responsibility to build and sustain an inclusive and effective nonprofit culture. She emphasized the significance of these points by leaving us with the following quote:
“Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”
Citizen Schools leads a workshop called “Bringing Your Authentic Self to Your Nonprofit”.
With the Conference opening with these insightful thoughts, everyone was hungry to dive into the workshops and learn from the speakers. From discovering strategies that would solve the refugee crisis in Massachusetts to unpacking disability and inclusion in volunteer management, there was a wide array of workshop options for participants to attend.
The Citizen Schools team, composed of Meme Cisse, Operations Manager, Shanay Reed, Educator Development Manager, and Victoria Thornton, Director of Volunteer Engagement, led a workshop entitled “Bringing Your Authentic Self to Your Nonprofit”. In the session, the team set out to answer the question, how will you support your volunteers and staff in cultivating a growth mindset to promote a culture of inclusion and belonging? The session started by helping participants unearth workplace norms that are rooted in white supremacy culture. Direct connections were then made to how those behaviors appear in our nonprofit work and volunteer management practices. This dynamic exercise stirred the workshop participants to think critically about their own work norms and the way those norms perpetuate the various -isms that we aim to dismantle in our communities. Finally, using Citizen Schools as a case study, the team shared innovative strategies and tools that the organization employed that promoted a culture of lifelong learning, nurtured volunteer empathy through diversity, and encouraged vulnerability to assess biased policies and language. Centering a growth mindset as the dominant way to bring your authentic self to your work, the team left the participants motivated to embrace challenges and setbacks as the fuel for their learning and development.
Victoria Thornton, Director of Volunteer Engagement, helps participants think critically about their own workplace norms.
The day left everyone motivated and inspired. Although we know that cultivating an inclusive and equitable nonprofit environment is hard work, we were empowered to bring the tools we gathered back to our organizations and begin diving in. Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” We came together at the 2024 MSA Conference on Volunteerism, we can stay and progress together in the Citizen Schools Learning Network, and as we work together we will become the catalysts for change we want to see in our communities.