Raising Funds for Village Connect
What is Free Yourself First?
Free Yourself First is a 3-week intensive for white people who are ready to heal, awaken, and engage in ending racism. This is an opportunity for white folks to liberate their hearts and minds so they can work with wholehearted intention and clarity for the liberation of all people.
Free Yourself First is justice work with a solid spiritual foundation. Connecting with ourselves, each other, and racism on a deeper level, we’ll pursue personal growth and development to heal the patterns we’ve inherited from our ancestors and society. We believe that the only way to make real change is to reach people’s hearts.
If you’re a white person who joins this journey, know that the work will be difficult but ultimately uplifting. Here’s what you can expect:
-
Defuse your fears and triggers so you can show up centered and stable to difficult conversations.
-
Alchemize your pain, guilt, and shame into energy and purpose.
-
Gain skills for empathic dialogue to be more compassionate and connected, no matter the situation.
-
Develop your Anti-Racist Action Plan based on your own gifts, capacities, and interests.
-
Receive support and accountability to implement the actions in your plan.
Curriculum & Program Details:
The program’s core is a series of three interactive sessions held on Zoom, 2:30 – 5:00 pm PT on three consecutive Saturdays.
August 8 // Session 1: The True History of Race in America
Examine the history of systemic racism, uncovering new truths and ancestral stories. Connect the dots from the past to the present in order to acknowledge the pain and make room for forgiveness and compassion.
August 15 // Session 2: Our Present Predicament
Our current reality is rife with economic inequalities, lack of civil liberties, inflated health care costs, educational disparities, and more. By learning about where we’re at, we can make choices towards a new paradigm of humanity.
August 22 // Session 3: A More Equitable Future and Effective Strategies for Action
Through practices of self-actualization, we acquire the guts to speak truth to power, form new alliances, be in partnership, and manifest a new world. This work is solely dependent upon the microcosm – that’s you – to reflect the macrocosm.
In addition to these sessions, there will be:
-
Weekly office hours (Wednesdays at 10 am PT) for your additional questions.
-
Weekly check-ins with your 3-person Accountability and Action Team.
-
A Reflection and Completion Session on August 29, 2:30 – 4pm PT.
-
Recordings of all of the sessions and office hours in case you can’t join us live.
-
Additional resources (worksheets, workbooks, learning materials).
Sign up closes on Friday, August 7 at 12pm PT. The journey begins as soon as you sign up, so commit today and be part of our community!
Suggested Donation
Proceeds from this course will go to Village Connect (VC), a community-based 501(c)3, founded by Gaylon Logan. Since 2009 VC has offered pathways for individuals, families, and groups to transformations that are innovative, tailored, comprehensive, and continuous. VC meets children and adults where they are – at schools, community-based organizations, re-entry services, and social networks. Using a radical, culturally-congruent, holistic, and community-driven approach, VC supports the mental health and wellness of the most vulnerable families in the S.F. Bay Area by reducing stress, improving relationships, and increasing self-efficacy and fulfillment. Learn more about our radical, holistic approach and work at www.village-connect.org.
There are three levels of donation:
A $500 Supporter Donation supports Village Connect and our scholarship fund. We ask you to contribute at this level if you have the resources available, or if you’re being sponsored by your organization or company.
A $250 Sustaining Donation also contributes to Village Connect and sustains our facilitators, and offsets lost funding to COVID-19.
A Donation That Fits Your Budget is welcome. We trust you to stretch and contribute as much as you can to support this work.
We also invite additional donations to Village Connect.
* All donations are fully tax-deductible *
About The Race and Reconciliation Project:
The Race and Reconciliation Project is Gaylon Logan, Wanda K. Whitaker, and Peter Rubin. Our mission is to circumvent racial injustices and sow seeds of consciousness through compassionate education and dialogue in order to make positive social change from the inside out.
Gaylon Logan, Jr. is the Founder and Executive Director of Village Connect, a visionary, mentor, and master coach. For the past twenty years, he has worked to develop and implement a comprehensive integrated system of care that employs individual, group, family, and community coaching as a core approach that paves the way for communities to heal, grow and achieve social sustainability. Gaylon is an organizational development consultant, a highly effective workshop and seminar facilitator, Conflict Resolution Coach, and local/national motivational speaker, delivering profound perspectives on fatherhood, motivating and guiding youth of color towards success, and effective relationships, and community organizing. Learn more about Gaylon at www.village-connect.org.
Wanda K. Whitaker is a certified hypnotherapist, spiritual life coach, visionary artist, humanitarian, and internationalist, with a background in community activism and service. She was VP of the Board of Directors at Global Exchange, an international human rights organization, and has served as a volunteer in numerous capacities. Wanda is certified in several energy and emotional healing modalities including Reiki healing and a process of eliminating emotional interference patterns of DNA; she conducts workshops and teaches classes about art and healing, manifestation, self-discovery and exploration often incorporating science and using the symbolism in her artwork as a way to educate participants. In 2006, she launched Indigo Unlimited LLC, an umbrella of spiritual and personal development services and products and later, Anchored In Spirit, in 2008. The ventures are designed to empower individuals to reach their highest potential through promoting self-improvement, wellbeing, self-discovery and spiritual awareness. Learn more about Wanda at www.anchoredinspirit.com.
Peter Rubin is a transformational coach, facilitator, Master NLP Practitioner, and energy worker who’s passionate about racial justice. Since 2008, he’s been on a personal and spiritual growth journey, which led him to unpack white privilege and dive into anti-racist work in 2012. In 2015, he took a 2-year training to become a certified diversity facilitator through StirFry Seminars, which was the most meaningful and humbling educational experience of his life. He holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and applies his analytical mind to understanding and explaining the complex systemic issues at hand, while bringing a huge heart to these difficult and messy conversations. In his private practice, he specializes in working with men, helping them create extraordinary lives and lead from the heart. Learn more about Peter at www.peterkrubin.com.
F.A.Q.
Q: What is the time commitment?
A: The commitment is significant but manageable Each week you will be in a 2.5-hour Group Session, a 1-hour Accountability and Action Pod call, and an optional 1-hour Office Hours call. There will also be about an hour of material (short videos, articles, etc.) for you to review between sessions, as well as any real-world actions you commit to taking.
Q: What is the process for scholarships?
A: Apply for a scholarship with this form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible with a scholarship proposal for you. All scholarships are partial and depend on other folks contributing at the Supporter level.
Q: Is my donation tax-deductible?
A: Yes! Because this program is sponsored by VC, a 501(c)3 non-profit, all the proceeds go directly to programming, allowing us to offer this learning experience to you as a fully tax-deductible donation.
Q: Why is this program only for white people?
A: Our learning from our last workshop, Healing the Racial Divide, was that there was more work to be done within our racial groups, where we could safely express ourselves without doing harm, before attempting reconciliation between races. That’s why we’ve decided to focus this course on white allies. If this isn’t you, join our interest list here and stay tuned for our future workshops.
If you have any additional questions, please email us at team@racialhealing.net
Gaylon, Wanda, and Peter
The Free Yourself First Team