ACPE’s Anti-Bias Working Group: What’s That?

Did you know ACPE has an Anti-Bias Working Group (ABWG)? Have you ever wondered what we do? As we begin work in 2022, we see our work as integral to ACPE’s mission, vision and values. ACPE’s mission is to positively affect people’s lives by nurturing connections to the sacred through experiential education and spiritual care. The ABWG’s mission is to resource ACPE to embed and embrace anti-bias and antiracism at every level and at every expression of our organization. ACPE’s vision is to create measurable and appreciable improvement in spiritual health that transforms people and communities in the US and across the globe. The ABWG’s vision is to champion the anti-bias and anti-racist orientation and practices that are essential to cultivating spiritual health and wellbeing. 

To work toward this mission and vision, we commit and invite commitment from across ACPE and partnering organizations to understand, cultivate and maintain justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) as foundational to our work, and to wellbeing and respect for all, among us and those we serve in spaces of learning and healing; develop a growth mindset in addressing bias in all of ACPE’s processes, using open problem-solving approaches to challenges and conflict, addressing systemic oppressions through analyses of social determinants and structural dynamics shaping our realities; create a culture of feedback that demonstrates power-awareness and power sharing through co-creation of goals, plans, behaviors and means of evaluation; create more opportunities for innovation, insightful and relational dialogue in community, and just collegiality, as we hold each other accountable for exploring our biases.

Here are the specific tasks our Anti-Bias Working Group engages: 

Champion JEDI focus 

ABWG to vet vendors to support intersectional, multi-bias, multi-level approach to JEDI across all domains.  

ABWG empowers task-forces to coordinate and collaborate on JEDI assessments/plans for Ethics, Certification, and Accreditation, and develop/locate education resources. 

• Language/immigration, race and religion/values task forces are assessing CEC competencies in first half of 2022 and will then meet with Certification; SOGI, ableism are assessing CEC competencies in the second half of the year. 
• Religion/values task force is reviewing Level I and Level II Outcomes. 

Explore using ACPE Foundation funds to support internal consultations (especially BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ persons assisting commissions or centers out of their lived experience/expertise/emotional labor). 

Develop growth mindset informed by systemic analysis.

All board members and commission members undertake basic anti-racism or anti-bias training. 

ABWG locate and share a resource for flagging bias and addressing it in the moment; request users of resource to share what’s learned. 

Standardize exploration of impact of bias in the work of ACPE entities, including the board and all commissions and committees, as well as whenever addressing conflicts, challenges, and revisions of practice. 

Create a culture of feedback 

ABWG normalizes presence of bias and commitment to address it in the moment. Check bias as it occurs. Ask at end of every meeting where it showed up. 

ABWG collaborates with other entities in identification of flows of power in ACPE and how bias can be checked in those flows: budgets, decision-gates, accrediting processes and decisions, certification processes and decisions, ethics processes and decisions. 

ABWG collaborates in identifying planning and evaluation processes among staff, between staff and board, and within and among commissions and committees. Leadership development needs particular attention. 

ABWG celebrates curiosity and learning of better approaches to eliminating bias and embrace JEDI. 

Create opportunities for just collegiality 

ABWG invites Communities of Practice to explore ways to identify and eliminate instances of bias in their processes, gatherings and functioning. 

ABWG invites dialogue with Professional Wellbeing about peer reviews and other avenues of developing accountable collegiality and learning/development opportunities. Plan to implement clear accountability measures in peer review format for use beginning in 2023. Gather feedback from Certified Educators on use of peer review format. 

ABWG invites all gathering organizers to explore ways to identify and eliminate instances of bias in their processes, gatherings and functioning, and to use gatherings as means of developing a culture of feedback, JEDI and belonging. 

Create a communication plan to gather and share the work of the ABWG but also other work happening around ACPE on JEDI and anti-bias efforts. 

• Reports to board at each meeting 
• Posting to COPs and in newsletter monthly 
  

Report on Prior Work 

2019 Plan 

• Initial survey and data collection and analysis regarding (a) experience of bias and (b) what kind of anti-bias training one has engaged and (c) what kind of challenges one has had, whether self-acknowledged experiential or an actual grievance process. 
• Identify what products or services we need to build or buy. Fund members of Anti-Bias group to attend Crossroads training or trainings by other organizations. 
• Intensive education efforts initially and then maintenance going forward 
• Anti-bias training for board in next fiscal year and every other year going forward 
• Anti-bias education component in every annual gathering 
• Develop multiyear process with anti-bias as a throughline through all our processes: certification, accreditation, budgeting, partnerships.  

2020 Plan 

• Year 2020: survey and focus groups, communication of findings with the initial plan.  
• Contract with Crossroads to provide two-day anti-bias training for board. 

2021 Plan 

• Year 2021: focus annual conference theme on anti-bias.  
• Keynote speakers on anti-bias  
• Crossroads to offer Critical Cultural Competency and Intro to Systematic Racism: intensive training for leaders and all attendees 
• Other presenters on topic: board members, Certified Educators 
• Commissions consider what changes are needed in their areas based on anti-bias perspective 

Thank you so much for supporting the members of our Anti-Bias Working Group: Tammerie Day, Malu Fairley-Collins, Melissa Lemons, Mary Martha Thiel, Michael Washington, Cristina Garcia-Alfonso, Katherine Higgins, Marc Medwed and Danielle Buhuro.