Articles about NCBI's Work
Institutions of higher education are facing rising antisemitism on campus, which profoundly affects both Jewish and non-Jewish faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Jewish students have been the target of overt expressions of antisemitism, which in many cases, has prompted college administrators to respond decisively to the problem. Sometimes, however, there have been debates as to what writings, events, or speech are antisemitic, often leading to confusion about what actions to take. To deal with the complex issues of antisemitism in the context of higher education, the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI), an international leadership-training organization, has created a new program to empower Jewish and non-Jewish students, faculty, and staff to identify antisemitism and work constructively with campus partners in addressing the issue. The goals of the training program include understanding antisemitism as a systemic oppression, using criteria to evaluate when something is antisemitic, recruiting and building allies, and working with others to stay in coalition to take on all forms of oppression even when things get hard.
Cherie R. Brown and Amy Leos-Urbel. A Jewish person is out with friends and someone makes a remark about Jews’ controlling the media. The Jewish person decides to let the comment pass, but in thinking about it later realizes it was hurtful and anti-Semitic. She mentions it to a trusted friend and gets brushed off with the response, “Oh, don’t say that. I know that person. They aren’t anti-Semitic.” The Jewish person suddenly doubts herself. She vows to think twice before raising the issue of anti-Semitism again.
The rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and Europe has concerned many. Most people are clear that something is anti-Semitic when there is a shooting at a synagogue or a swastika- burning on a lawn. But what about the day-to-day oppressive behaviors that target Jews? When do oppressive behaviors constitute anti-Semitism? Overt acts of anti-Semitism do not just happen. They follow days, weeks, and years of daily acts of anti-Semitism. Therefore, understanding the nature of these daily oppressive behaviors is key to stopping overt, violent forms of anti-Semitism.
1996 C.R. Brown & G.J. Mazza, The Humanistic Psychologist In this piece, an overview of NCBI models of anti-oppression work is presented with a focus on two principles: 1) care must be given to individuals to heal past wounds that prevent them from taking effective grassroots leaership; and 2) grassroots political activism, rooted in a spirit of community-based cooperation and team work, brings about systemic institutional change.
2012
This is a transcript of a focus group interview with teachers and administrators in the Antioch Unified School District who participated in an NCBI TTT . Conducted by the NCBI CEO and NCBI Consultant, the purpose of the focus group was to gather input on how effective NCBI has been in their schools.
2013 Cherie Brown and Joyce Shabazz In 2009 the Antioch School District was sued by the ACLU of Northern California for racial disparities in discipline. Leadership training by the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) was built into the remedy in the final settlement agreement between the ACLU and Antioch School District. For the past five years NCBI has partnered with the School District to implement a system wide comprehensive initiative working with the school board, administrators, teachers, parents, staff and students to change school climate and thereby reducing racial disparities in discipline.
2010 Mark Ferriter, Amy Hill, Kelly McGuire, and Jeanette Prodgers, The University of Montana
High school bullying and violence have become a well documented cultural reality for many of our youth. High schools across Montana and the country are looking at educational and intervention-based strategies to address this growing concern. Four social work graduate students at the University Montana examined the efficacy of a violence prevention program at Big Sky High School in Missoula, Montana. This program follows a model designed by the Missoula chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI Missoula). NCBI Missoula is an organization that provides training to reduce prejudice, prevent violence, and resolve conflict, while identifying and implementing strategies to strengthen communities and institutions.
1995 C.R. Brown, Tikkun
In this article, the NCBI CEO discusses her work in forming alliances between Black and Jewish communities. The author asserts that Blacks and Jews can be won over to effective alliance building, not by denying the very real economic and psychological barriers between the groups, but by tackling these barriers directly.
2012 Mike Wegner, W. K. Kellogg Foundation
This Kellogg Foundation report seeks to 1) understand the approach to anti-racism activities that has sustained NCBI and 2) examine what can be learned from its approach that may be valuable to other organizations engaged in anti-racism activities. This is not intended to be a full-scale description of the work of NCBI, nor is it intended to be an assessment or evaluation of its work. The goal of this report is to learn what can be learned from NCBI’s experiences, the best practices that have evolved from these experiences and to share these lessons with other organizations that might benefit from them.
1996 F. Rice, Forbes
This article focuses on how the Denny’s restaurant chain, once accused of being one of America’s most racist companies, has become a model of multicultural sensitivity. The article highlights the work that CEO Ron Petty has done to repair the company’s image; the impact on Flagstar, Denny’s parent, focusing on minority hiring, development and advancement; Flagstar CEO Jim Adamson and techniques used to sort out racist employees; and Denny’s training program.
2001 D. M. Chavis (ASDC)
This piece is an evaluation report which outlines the effectiveness of NCBI and documents promising practices (see Promising Practices document). This project was made possible by an grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. The purpose of the grant was to develop and strengthen the capacity of the NCBI chapters.
1996 C.R. Brown, Tikkun
In this article, the author explores the four principals to move from a politics of materialism to a politics of meaning. 1. Break the addictive habit of seeking comfort. Ignoring what is going on around us in order to seek comforts greatly limits our vision and inhibits us from moving towards the politics of meaning. 2. Have a deliberate, systematic process for emotional healing. Create opportunities for us to grieve and let our pain be heard. 3. Reclaim courage. Identifying and combating the fears that are present in our lives will give us courage to reclaim pride. 4. End the mistreatment of leaders: Simply criticizing the work of our leaders is often a reflection of our own limitations. It is critical to end leadership oppression to move forward to a politics of meaning.
1992 C.R. Brown, Woman of Power
This article is an interview with the director and founder of NCBI and the organization, Women of Power. The interview explores topics on coalition building, conflicts, misinformation about one’s own group, and ways to build trust and inclusion by combating oppression. It is vital to end the oppression of women in order to build alliances, heal pain, and create a more just and inclusive world.
1996 C. R. Brown, NIDR Forum
In this article, the author examines the NCBI controversial issue process by providing context to the process and examples. Additionally, the article highlights the key stages in the process which are listening, sharing of personal stories, and using conflict resolution techniques. To move forward with policies that are inclusive it is essential to offer a systematic technique to deal with highly contentious issues.
1992 C.R. Brown, Nations Cities Weekly
This article focuses on the tools that NCBI teams have in dealing with issues of violence and racism by discussing the importance of being an ally. Violent acts are attempts to show others what has been done to us in order to draw attention to our own pain. The first step in dismantling a person’s rage is to allow them to go back in time to the moment when they were mistreated and say whatever they wish they could have to the person who caused them the pain. The process of sharing personal stories not only allows the person who was mistreated the opportunity to talk about their pain but it also provides the people listening a greater understanding of that persons pain and creates ally-ship.
2004
This article provides an in-depth look and analysis of the NCBI One-Day Prejudice Reduction Workshop from a theoretical background. It looks at the psychological prospective of the different modules of the workshop by providing context analysis. Furthermore, the article disseminates the process, design, intended effects, strengths and challenges, and theory of practice and change.
1991 C.R. Brown & G.J. Mazza, New Directions for Student Services This article reviews how to develop a campus affiliate team. Operational assumptions governing NCBI training programs are outlined. In addition, the series of exercises included in the model are detailed with the corresponding theory and methodology.
2001, NCBI
This document outlines promising practices that were identified after seventeen years as an organization. Nine promising practices are identified and summarized into three categories: building constituencies, becoming allies and transforming institutions. Each promising practice is associated with stories from people who have used the NCBI principles to change their communities.
1993 C. R. Brown, NCBI
In this piece NCBI Founder, Cherie Brown, delivers the Keynote address at “Diversity Day” at Sidwell School. Brown highlights the importance of including everyone when doing diversity work. She also shares the power of changing attitudes by sharing stories. Brown also reviews four conflict resolution skills: listening, reaching for the hurt underneath, reaching for higher ground and reaching for humanity within others.
March 2017 Fabienne Brooks, Chief (retired), King County Sheriff’s Office and Co-Director/ Consultant Law Enforcement Programs, NCBI; IACP Associate Member.
In this blog article, the authors relates the lessons learned from a year-long project to improve police interaction with the community NCBI led in Mantua, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA in 2016.
1993 Itabari Njeri, Los Angeles Times This article outlines the effectiveness of the NCBI model and methodology following several racially charged incidents in Los Angeles in the early 1990’s. The article highlights NCBI as an organization which distinguishes itself from other diversity training organization by emphasizing the belief that all forms of oppression are linked. The article outlines how the controversial issues process can be used to resolve issues when there is disagreement.
1993 Itabari Njeri, Los Angeles Times This article outlines the effectiveness of the NCBI model and methodology following several racially charged incidents in Los Angeles in the early 1990’s. The article highlights NCBI as an organization which distinguishes itself from other diversity training organization by emphasizing the belief that all forms of oppression are linked. The article outlines how the controversial issues process can be used to resolve issues when there is disagreement.