Racial Justice ↘

The YWCA Racial Justice Department works to promote racial justice, advocacy, and equity throughout Northwest Ohio. We strive to transform communities, systems, and public policy by providing education and bringing awareness to systemic racism using the following discussion based learning tools. We’re hosting anti-racism workshops, webinars, book discussions, conferences, and so much more.

Our approach to racial justice goes beyond changing hearts and minds. We strive to transform communities, systems, and public policy.

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Racial Justice Initiatives

Our Virtual Community Book Discussions are free and open to all adults, featuring themes of racial and social justice. Groups meet via Zoom and the meeting link will be sent prior to the listed discussion date. Every book chosen is available in all formats at the Toledo Lucas County Library. Some discussions may only cover a few chapters at a time as we try to break down content at a manageable pace.
Facebook page to see upcoming opportunities to join in!
The YWCA of Northwest Ohio and Healthy Lucas County partner to present a series of Lunch & Learns focusing on health equity and disparities. Each webinar we host brings in experts on our chosen topic to further discuss and educate on the subject matter. Typically, we host one Lunch + Learn per month, on a Friday from 11:30am-1:00pm.
Check our Lunch + Learn page to watch past webinars or follow our Facebook page to see upcoming opportunities to join in!
Stand Against Racism, our annual campaign which builds community among those who work for racial justice, raises awareness about racism, and encourages community members to take action for change which leads directly into our conference. Every spring, the Stand Against Racism Conference is open to the community as an opportunity to learn about what racial disparities affect Northwest Ohio the most. The conference allows community members to learn, listen, discuss, and connect on issues to make real change. The Conference hosts a Keynote Speaker as well as a panel of guests for a discussion on multiple topics.
Dialogue to Change is a community enrichment program that seeks to create communal programming that efficiently advocates, while simultaneously championing and supporting Whole-Community empowerment and change. Dialogue to Change employs “face-to-face” facilitated conversation between members of two or more social identity groups, in an effort to positively inform, and wholeheartedly impact all groups about amicable cultural etiquette. With a focus on racial communicative etiquette, Dialogue groups give the participants the safety and freedom to discuss race, cultural differences and shed light on their own implicit biases.
- "The Sun Does Shine, How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row" by Anthony Ray Hinton
- "A Year of Living Kindly" by Donna Cameron
- "Inventing Racism, A New Story of American Racism", by Laura E. Gomez.
- "The Warmth of Other Suns"
- "Driving While Black" by Gretchen Sorin
- “Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit by Mary-Frances Winters
- Disability Visibility
- Medical Apartheid, Harriet Washington
- On Juneteenth, Annette Gordon Reed
- "How to be Less Stupid About Race" by Crystal M. Fleming
- 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah Jones
- How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi.
- 400 Souls.
- The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee
- How the Word Is Passed, Clint Smith
- The Good Immigrant
- Biased, Jennifer Eberhardt
- The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein
- A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
- "I'm Still Here" by Toledo native, Austin Channing Brown
- The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
- The Fire This Time, Jessym Ward
- White Fragility, Robin DeAngelo
- Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Waking up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race, Debby Irving
- Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
- So You Want to Talk about Race, Ijeoma Oluo

Learn More About

Dialogue To Change

The YWCA Dialogue to Change program aims to address the ongoing struggle against systemic racism and bias. It offers a structured platform for small groups of individuals from diverse backgrounds to engage in meaningful dialogue to encourage understanding, empathy, and a commitment to combatting racism. Facilitated exercises and discussions create a space for participants to explore the complexities of race and inequality, leading to actionable steps to effect positive change within their communities.

Dialogue to Change was founded and brought to this community in 2013 by the late Reverend Karen Sheplar and the Toledo Community Coalition. Per Reverend Karen Sheplar’s wishes, the program was transferred to the YWCA of Northwest Ohio in 2017 before she passed away. YWCA Dialogue to Change now includes updated material, and groups can choose between a comprehensive all-day, two half-day, or six weekly sessions.

By empowering individuals to confront bias and systemic racism head-on, the program embodies the YWCA's commitment to eliminating racism and promoting social justice for all. This workshop educates, advocates, and empowers through discussion and activities to give participants a more profound understanding of disparities and amicable cultural etiquette between social identity groups. Through facilitation, Dialogue groups give participants safety and freedom to discuss race, cultural differences, and the opportunity to discover their own implicit biases.

Key Objectives

• Foster a brave space for open dialogue, encouraging participants to share personal experiences and perspectives as we discuss race and cultural differences.

• Focus on racial communicative etiquette to provide participants a platform to discuss race, cultural differences, and confront implicit biases.

• Explore the profound impact of bias, prejudice, discrimination, and systemic racism through engaging exercises and facilitated conversations.

• Analyze historical and contemporary manifestations of racism to foster a comprehensive understanding.

• Explore documented disparities in education, housing, health care, job opportunities, and the justice system for people of color.

• Explore strategies to counteract racism and promote inclusivity within communities.

• Encourage participants to identify and challenge systemic barriers to racial equality.

• Encourage participants to develop individual and collective plans for promoting positive change in their respective spheres of influence and contributing to anti-racist efforts in their personal and professional lives.

Dialogue to Change aims to create opportunities for individuals and groups to participate in structured dialogues about racism in our community with trained facilitators and an established curriculum.

The YWCA Dialogue to Change program is under the Racial Justice Department. It focuses on race education, creating a brave space for challenging conversations and sharing experiences to take action as a group.
Dialogue groups will focus on building relationships between people of diverse races and changing personal and corporate attitudes through discussion and action.

By the end of a Dialogue to Change group session, participants will be able to:

Define terms and definitions related to race;
Understand the role of systemic and structural racism and how it manifests across sectors today;
Learn how to have conversations with others about race; and
Take action against racism, (individually and within their group).

Participants can attend one of three group session formats: