NCBI Monterey County brings together across group lines including race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, and class. We provide training and education in schools and the community to increase understanding, promote acceptance, and reduce prejudice. We collaborate with public and private organizations to nurture leadership for social justice and provide opportunities for healing from the impact of oppression.
In recent years, the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI), Monterey County has primarily focused on working with local schools. NCBI has an established curriculum and a team of skilled facilitators that we use to deliver a variety of workshops and training opportunities to local schools. NCBI will offer local school districts interactive workshops that involve staff, students, and other stakeholders. These workshops address interpersonal conflict and foster belongingness and acceptance. Given the current climate, this focus is more important than ever before. This grant gives NCBI the flexibility to work with schools that may not have the funding to obtain our building caring schools training and workshops. The grant would cover expenses related to administering, organizing, planning, and facilitating the build caring schools trainings. This is especially critical considering the funding cuts that are impacting many local schools.
NCBI provides workshops, leadership training, and consults with schools and community organizations throughout Monterey County. Our programs address violence and intergroup conflict. NCBI trains student leaders who then impact their school by leading “peacekeeping” and belongingness workshops for their peers, and by addressing issues of violence and intergroup conflict when they arise. We have worked with K-12 school students throughout Monterey County as well as Cal State Monterey Bay. We also facilitate workshops for the community, including our successful CommUNITY Conversations series, and consult to public and private organizations on diversity and equity issues. We collaborate with other social justice organizations such as Whites for Racial Equity, Monterey County Pride, LULAC, NAACP, Monterey Peace & Justice Center, MILPA, The Village Project, and Community Alliance for Racial Equity.
Community input brought NCBI’s wonderful contributions to Pacific Grove Unified School District. As a teacher who serves on the District’s Cultural Proficiency Team and as a parent of a PGUSD student, I have found NCBI’s collaboration and expertise in both planning professional development and providing staff training so very valuable! In particular, NCBI’s district-wide training of elementary school teachers brought together faculty, staff, and administrators in incomparable heart-to-heart, human-to-human connection like I have never before seen in this school district on such a large scale that encompassed every single adult serving in our elementary schools. It’s this kind of connection that makes our schools–and communities–safer, more compassionate and empathetic places that build belonging among people of all identity groups. That’s the kind of place where we all want to live and work and learn!
- Heather Zunguze, Teacher & Parent, Pacific Grove Unified School District
