Welcome to our third event in OPEN's Centering Racial Equity in Evaluation: The DEIJ Learning Series.

Host: Kari Greene 

Co-Host: Katie Winters 

Our discussion explores the second practice guide in the Kellogg series, how we can “Diagnose Biases and Systems” to promote evaluation as a tool for racial equity. As the title suggests, the guide focuses first on how racial biases influence our evaluation practice, from framing questions to dealing with data and how we partner and approach our work. Then the guide introduces and uses a systems lens to expose how racial inequities are the consequence of longstanding, complex and interwoven systems. A systems approach allows us to “better understand why certain patterns and trends keep recurring, despite the amount of investment by philanthropy and government to change those patterns and trends.”

In this hour-long gathering, we will give an overview of the sections of the guide as a full group. Then we will break into small groups to focus on a section of the guide, using material in the guide to lead the conversation. We will then return to the full group and share one key takeaway from our focused discussion.

A week before the event, we will send participants the second practice guide and a handout to prepare for the discussion. This is not homework but an offering to become familiar with the material since we don’t have much time together. We will also keep the virtual space open until 1:30 in case people want to chat a bit longer! 

Centering Racial Equity in Evaluation: The DEIJ Learning Series

OPEN is hosting a series of practice-oriented conversations with evaluators, evaluation users and funders of evaluations. We will ask ourselves and each other how we are advancing racial equity in our everyday evaluation approaches and practices. Using the W.K. Kellogg Foundation series “Doing Evaluation in Service of Racial Equity” as our practice guide, we will investigate our ideas, beliefs, organizations and systems. Join us every other month to build a supportive and honest learning community in our region.