DEI Success Story: LWVs of Kittitas County (WA) and Skagit County (WA)

We recently spoke with two members of LWV of Washington leagues about their Cultivating Civic Conversations project.

Cultivating Civic Conversations is a project developed by Katherine Murphy (LWV of Kittitas County) and Wende Sanderson (LWV of Skagit County) and its group sessions are promoted and cosponsored by their leagues. Katherine has held various roles in the state and local Leagues since she joined in 2017. Wende, who joined in 2018, is the President of the Skagit League.

Cultivating Civic Conversations began in 2020 out of the idea to create a group that would spend time discussing a book, one chapter at a time, and pairing the chapters with podcasts from the OnBeing Project. The goal of this work was to try to answer the question: “How do we learn how to have transformative conversations about what it means to be human and, as humans, to constructively participate in our civic affairs?”

The group identified six intentions:

• Co-create a welcoming community of learners, listeners, activists, and builders
• Study the role of individual action in civic space
• Re-examine US history through diverse lenses
• Listen to and reflect on the words of wise voices
• Share ways, tools, and stories on how to bring what we learn into our circle of influence
• Nurture humor, insight, and joy

The group started with 30 members of Washington Leagues and two members of Leagues in other states and the first book chosen was The State We’re In: Washington (TSWI). Each week the work consisted of reviewing a chapter of TSWI or listening to a podcast and then discussing civic engagement using these sources as a lens into our own experiences, lives, and work. The discussions, especially with regard to the history of Native Americans at the hands of European settlers, allowed the group to become used to the idea that the history they may have been taught was systemically laden with both mythology and false narratives. Because the OnBeing podcasts are conversations, they also had the opportunity to hear knowledgeable and wise participants discussing these same issues in expansive ways. Sessions also included reflection questions, breakout room discussions around open-ended questions, and questions around how each person might apply or use what was learned and discussed.

The second round focused on Becoming Better Grownups and the ongoing third round is focusing on So You Want to Talk About Race.  The group has expanded to include over 80 participants from five different states. League members and non-League members are invited to participate and can contact Katherine Murphy for more information.

The group leader’s advice to others embarking on DEI work is to be prepared to devote the time necessary to carrying it out. Katherine Murphy shared, “Diversity, equity, and inclusion work requires a long-term orientation; it has taken centuries to create the culture we have and we need to meet people where they are with compassion and grace. I see this work as primarily opening up those who are in League or who are attracted civic engagement and who are looking for new voices, views, and ways of being in the world. This focus is consistent with making democracy work and it goes a long way toward encouraging our members to understand that a DEI Lens is on par with nonpartisanship in its importance to accomplishing League’s mission and vision.”