Our example programs, Power50 and women’s fellowship, were originally developed by cis women of color. During the development of the women’s fellowship program, Holiday and Aida sought the advice of the legendary Cecilia Gentili to think through how to these programs would need to shift to feel inclusive of our trans sisters and siblings. In those conversations, they landed on this term ‘women-identified people of color’.

We talk about "the heart of the heart" as something at its very essence. If we're talking about the "heart of the heart" of your program, it might mean, what would you name as the highest best purpose for your program? If we're talking about the "heart of the heart" of a session, it might be a difficult part of a conversation that is awakening the participants to dissonant ideas. Identify what your "heart of the heart" of your program may be with Chapter 4 of Full Pedagogy Guide, pg 40 (Design Guide). 

Viveka Chen brought the Teachback tool into our Ride or Die Team's design process and then we realized it would be a powerful tool to also use in our programmatic space. Very simply, a Teachback is a technique in which a participant uses their own voice and experiences to revisit a core concept with fellow participants. It can be done casually —as in asking a volunteer at the end of a session to explain the session’s core concepts to the group in their own words.  Or it can be used more formally—asking a participant to take the lead in facilitating a session at a subsequent gathering on a concept introduced earlier. Learn more about the power of Teachbacks under Outro.

Vertical Development is a a model coined by the Center for Creative Leadership that sits at the heart of our pedagogy. We believe a “vertical development” approach offers a pedagogical framework that gives women-identified people of color an important advantage in strengthening their minds’ and bodies’ ability to identify, wrestle with, and push through complex challenges. In our sessions, a vertical development framework moves participants through three points of ever evolving awareness: Awaken > Unlearn & Discern > Advance. Learn more under our Pedagogy and see our Intro to Vertical Development session under Verse. 

A wise counsel is an organized process for calling together a group of peers to offer advice on a strategic question. It supports participants to embody a leadership grounded in purpose, strength, centering and resilience, while practicing interdependence. See more about Wise Counsels and how we facilitate them under Tools & Spaces for Embodying New Habits.