On April 27th, 2022, we held a network conversation in response to a regional food system report and webinar held in January. We held the conversation to share our learnings and our process, and hear how they were landing with the NESAWG network. The program opened with an explanation of the controversy from our angle (recognizing that different people have very different perspectives on the event), and an apology (starts on page 12) from our longest-standing board member on behalf of NESAWG to those we disappointed by advancing programming out of line with our values. 

We broke up into racial affinity groups during the event so we could discuss the incident in spaces that felt safe for all, and to adequately address the different feelings and questions that we were hearing arise in different sectors of our network, some of which have been showing up differently along racial lines. We had several breakout rooms for white participants and one for BIPOC. We chose this format so everyone could share their most authentic thoughts and feelings without feeling triggered by others’ reactions or self-censoring so as to not offend. At the end of the program, some expressed a desire to hear from the other groups or a regret they had not been able to hear directly from BIPOC. We are sharing themes and general impressions that came out of the groups (starts on page 26), but are intentionally keeping responses anonymous so that we can preserve peoples’ ability to share without self-censorship or worrying about how their impressions would land- this was the intention of using an affinity group format. 

Each affinity group focused on five questions:

1. What do you know/understand about what happened?
2. How do you feel? (1-3 word response – no explanation)
3. Do you think there is a problem? What is the problem? What are your concerns?
4. Given all of this…, what can we do? Are there 2-3 ways our efforts could be directed? (don’t spend too much time)
5. What are your key takeaways from this conversation?

At the end of our Network Conversation, NESAWG was able to cluster the shared ideas into themes.

You can view the full Report Back + Themes here 

Do you have questions about affinity groups and caucusing? 

Here are a few resources: 

Join us for a network conversation!

In January 2022, a legacy project that culminated in a report and webinar was presented to the NESAWG community and met with backlash for failing to center BIPOC perspectives and anti-racist analyses. Since then, we’ve been working to unpack what NESAWG could have done differently in overseeing this project, reflecting on our growth and lessons learned, and navigating tensions in honoring NESAWG’s past while building with the communities we reflect in the present. 

Join us as we discuss these issues in a conversational format, and share your reactions, insights, and questions for us in our treatment of the situation as well as our trajectory and overall approach.

Read our full reflection on the webinar and report here.