1. Planning for
the INTERcultural City
Practice + Visions
Tufts University Intercultural Planning Group
www.sites.tufts.edu/tuftsicp
October 22, 2010

2. Cynthia Silva Parker, Senior Associate,
Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC)
Planning for the INTERcultural City

3. Interaction Institute for Social Change:
…radically influencing how change efforts are
initiated, designed, facilitated and experienced
Our mission is to ignite and sustain social transformation,
catalyze collective action and build collaborative skill to
bring alive our vision of a just and sustainable world.
We accomplish this by providing network-building,
consulting, facilitation and training services designed to
transform communities and organizations and build the
capacity of leaders of social change.

4. Visions of an Intercultural City
“ The very least you can do in your life is to figure out
what to hope for. And the most you can do is live inside
that hope…
What I want is so simple I can’t almost say it;
elementary kindness.
Enough to eat, enough to go around.
The possibility that kids might one day grow up to be
neither the destroyers nor the destroyed. That’s about
it.”
Barbara Kingsolver
Animal Dreams

5. © 2010, Interaction Institute
for Social Change
What is Diversity?
• Diversity: Each individual is unique, and
groups of individuals reflect multiple
dimensions of difference including: race,
ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation,
age, physical abilities, religious beliefs,
political beliefs, cognitive styles, and much
more. Valuing diversity means embracing
and celebrating the rich dimensions of
difference that exist in groups.
(Adapted from Diversity Initiatives Campaign, The Diversity Project)

6. © 2010, Interaction Institute
for Social Change
Why Diversity isn’t Enough
Diversity can…
• Create opportunities for
sharper, more creative,
strategic thinking
• Increase the likelihood
that programs, services
and initiatives will be
relevant to constituents
• Demonstrate commitment
to creating equal
opportunities
Diversity doesn’t necessarily
• Guarantee cultural
competency
• Alter the dynamics of
oppression or change the
systems that create
injustices
• Lead to equitable outcomes
for constituents
• Ensure inclusion, fair
operations or real
opportunities within the
organization

7. © 2010, Interaction Institute
for Social Change
Equity and Inclusion are Critical
• Equity: All groups have access to the resources and
opportunities necessary to eliminate opportunity and
resource gaps, and thereby, improve the quality of their lives.
• Inclusion: a value and practice of ensuring that people feel
they belong and that their input is valued by the whole
(group, organization, society, system, etc.), particularly
regarding decisions that affect their lives.
(Adapted from Equity and Inclusion Campaign)

8. © 2010, Interaction Institute
for Social Change
An Historical View & A Systems Approach
Education
Stereotypes and
Norms
Political
Process
Criminal
Justice
Employment
and Training
Housing
Finance
Health
Unequal Opportunity
and Inequitable
Outcomes

9. © 2010, Interaction Institute
for Social Change
An Historical View & A Systems Approach
Education
Stereotypes and
Norms
Political
Process
Criminal
Justice
Employment
and Training
Housing
Finance
Health
Unequal Opportunity
and Inequitable
Outcomes

10. © 2010, Interaction Institute
for Social Change
Dynamics of Inequity
• Systems of oppression operate on four
levels
–Internalized
–Interpersonal
–Institutional
–Structural
• Inequities are produced and reproduced by
overlapping, interlocking systems

11. © 2010, Interaction Institute
for Social Change
Levels of Racism
Racism:—a form of oppression based on the socially constructed concept of race exercised
by the dominant racial group (whites) over non-dominant racial groups.*
Racism operates on four levels**
1. Internalized Racism is the set of private beliefs, prejudices, and ideas that individuals have
about the superiority of whites and the inferiority of people of color. Among people of
color, it manifests as internalized oppression. Among whites, it manifests as internalized
racial superiority.
2. Interpersonal Racism is the expression of racism between individuals.
3. Institutional Racism is discriminatory treatment, unfair policies and practices, inequitable
opportunities and impacts within organizations and institutions, based on race.
4. Structural Racism is a system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural
representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate
racial group inequality.
* Adapted from People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond
** Source: Applied Research Center

12. © 2010, Interaction Institute
for Social Change
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
Our Evolving Practice
• Grounded in collaborative intent and
collaborative process skills
• Evolving from focus on diversity and inclusion
to being more explicit about equity, power and
undoing structural oppression
• Holistic approach that builds community
among social change agents
• Capacity building as a frame
• Multi-level approach to change: individual,
interpersonal, organizational, systems and
societal

13. © 2010, Interaction Institute
for Social Change
Examples of our Work
• Metropolitan Area Planning Council—Metro
Future Project
• Cherish Every Child Springfield
• Boston Promise Neighborhoods
• Boston Climate Action Planning Process
• Annie E. Casey Making Connections Initiative

14. THANK YOU for coming!
Notes from the symposium will be posted on the ICP wiki:
http://sites.tufts.edu/tuftsicp/
Attendees will be added to a Google Groups mailing list
announcing future events (with the ability to opt out).
Join us now for dinner in the Cabot mezzanine.
Planning for the INTERcultural City