Anti-Racism Training and Programming
The Center for Violence Prevention (CVP) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is committed to promoting and supporting racial equity and social justice not only through its research and programs but also in the workplace. To combat racism, CVP is contributing to the development of internal anti-racism trainings and programs at CHOP as well as school-based interventions to prevent youth microaggressions. Racial microaggressions are “brief commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, & environmental indignities, intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial slights and insults, directed toward racial/ethnic minorities” (Sue et al., 2007). CVP is honored to serve as a leader in anti-racism training and programming at CHOP.
Anti-Racism Training at CHOP
In 2020, CHOP received an increase in requests for learning opportunities and conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace following the national reckoning with racism and social injustice. CHOP established a committee of 30 different faculty and staff members with backgrounds in DEI and education across 18 divisions in the Department of Pediatrics to develop an introductory anti-racism curriculum. The goals for this curriculum are to provide common knowledge, language, and understanding for core topics related to DEI and anti-racism. Two members of this committee are from CHOP’s Center for Violence Prevention: CVP Co-Director Dr. Stephen Leff co-leads the microaggressions core and CVP Practice-based Scholar Dr. Kenisha Campbell co-leads the racism core.
What types of topics does this curriculum address?
- Racism (three sessions)
- Microaggressions
- Health equity
- White privilege
- Allyship
How is this training being implemented at CHOP?
Along with the other committee members, CVP’s Dr. Leff and Dr. Campbell are actively involved in using the curriculum to train CHOP’s Division of Adolescent Medicine. The committee’s goal is to bring the training to all 18 divisions at CHOP, enabling all Department of Pediatrics faculty, fellows, and staff to receive this program.
Racial equity and social justice are rooted in CVP’s mission and in 2021, Dr. Leff and Dr. Campbell began implementing this newly developed anti-racism training program to CVP’s scholars, associates, staff, and students.
Respect4ALL Program at CHOP
Funded by a Department of Pediatrics Diversity Endowment Award (2020-2022), CVP is developing Respect4ALL, a racial and intersectional microaggressions skill building program using an anti-racist lens for CHOP faculty and trainees. To create this actionable curriculum, CVP’s Respect4ALL development team, Dr. Stephen Leff, Dr. Kenisha Campbell, Dr. Rui Fu, Ann Perepezko, MSW, LSW, Brianna Beulah, BA and Jordan Thomas, BS, used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to combine an extensive literature review on workplace bullying, unconscious bias, and microaggressions with extensive feedback from an advisory board of leaders in DEI and a curriculum committee comprised of diverse individuals from across CHOP. As a compliment to the Department of Pediatrics' anti-racism curriculum, the Resepect4ALL intervention consists of three three-hour interactive sessions and utilizes animated video simulations to:
- Increase the dialogue around diversity, anti-racism, and inclusion
- Teach strategies to recognize and intervene when experiencing microaggressions using an anti-racism lens
- Provide skill-based training to address and cope with microaggressions
- Utilize the skills learned to tackle macroaggressions at CHOP and in the community
What’s next for this program?
In the spring of 2022, the Respect4ALL development team is launching a “Train the Trainer” pilot where leaders from different divisions across the Department of Pediatrics will be invited to become Respect4ALL Champions. Champions will be trained in the program and will help to develop the turn-around broader dissemination to facilitate the Resepect4ALL sessions with their own teams and divisions.
School-based Intervention for Youth Microaggressions
CVP recognizes there is a gap in school-based interventions that address youth microaggressions and racism. Our team’s established bullying and aggression prevention school-based programs position the Center to introduce and explore the development of a critical new intervention specifically targeted to prevent youth microaggressions. CVP researchers are in the early stages of developing this intervention, starting with a comprehensive literature review with implications for school-based interventions and school psychologists. At the same time, the CHOP team is working with members of the Youth Advisory Council (YAC) at CHOP and with parent partners to obtain information on children and adults understanding of the frequency, severity, and impact that racial and intersectional microaggressions have in the school setting. This will be invaluable for developing interventions in the future.
