Log in



Reparations Workshop Series Part 3

  • April 23, 2021
  • 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
  • Online

Registration

  • This rate is discounted for current members of ¡Milwaukee Evaluation! Inc.
  • This is the fee for non-members friends of ¡Milwaukee Evaluation! Inc.
  • This registration requires pre-approval and is for sponsored participants and groups.
  • This is for non-members who are students, non-college enrolled youth, community members, and community organizers. If cost is an issue, email us and we can barter.

Reparations Workshop Series: Calling all Program Evaluators and Data Analysts

As we anxiously wait for the presidential results, 2020 can still provide an opportunity to re-set our relationships with each other, the land, and attune our evaluative ideology toward social justice. 

In this workshop series we get to unpack several topics and move them to the center of evaluation professional development. And while we wait for a revolution, we’ll settle for a different r-word: Reparations

In this moment of extreme economic inequality (seen across the globe and in this country along racial lines) there is no possibility whatsoever for any policy or program intervention to close the wealth gap between the underclass of color and white elites. We have tried for decades and nothing has worked to make the people at the bottom whole. We have never designed an economic intervention that can be brought to scale to achieve permanent intergenerational, cumulative, or population-level effects for lower-income Black families.  

In the past few years, reparations as a policy agenda has gained prominence. What keeps reparations off the table, even now, as foundations pour millions into racial equity investments and new diversity, equity and inclusion portfolios, and organizations and government entities submitting their best ideas for consideration? 

Bending science explains part of it. Bending science describes the manipulation of the scientific process and data for political purposes. In this workshop series, we’ll read a piece that describes the use of “the life and death” analogy of one Milwaukee and one non-Wisconsin neighborhood to justify redlining, divestment, and ultimately “renewal” and "rebrith" through gentrification and resident displacement. The use of science to legitimize misplaced analogies is one example of how bending science occurs. There are many other ways bending science shows up in the stories we tell as evaluators. We know that colonialism and anti-Blackness heavily influence our methods and analysis. In this workshop, we’ll explore reparations as a way to study these mechanisms. 

Betting on reparations policy requires an ideology that is restorative, one that seeks to sustain and care for all life. This ideology fully rejects neocolonialism and neoliberalism within our economic system. As a result, we’ll read several pieces by W.E.B. DuBois, Frantz Fanon, and members of the Black Panther Party to re-establish the link between reparations, the process of eradicating neocolonial structures, and liberation. Several legal scholars have flagged the absence of serious reparations policy as an example of the co-optation of racial equity as a goal, approach, and value. We will read their works and explore potential liberation metrics for success that draw from their policy recommendations. Wouldn’t you love to evaluate a policy intervention that democratically redistributes wealth?

Who might benefit from this workshop series? 

  • Evaluators and data analysts exploring the intersection between race, class, colonialism, and bending science

  • Government employees and evaluators engaged in economic development, racial equity, and the provision of quality public goods

  • Students and residents looking for a professional networking community related to racial justice and data

  • Grantmaking institutions undertaking a strategy refresh 

  • Anyone who wants to learn about reparations, even in the context of reparations for mass incarceration (e.g., marijuana charges)

What is the workshop format?

  • This workshop series is modeled on the in-person summer events with the Nelson Mandela Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI). We will meet in small groups to discuss a set of materials and their connection to our evaluation practice. To that end, we will send you a set of readings and videos in January 2021. Some of the materials will be required, others optional. Closer to the date you will receive a few questions to focus your reflection and what the materials mean for your work. Anticipate 4 hours of reading/watching over a month and a half. The readings won’t be dry, and the videos won’t be boring, but we do hope to cover these topics at a technical level, so all required materials will be rich and provocative.  

  • At the workshop, you’ll have “extra small group” networking time before we dive into the readings in mid-sized groups. The workshop will end with a “so what-now what” discussion. 

  • For this to work, you will have read the handouts and watch the videos. 

  • The mid-sized groups may self-moderate. All groups will follow a predetermined set of rules. 

  • The first two workshops will review works by Black legal and radical scholars plus Indigenous activists from New Mexico. 

  • The last two workshops will explore reparations in Latin American and Southeast Asia and the role of data. 

  • All workshops will have dedicated readings on bending science, anti-blackness, Marxism, and neocolonialism. 

How do I register?

  • You must register for each session that you want to attend. Members register for free. Students, low-income residents, and grassroots community organizers can register at a reduced rate of $20. 

  • The first two workshops in the series are limited folx of color. If we feel you enrolled in the wrong workshop, we’ll reach out to you. See Kelsey Blackwell’s important piece on the need for spaces just for people of color.

  • All members and non-members are encouraged to donate at the scales provided. We are always open to barter so if cost is an issue, reach out to us. The rates are Pay It Forward ($55). 

  • The fees support ongoing programming that is accessible to underrepresented groups in evaluation and adjacent fields.

Connect With Us!



Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software