Building Bridges Across Difference: A Dialogue for Every Day

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:10:13 -0500
community, dialogue, diversity, equity, inclusion

Overall Series Description:

The Building Bridges Across Difference: A Dialogue for Every Day series equips faculty, staff, and students with practical tools to foster connection and understanding across differences in today’s polarized climate. Grounded in the Center for Social Justice Dialogue's commitment to shared power and inclusive practices, this series provides strategies to build trust, navigate challenging and emotionally charged moments, and create environments that encourage community and mutual respect. By embracing intergroup dialogue practices daily, participants will enhance their ability to inspire critical self-reflection, cultural storytelling, generous listening, and loving accountability.

All sessions will take place on Wednesdays from 11:45 - 1:00 pm and will be held VIRTUALLY.

If you have accessibility needs, please email csjdialogue@umbc.edu.

Session Descriptions:

1. Pivoting Perspective: Fostering Curiosity and Wonder, March 11

RSVP: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/csjd/events/151832
We all carry perspectives shaped by the stories, systems, and communities that raised us, but those perspectives are never set in stone. In this session, we will explore how loving accountability can serve as a catalyst for curiosity, inviting us to pause, question, and reframe the assumptions we hold about ourselves and others. Participants will practice perspective shifting as an act of care toward others and ourselves, and discover how wonder can open doors that judgment tends to close.

2. Justice v. Just Us: Exploring Coalition Building, April 8

RSVP: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/csjd/events/151835
Moving from personal perspective shifts to collective action, this session asks a fundamental question: what does it look like when we move from protecting our own circle to building something bigger? In this session, we will explore what genuine coalition building requires, including the willingness to be uncomfortable, to be accountable, and to stay in relationship even when it is hard. Participants will examine how loving accountability serves as the foundation for justice work that is sustainable, inclusive, and rooted in shared humanity rather than shared identity alone.

This series is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.