CEOE provides Culture Bump Anti-Bias Communication training to leaders of Dougherty County School System

Published: July 23, 2020

Article body

Auburn's Center for Educational Outreach and Engagement, or CEOE, began Culture Bump training for Dougherty County School System, or DCSS, located in Albany, Georgia, district leaders for the 2020-2021 school year. Starting July 7, DCSS began Culture Bump multi-tiered training led by CEOE Director Stacey Nickson and Culture Bump creator and Auburn consultant Carol Archer. DCSS leaders have engaged in Culture Bump by having face-to-face seminars, virtual workshops and individual coaching. DCSS leaders are also taking the Culture Bump online course, “Toolkit for Culture and Communication,” through the Office of Professional and Continuing Education.

Culture Bump training is an engaging and interactive process that uses a “micro-approach” to transform individual “culture bumps” or differences with others into authentic relationships. It includes a method that teaches negotiation of new insights into one’s own character or culture and leads to an exploration of why humans are different while affirming how we are the same. Culture Bump focuses on specific skill development, serving as a practical solution to complex issues such as conflicts and violence that result from decisions made in response to differences in race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, socio-economics, gender and education. Culture Bump’s mission is to redefine cultural understanding to give people the tools and confidence to interact with anyone anywhere.

DCCS serves over 16,000 students throughout the City of Albany and rural Dougherty County. Upon receiving a U.S. Department of Education school safety grant, DCSS contacted Auburn to provide Culture Bump training to serve as a key component for change, utilized throughout the district by administrators, teachers, staff and students.

“But change — especially change that seeks to repair 400 years of inequality — requires commitment," DCSS Superintendent Kenneth Dyer said. "Too many times, we see something heinous and have a burst of emotions, only to have the feelings subside until the next incident. It appears many of us have been interested in change but, all too often, have not been committed to change. I think we may have reached a point where we, as a society, are done accepting excuses. I think we have turned a corner and are forging a new, brighter future.”

For more information contact, Stacey Nickson.

Culture-Bump-Dougherty-County.jpg

Submitted by: Stacey Nickson