The DEI Project

Content in context for people

The Project

Developing, publishing, and presenting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) content for makerspaces and other community organizations. This effort focuses on creating accessible content and experiences by presenting concepts in contexts that are relevant and specific to each community.

Contact us via email if you are interested in workshop facilitation, content development services or for general inquiries.

The Catalog

Boundaries for Better Living

Two-hour workshop for up to 30 people

Boundaries are hard, especially in spaces where the agreement is to share space, resources, and power. We will explore how to say and hear “no” and the cultural dynamics at play. Folks in this workshop will come away with a greater understanding of the different ways people communicate boundaries. We will build skills through small group exercises and role-play. Through sharing our experience we will gain a greater understanding of ourselves and others.

This is a two-hour facilitated workshop that can accommodate up to 20 people. 

Micro-inclusions for Leaders

Two-hour workshop for up to 30 people

How can leaders create an inclusive space? What about leaders of privilege? This workshop explores techniques and language leaders can use to be truly inclusive. We will focus on skills to evaluate situations dynamically. We will practice positive accountability, cultural humility, and direct micro-inclusions in order to gain familiarity and confidence with these practices.

This is a two-hour facilitated workshop with one hour of participant pre-work that can accommodate up to 15 people. 

De-escalation with Community Integrity

Two-hour workshop for up to 30 people

Shared spaces bring people together and often when people come together there can be conflict. When heightened emotions or confrontation come into play it can often be difficult to manage the situation calmly. Even more so to manage the situation and uphold the agreements of your community with integrity. We will begin with critically examining our own community agreements and the price for not keeping them. Through examining our own reactions to conflict we will gain a greater understanding of what tools are needed to manage these situations. We will also explore direct de-escalation skills through role-play.

This two-hour workshop has the capacity for 14 people. We recommend folks plan for decompression after this dynamic workshop. We recommend a nice cup of tea and a journal.

Anti-Racist Training for Makers

This training has been developed by Ace Makerspace and is available as open-source content. Rachel only charges a facilitators fee for giving these courses.

These workshops include pre-work sent via email, a 1 hour facilitated group session and follow-up communication with additional resources.

Schema of Makers

Who defines what a legitimate maker is? Explore how different types of makers are valued and have an influence on how the community is shaped.

Communities are like ecosystems — living things that change and evolve over time. We will unpack different maker identities and the dynamics of those identities and their influence on how our makerspace community has evolved… for good or for ill. This workshop will explore both what the identity of makers has been as well as explore what it could and should be.

Maker Say What

How the language we use to share maker knowledge interacts with race.

When it’s easy to lean into jargon as a way to communicate intelligence and experience, one can quickly conflate the words we use with who belongs and who doesn’t. And when it comes to talking about issues of race and gender, there is often a fear of saying the wrong thing. This workshop will explore how to be inclusive with Maker speak, as well as how to avoid the pitfalls of inaction by the fear of talking about race imperfectly.

Taking Care of the New Guy

How the language we use to share maker knowledge interacts with race.

When it’s easy to lean into jargon as a way to communicate intelligence and experience, one can quickly conflate the words we use with who belongs and who doesn’t. And when it comes to talking about issues of race and gender, there is often a fear of saying the wrong thing. This workshop will explore how to be inclusive with Maker speak, as well as how to avoid the pitfalls of inaction by the fear of talking about race imperfectly.

You’re Too Comfortable

Recognizing when comfort is an indicator of white supremacy manifesting itself. Explore how to take action when it does.

One way white supremacy protects itself is by eliminating stressors of those who are in proximity to it. Things are easier, quicker, more accessible, more abundant, less risky, and more. This comfort and privilege are bestowed on individuals by the dominant society, not self-determination. This workshop will examine how “comfortable” you are and explore where your own discomfort might be putting up barriers to equity and inclusivity. This examination also includes a critical examination of biased systems we might be participating in. Then we’ll talk about what can be done about it. We will uncover what actions can be taken when we discover white supremacy manifesting itself.

About the Team

Rachel “Crafty” Sadd

Rachel is a Bay Area based artist, activist, and maker. When she is not making she is the Executive Director at Ace Makerspace. She leads program development for equity and social good projects. Participating in rapid response to the COVID-19 public health crisis has been her main focus since March 2020.  She is equally engaged by beauty and utility and she creates projects which span genres and challenge ideas about art, craft, and culture.

Rachel contributes leadership and development to this DEI content creation effort.

Scott McNeil

Scott McNeil brings his many years of experience in both Silicon Valley companies and nonprofits. He has held management positions at both startups and established firms such as IBM. Scott has also worked at the United Nations in China where he partnered with educators, government agencies and private industry throughout East Asia in building educational programs based on open-source software.  

A lifelong learner, Scott is excited to assist in a project manager and outreach position.