Funded by the State Justice Institute, the National Center for State Courts hosted a first-of-its-kind racial justice judicial education workshop. Sixteen teams of judges, judicial educators, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) directors participated in a racial justice capacity-building education workshop earlier this year in Arizona, gaining valuable tools and best practices for developing and facilitating productive training initiatives.

“The workshop fostered collaboration,” explained Juli Edwards-McDaniel, curriculum developer with NCSC’s Education and Professional Development Group. “By including all three roles from each state, our goal was to strengthen their ability to work together on racial justice education.”

This pioneering workshop is one of many ongoing efforts by the Conference of Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators, and the Blueprint for Racial Justice initiative, funded by SJI, which are aimed at assisting courts in advancing productive education efforts in this important learning area.

The workshop focused on equipping teams with the knowledge to maximize the impact of their racial justice education efforts. Learning objectives included increasing team effectiveness, utilizing best practices, and evaluating the effectiveness of educational programs.

Plenary and breakout sessions discussed DEI initiatives in courts, as well as the use of art to cultivate empathetic thinking. Teams also honed their facilitation skills through role-playing exercises.

NCSC and Blueprint working groups created a Racial Justice Resource Center with webinars, toolkits, and self-assessment tools to help courts evaluate their racial justice practices, visit ncsc.org/racialjustice for more information.