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landscape. I was extremely happy to attend and hopefully I can play a part in
building bridges throughout the Tri-County area in the future. These issues
are priority topics for the larger population and with continued unified
efforts from our community, we can start to build something
very Special here in Southern Maryland!
Warm regards,
Jim
Debriefing the Events
After every event, Diane Davies, the BC-DRaP chairperson, gathered the Steering
Committee members to carefully debrief the event. Members discussed
what went well and what could be done better next time. We used the
exit cards from each event to analyze the experience and suggestions of
the participants. The exit cards were index cards with only three
questions. We found that people were willing to share their thoughts
and experience, if the questions were kept simple and broad. For
example, Question 1: What do you think could be common ground
toward dismantling racism in Southern Maryland? Question 2: What did you learn or what
was a new concept for you today? Question 3: Suggestions or Comments?
We also used the facilitators’ report-out summaries and notes from the small group
discussions. The summaries were valuable because each facilitator recorded three or more
important highlights that came out of their small group discussion.
We then repeated the debriefing process with the BC-DRaP partners. We greatly benefitted
from their perspective from the wider community. Having not been as much engaged in the
detailed planning and organization of events, their insight helped us take a step back and
see the bigger picture.
They were not as close
to the planning process
as those of us who had
been focused upon a
thousand details. They
helped us look to our
program’s impact on
the growing Southern
Maryland community.
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