Rethinking community work with sensitivity to racism and diversity
2026-02-16 In January and February, we at the Leuphana Social Innovation Community held a series of workshops with Sam Schulz to explore how community building and event management can be approached from a perspective that is sensitive to racism and diversity.
The workshop series on racism- and diversity-sensitive perspectives on community work generated a wide range of ideas for reflection and action within the Leuphana Social Innovation Community. The first workshop focused on community building. Participants addressed questions such as what racism- and diversity-sensitive work means specifically in the context of community building. A second workshop focused on event management from a racism- and diversity-sensitive perspective. This workshop was designed to be particularly action-oriented. Using concrete, fictional events as examples, participants worked out which aspects they need to consider in the preparation, implementation, and evaluation of events in order to make them less discriminatory.
What are the outcomes of the workshops?
One thing is clear: workshops alone are not enough to drive lasting change. Rather, it is about changes in everyday practice and constantly breaking through familiar structures and patterns of behavior. There is still much to be done to create spaces for people that reflect the diversity of society.
This includes constantly addressing and acting on questions such as: Who really benefits from what is on offer? How well do I know the target group for whom I am organizing an event, and what do they need? How can I involve people from the target group in the design without overburdening their resources? How can I create spaces where people can feel safe(r)? And where exactly is the ‘problem’ in making communities accessible to all people?