"Calling In": How to Make Change with Those You'd Rather Cancel

A Fireside Conversation with Professor Loretta Ross on Addressing Conflict With Courage and Care

Are you seeking more effective ways to address harm and conflict in your family, school, workplace, or community? (Without adding more anger, shame, and judgement?)

Join us for a powerful "fireside conversation" with Professor Loretta Ross, a pioneering Black feminist, activist, and MacArthur "Genius" Fellow, as she introduces the strategic, loving, and effective practice of "Calling In."

Open to all —parents, caregivers, community members/groups, educators, activists, and anyone interested in personal and social change.

What is "Calling In"?

"Calling In" is an invitation into conversation rather than conflict. It's a tool and a practice for moving beyond public shaming and punishment to engage in constructive dialogue. Loretta Ross argues that this approach is the more strategic choice for building a human rights movement and achieving real, lasting change.

This program will offer practical tools to help you:

• Turn difficult conversations into productive ones.
• Address harm while creating space for growth, forgiveness, and understanding.
• Build solidarity instead of division, even with those with whom you fundamentally disagree.

Connect with a Civil Rights Icon

This is a unique opportunity to connect with someone who brings five decades of experience working in civil rights activism—including successfully deprogramming white supremacists. Ross vividly illustrates that building bridges, not burning them, is the new way to truly achieve justice.

Share Your Questions!

We encourage you to share your questions for Professor Ross in advance of the program! Don't miss this chance to learn a new way to truly achieve justice and connection.

Thank You To Our Event Spotlight Partners

About Our Featured Speaker

Loretta J. Ross is an activist, public intellectual, scholar, the 2022 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" award and an Associate Professor at Smith College. She has a passion for innovating creative imagining about global human rights and social justice issues and started her career in activism and social change in the 1970s. In 1978, she was the third executive director for DC Rape Crisis Center, the first rape crisis center in the country. This was her entry point into the women’s movement where she learned about women’s human rights, reproductive justice, white supremacy, and women of color organizing. Through her organizing she helped launch the movement to end violence against women that has evolved into today's #MeToo movement. Throughout her 50-year career, she has worked with the National Football League Players' Association, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Black Women's Health Project, the Center for Democratic Renewal (National Anti-Klan Network), the National Center for Human Rights Education, and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.

Loretta retired as an organizer in 2012 to teach and follow her passion to educate. In 1996, she founded the first center in the U.S. to innovate creative human rights education for all students transforming social justice issues to be more collaborative and less divisive. In her work Calling In the Calling Out Culture, she transforms how people can overcome political differences to use empathy and respect to guide difficult conversations. In 2023, Loretta was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.