What You’ll Learn
- How intersecting identities, especially gender and sexual orientation, impact lived experience
- Ways you can add a “diversity of perspective” approach to your work
- Actionable strategies for building professional communities that are safe and inclusive for women and LGBTQIA+ folks
Why This is Important
If you hope to build a culture of inclusivity in your campaigns and in our democracy, then you’ll want an understanding of how folks’ identities shape their experiences and perspectives. Creating a workplace that encourages diversity of thought starts with mutual understanding.
Jan Gaetjens
Trainer
Jan Gaetjens is a Chicago-based educator with a background in K-12 and higher learning. As a first generation American, born to Haitian and Guyanese parents, Jan has an unwavering belief in the potential of the American experiment and the transformative power of education.
Since 2012, Jan has developed career exploration and social-emotional learning curricula for Chicago Public Schools, several charter school networks, DePaul University, and Rush University, supporting countless students to and through college. In 2017, he was recognized as the Illinois Counseling Association’s Graduate Student of the Year for his work on the city’s West Side.
Jan holds a BA in Sociology from Georgetown University and an MA in School Counseling from DePaul University, where he is currently pursuing his PhD in Curriculum Studies. His research and writing focuses on the intersections of democracy, public education, and racial justice.