Building Leaders across Communities (BLaC) Strategies
Schedule a White Ally Coaching session
Who We Are
Building Leaders across Communities (BLaC) Strategies specializes in providing diverse communities with leadership development training and strategies through the lens of racial equity and gender justice.
Our Mission
BLaC Strategies offers businesses and individuals with diversity, equity, and inclusion training to increase organizational efficacy, ensure community partners, and center staff relations on respect and equal access.
What We Do
BLaC Strategies also provides industry best practices and strategic planning consultation for those who wish to work with and in communities of color. Our approach puts people of color at the center and holds space to keep us there.
Our Main Services
White Ally Coaching
White Ally Coach is designed to give white people practical information and tangible skills on how to use their whiteness to be an effective support for black people in personal and professional spaces. Through 1-1 and group coaching sessions White Ally Coach specifically curates the coaching experience for you and your organization to get you from where you are to where you want to be as a White Ally.
Topics
Topics discussed in White Ally Coaching
Coaching vs. Counseling
White Ally Definition
Allies vs Friends: which one do you strive to be?
Ally-ship in Action
Directions for a Good Ally (White Ally Cheat Code)
A Better Understanding
How do you define a White Ally?
We are living in a new world and a new time.
2020 changed the way we approach life but the pandemic has not only forced us to change how we look at things, it’s forced us to change the things we look at. The murders of Ahmaud Ahbury, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd sent shockwaves through the world and, with everyone home, many white people were forced to recognize for the first time that there truly is a problem with racism in America.
In the wake of the horrifying video recording of George Floyd’s death and the demonstrations following it, I received tons of emails, calls, and messages from white people who I knew who did not know what to do in this time. They didn’t know what to say and they didn’t know what to do beyond putting a “Black Lives Matter” lawn sign in their yards. Some didn’t know what to tell their kids while others didn’t even know how to even engage with black people in general. Some called me simply to tell me sorry and share with their sense of hopelessness.
Good people. Good white people- struggling to be a good “White Ally.”
Meet our leadership
Erika K. Wesley
writer and storyteller
Erika K. Wesley is a nonprofit leader with over ten years of experience in constituency building, relationship management, program development, strategic planning, leadership development, teaching & curriculum development.
Kirk A. Wesley
political strategist
Kirk A. Wesley is a seasoned community organizer and campaign strategist with over 10 years experience of local, state, and national political and community organizing. After starting out as a volunteer Field Organizer on Congressman Jim Himes’ first re-election campaign, Kirk has gone on to organize and manage political campaigns in multiple states across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Philippe Lerebours
BS in Finance
With a BS in Finance from Wagner College and an array of experience in marketing, communications, and brand development, Philippe Lerebours offers dynamic and thoughtful perspective to any team.
