---
title: Some Good News
description: Discover how racial equity caucusing builds awareness, accountability, healing, and organizational change—and why this work offers tangible hope for the future.
image: https://l3catalystgroup.com/hubfs/john-cameron--_5IRj1F2rY-unsplash%20(1).jpg
---
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# Some Good News
by [Dee Rolffs (they/them)](https://l3catalystgroup.com/blog/author/dee-rolffs)
November 11, 2026
People often ask me, "How's business going?"
Or, more pointedly: "Are you still getting projects these days?"
"Given everything happening politically, is L3 Catalyst Group still working with other consultants?"
And I won't lie. I ask myself those questions pretty regularly, too.
At L3 Catalyst Group our work is rooted in racial equity, belonging, liberation, and helping organizations change and challenge systems of oppression; it's reasonable to wonder what the future holds. Especially in a time when organizations are being pressured to abandon commitments, change their language, or retreat from work they once publicly celebrated.
I wonder, and sometimes worry.
There are also some things happening in our work that have brought tremendous joy, peace, gratitude, and, perhaps most importantly, tangible hope and evidence of change.
I'd love to share some of that good news.
Some good news worth sharing
Over the past couple of years, I've had the tremendous privilege of working alongside two brilliant, courageous, badass colleagues: [Courtney Currie of Inclusive Insight Group](https://www.inclusiveinsightgroup.com/) and [Brooke Davis of BTD Consulting](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooke-davis-lmsw/).
Together, we've been partnering with organizations across sectors—including public policy organizations, non-profits, and community foundations—to deepen their racial equity strategies and practices through racial equity caucusing, also called racial affinity groups.
And y'all, this is something worth celebrating.
Not because the work is easy. It's not.
Not because these organizations have figured everything out. They haven't.
And certainly not because racial equity caucusing magically solves racism. It doesn't.
Yet, organizations are making a precious, intentional, and sustained investment in doing racial equity work.
They're investing time, resources, energy, vulnerability, and organizational capacity into something that isn't always comfortable and doesn't always produce quick, easily measurable outcomes.
They're choosing to stay engaged. Their leaders, staff, and members recognize that racial equity isn't an optional addition to their mission. It's essential to how they understand and carry out that mission.
And that matters.
Because racial inequity doesn't exist in isolation. It's deeply intertwined with other systems of oppression, including capitalism, patriarchy, classism, ableism, and queer/transphobia. These systems reinforce one another, shaping who has access to resources, power, opportunity, safety, and belonging.
We can't meaningfully address one without understanding how it intersects with the others.
So when organizations choose to invest in racial equity, they're also creating opportunities to examine the broader systems and practices shaping their organizational cultures and the communities they serve.
That's good news. And we could all use a little more good news right now.
Before we go further, let's acknowledge something: This is messy and complex, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible.
People are complex and messy. Organizations are complex and messy. We are complex and have a lot of work to do .
We bring our identities, histories, assumptions, fears, hopes, habits, and experiences into every room.
We misunderstand one another.
We get defensive.
We make mistakes.
We cause harm, sometimes even when our intentions are good.
And sometimes we don't recognize the harm until someone has the courage to tell us.
This work requires a willingness to be uncomfortable, to examine ourselves honestly, to practice accountability, and to recognize that our own perspectives are incomplete.
It also requires much more than bringing people together for a workshop or asking them to participate in a racial affinity group.
Meaningful racial equity caucusing has multiple, interconnected lanes of commitment.
Leadership commitment. Leaders and boards must be willing to examine their own practices, decisions, power, and accountability. They must make real investments in the work—not simply endorse it.
Organizational commitment. Racial equity must be connected to strategy, policies, resources, relationships, and everyday practices. Organizations must be willing to examine what needs to change, not simply what people need to learn.
All-staff commitment. People need time and space to build shared understanding, develop relationships, engage in difficult conversations, and practice new ways of working together.
Individual commitment. Each of us has our own learning and unlearning to do. Our own assumptions to examine. Our own patterns to recognize. Our own relationships with race, identity, power, and privilege to better understand.
And racial equity caucusing methodology utilizes intentional spaces where people can engage in the particular learning, reflection, healing, and accountability work connected to their racial identities and experiences.
These commitments aren't separate from one another.
They reinforce one another.
And when one is missing, the others become much harder to sustain.
What is racial equity caucusing, and why do it?
First, I want to give credit where it's due.
Our approach is grounded in training, frameworks, structures, and resources from the [National Equity Project](https://www.nationalequityproject.org/?utm_term=national%20equity%20project&hsa_acc=4398447944&hsa_cam=1743969115&hsa_grp=66597907645&hsa_ad=355087178371&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-663274279120&hsa_kw=national%20equity%20project&hsa_mt=e&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAC0BhUCE9M37_2rCMk61q_LEkY5sT), whose racial equity caucusing methodology has deeply informed our work.
As a white person, I've participated in racial equity caucuses for more than 18 years—in different organizations, communities, and learning spaces. I've also facilitated caucuses alongside consultants and facilitators of color. And I'm still learning, messing up, adjusting. Most critically, I'm not in this alone. Working with Brooke and Courtney has been life changing.
There is no one-size-fits-all model. Different organizations have different histories, relationships, levels of readiness, and experiences of racial harm.
But there are important principles and practices that help make this work intentional, accountable, and connected to meaningful change.
One resource that has been particularly helpful is [Caucuses as a Racial Justice Strategy: What We Have Learned, published by JustLead Washington in 2019.](https://justleadwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Caucuses-as-a-Racial-Justice-Strategy-JustLead-WA.pdf)
It reinforces an essential distinction: Racial caucusing is a means toward racial justice, not an end in itself.
The purpose isn't simply to gather people who share a racial identity. It's to create intentional spaces for the work that different racial groups need to do, while strengthening our collective capacity to challenge racism and transform organizations.
We Practice:
Building relationships, community, and support. Creating spaces where people can connect honestly, share experiences, and develop trust.
Supporting racial healing. Providing people of color with space to reflect, connect, heal, and build collective strength without having to explain or defend their experiences to white colleagues.
Developing white racial awareness and accountability. Creating spaces where white people can examine whiteness, racial socialization, privilege, defensiveness, and learned patterns without placing the burden of that learning on colleagues of color.
Building collective tools and practices for racial equity. Moving beyond individual awareness toward shared language, accountability, action, and organizational change.
Strengthening solidarity and collective responsibility. Developing the capacity to work across racial differences while recognizing that we don't all have the same experiences or responsibilities.
Making space for joy, connection, and liberation. Remembering that racial justice work is not only about identifying harm. It's also about creating the conditions for people and communities to thrive.
These purposes are interconnected, but they aren't interchangeable.
For white participants, caucusing offers an accountable space to examine how we've been socialized within systems of whiteness and racism, how those systems benefit us, and how we can take greater responsibility for interrupting them.
For participants of color, caucusing can offer opportunities for connection, healing, shared learning, and collective power without centering white people's learning needs or reactions.
And the work doesn't end when the caucuses end.
We also gather in multiracial, all-staff spaces to build shared understanding, deepen relationships, and connect learning to collective organizational commitments.
We do some of our work separately so we can do our collective work differently.
The goal isn't separation.
The goal is transformation.
What does this actually look like?
Sometimes it looks like a white participant recognizing how quickly they become defensive when someone names racial harm.
And beginning to ask, "What am I protecting right now?"
Sometimes it looks like someone acknowledging that their fear of getting something wrong has kept them from taking meaningful action.
Sometimes it looks like participants of color having space to share experiences, find connection, and engage in reflection without carrying the responsibility for white colleagues' reactions.
Sometimes it looks like staff beginning to recognize how racialized expectations show up in hiring, communication, organizational norms, or decision-making.
Sometimes it looks like a difficult conversation that would have ended in silence or withdrawal a year earlier becoming an opportunity for greater understanding and accountability.
And sometimes it looks like people realizing how much they still don't know.
There are no shortcuts.
And we don't always get it right.
But we're practicing.
What We're Hearing From Participants
One of the most meaningful parts of this work has been witnessing people develop the capacity to engage in conversations that previously felt too difficult, risky, or uncomfortable.
We're hearing people describe a desire for conversations that are more honest, less polished, and more connected.
We're seeing people move away from the pressure to have the perfect response and toward the willingness to be real, curious, and accountable.
We're noticing the importance of relationships—of having people who can challenge us, support us, and stay engaged with us as we learn.
And we're seeing how intentional spaces can help people begin to move from silence or defensiveness toward reflection and action.
These changes might sound small.
They're not.
When people begin to recognize their patterns, acknowledge impact, and remain engaged through discomfort, something important becomes possible.
Not perfection.
Capacity.
The capacity to keep learning.
The capacity to repair harm.
The capacity to recognize inequity and take action.
The capacity to build relationships across difference without pretending those differences don't matter.
And the capacity to change the organizational systems that reinforce inequitable outcomes.
The first year of racial equity caucusing often lays the groundwork.
I want to be really clear about this. Racial equity caucusing is not a quick fix.
In many ways, caucusing in the first year is laying the groundwork.
Building relationships.
Establishing trust.
Developing shared language.
Recognizing patterns.
Learning to stay present through discomfort.
Beginning to understand what accountability can look like in practice.
And almost always, addressing harm that has been present in an organization for years.
Several organizations have come to us after previous attempts at racial equity work resulted in additional harm.
Black staff and other staff of color experienced more pain, frustration, or exhaustion.
White staff became more defensive, withdrawn, or entrenched in their positions.
Trust was damaged.
And people were left wondering whether trying again would be worth it.
Those experiences matter.
They don't disappear because a new facilitator enters the room.
And they certainly don't disappear because we introduce a new framework.
We have to acknowledge what happened.
We have to be willing to understand why.
And we have to create the conditions for something different to become possible.
That takes time.
It takes resources.
It takes leadership that is willing to stay committed even when progress feels slow.
And it takes people who are willing to do their own work rather than expecting someone else to do it for them.
There are no guarantees.
But there are possibilities.
And we're seeing them.
Making Hope Tangible
I've been thinking a lot about hope lately.
Not hope as wishful thinking.
Not hope that asks us to ignore what's happening around us.
Not hope that suggests everything will somehow work out if we just remain positive.
I'm talking about hope grounded in practice.
Hope that comes from seeing people recognize something about themselves they hadn't previously understood.
Hope that comes from witnessing someone choose curiosity instead of defensiveness.
Hope that comes from organizations continuing to invest in racial equity when it might be easier, politically or financially, to retreat.
Hope that comes from people taking responsibility for the harm they've caused and committing to something different.
Hope that comes from learning, unlearning, relationships, accountability, and action.
Hope that has evidence.
And here's something I've come to believe more deeply through this work:
Transformation requires attention to multiple, interconnected levels.
The personal. Understanding our identities, socialization, assumptions, emotions, and patterns.
The interpersonal. Examining how we relate to one another, navigate difference, respond to conflict, and practice accountability and repair.
The organizational. Changing the policies, practices, cultures, structures, and distributions of power that shape our collective experiences.
The systemic. Naming and challenging the broader systems of oppression that influence our lives, our organizations, and our communities.
We can't simply focus on individual learning and expect systems to change.
And we can't expect meaningful organizational transformation without attending to the people and relationships within those systems.
This is inside-out work.
It's relational work.
It's organizational work.
And it's systems-change work.
All of it matters.
Gratitude for People Who Keep Showing Up
I don't want to romanticize this work.
It's hard.
It can be exhausting.
It's not always linear.
But going backwards isn't an option. As white people, not addressing racism and other isms in our work spaces isn't an option. Sticking our heads in the sand isn't an option.
And sometimes we leave caucusing sessions knowing there is so much more to understand, address, or repair.
I am deeply grateful to have learned from Tovi to[Love Anyway.](https://www.ticiess.com/about-tovi)
I'm grateful for the organizations willing to invest in something that requires more than a statement of values.
I'm grateful for leaders willing to examine their own power and practices.
I'm grateful for staff who continue to show up, even when their experiences with racial equity efforts have left them skeptical or hurt.
I'm grateful for people who are willing to acknowledge what they don't know, get something wrong, and keep learning.
And I'm especially grateful for Brooke and Courtney. I couldn't do this work without them. Their wisdom, courage, care, accountability, and ability to navigate complexity make this work possible.
We challenge one another.
We learn from one another.
We get things wrong. We support one another.
We laugh.
We keep practicing.
Courtney, Brooke,and I share a deep commitment to creating spaces where people can engage honestly with the realities of racism while moving toward greater liberation, connection, and collective responsibility.
I am humbled to be part of this work alongside them.
And I am reminded again and again that none of us does this alone.
An Invitation to Keep Practicing
I'm sharing all of this because I want more people to know that meaningful change is possible.
Even now.
Especially now.
There are organizations choosing to deepen their commitments rather than abandon them.
There are people learning to recognize patterns they once couldn't see.
There are relationships being strengthened.
There are difficult conversations happening differently.
There are leaders and staff making intentional choices to create more equitable organizations.
It's not perfect.
It's not finished.
And it's certainly not easy.
But it's happening.
If you're part of an organization with racial equity commitments, trying to recover from past harm, or wondering what a sustained commitment to racial equity might look like, Courtney, Brooke, and I welcome a conversation.
And if you're doing this work in your own community or organization, we'd love to hear what you're learning to celebrate with you. What practices have helped? What resources have shaped your approach? Where are you seeing evidence of meaningful change?
May we continue to do our own inside-out work.
May we build relationships rooted in curiosity, dignity, accountability, and care.
May we have the courage to examine and transform our organizations.
May we keep challenging the systems that separate us from one another and prevent us from collectively healing and thriving.
Because hope isn't just something we feel.
It's something we practice, together.
Much love, y'all.
.png?width=116&height=58&name=Dee%20(1).png)
Resources and acknowledgments:
National Equity Project — Our racial equity caucusing work draws on training, methodologies, frameworks, and resources developed and shared by the National Equity Project.
https://www.nationalequityproject.org/
JustLead Washington (2019) — Caucuses as a Racial Justice Strategy: What We Have Learned. An important resource for understanding caucusing as a strategy for building racial equity, accountability, healing, and collective action.
Inclusive Insight Group + BTD Consulting + L3 Catalyst Group — The facilitation partnership of Courtney Currie, Brooke Davis, and Dee, bringing distinct experiences, perspectives, and commitments to this work.
###### Tags:
[learning,](https://l3catalystgroup.com/blog/tag/learning) [racial equity,](https://l3catalystgroup.com/blog/tag/racial-equity) [equity,](https://l3catalystgroup.com/blog/tag/equity) [leadership,](https://l3catalystgroup.com/blog/tag/leadership) [unlearning](https://l3catalystgroup.com/blog/tag/unlearning)
Post by [Dee Rolffs (they/them)](https://l3catalystgroup.com/blog/author/dee-rolffs)
November 11, 2026
Dee Rolffs, (they/them), Owner and Principal consultant of L3 Catalyst Group, is a coach, consultant, facilitator, strategist, and co-conspirator toward healing and liberation. They support leaders and teams, from United Nations Women to small non-profits, bringing about healthy teams and more equitable outcomes. They are always up for working together toward truth telling, healing in and changing oppressive systems, practicing meditation, and living in liberatory joy.
[Follow me on my website](https://l3catalystgroup.com/) [Follow me on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/L3CatalystGroup) [Follow me on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/deannarolffs/)
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