Professional Development Workshops

The Respect For All Project

The Respect For All Project (RFAP) seeks to create safe, hate-free schools and communities. A program of GroundSpark, RFAP provides youth and the adults who guide their development the tools they need to engage in age-appropriate discussions about human difference, preventing prejudice and building caring communities.

The Respect For All Project offers a series of professional development workshops for educators, human service professionals, and youth service providers. The workshops in this series center around the effective use of our films in educational, clinical and social service settings.

This series consists of three different workshop packages: Basic, Intensive and Mentor Workshops. Over 9,000 professionals have already attended our workshops, which focus on showcasing promising practices related to the use of our films when working directly with students, families and other human service professionals. Choosing the right package for your school or group is an important first step to ensuring respect for all.



Each workshop package is described below in more detail

Basic Workshop

Basic Workshop Packages are offered for both That's a Family! and Let’s Get Real workshop content for this series includes:
  • Exploring foundational research and conceptual models that support the use of the film, curriculum guide and tool kit.
  • Viewing the film with facilitated pre- and post-discussions.
  • Sharing promising practices related to:
    • That’s a Family!: Understanding human difference, building welcoming schools, organizations and communities, supporting children from diverse family structures, bias prevention.
    • Let’s Get Real: Understanding bullying behavior, cultivating empathy, preventing name-calling, prejudice and bias.
  • Modeling select classroom and group activities.
  • Designing action plans for concrete results and local change.
  • Guidance for conducting discussions with young people and adults to address difficult subjects and issues presented in the film.
  • Tips for effective implementation of the tool kit in your professional setting.
  • Building welcoming and safe student/youth environments.
The Basic Workshop Package is offered in three- and four- hour versions. Content of the four-hour version includes a series of site-specific activities and discussions focused on local initiatives, planning and goals.


Intensive Workshop

Intensive Workshop Packages are offered for It’s Elementary, That's a Family! and Let's Get Real. Workshops in this series are designed for more lengthy discussion, exploration and action planning. The Intensive Workshop is designed to move participants beyond a basic understanding of the problems and themes addressed in the films. This series requires more time and is tailored more specifically to a group or schools specific challenges and needs. Workshop content for this series includes:
  • Exploring foundational research and conceptual models that support the use of the films and related tool kits.
  • Viewing of the film with facilitated pre- and post-discussions focused around your site-specific needs and concerns.
  • Focusing on select film and curriculum guide chapters to demonstrate comprehensive implementation.
  • Sharing promising practices related to:
    • That’s a Family!: Understanding human difference, building welcoming schools, organizations and communities, supporting children from diverse family structures, bias prevention
    • Let’s Get Real: Understanding bullying behavior, cultivating empathy, preventing name-calling, prejudice and bias.
    • It’s Elementary: Exploring why it is important to include lesbian and gay issues, history and community experiences in age-appropriate ways throughout school curricula and/or within agency/institutional practices.
  • How to prepare for effective implementation of the tool kit in your professional setting, with families and within the larger community.
  • Building and sustaining welcoming and safe student/youth environments.
  • Working to accomplish sustained climate change.
  • Moving towards culturally competent professional practice.
Due to the scope and depth of the Intensive Workshop Packages, these workshops are only offered in four-, five- and six-hour versions. Content of the five- and six-hour versions include a series of activities designed to enrich participant understanding of cultural competency and long-term institutional climate change.


Mentor Workshops

Mentor Workshops (our version of a Training of Trainers) are offered for That’s A Family! and Let's Get Real. These workshops are designed to prepare qualified professionals to conduct Basic The Respect For All Project workshops in their local area with colleagues, community members and other professionals.

Mentor Workshops are suggested for organizations seeking to implement our films and tool kits throughout their service provision area within their school district or as part of a regional or national initiative. Hosting a Mentor Workshop begins with a process of strategic planning and participant selection. Initial planning begins with an application and selection process conducted by in conjunction with the partnering organization or foundation.

2006 Mentor Workshop Participants:
  • The Colorado Trust
  • Illinois Safe School Aliiance, National Education Association, Human And Civil Rights
  • Pennsylvania State University, Cooperative Extension

If you are interested in applying for the mentor workshop program, please complete the following survey on behalf of your organization and email it to info@groundspark.org or fax it to 415-641-4632.

The Respect For All Project workshop series is made possible in part by the Arcus Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Foundation.

2180 Bryant Street #203 , San Francisco, CA | Phone: 1-800-405-3322 | Fax: 415-641-4632

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