How do you do it: ýFacesý workshops help people understand how it would feel to have a different ethnicity, gender, age, ability, race, or physical appearance. In one workshop, a participant looks through a mask into a mirror. She sees herself as a different person facing a pop-up book crowd with something in common (race, gender, age, etc.) Participants create a story about their masks & answer questions about the pop-up crowd. The leader shares stories from other workshops. People discover their responses are surprisingly similar to those in previous workshops & are based on stereotypes. People like to be right & want their thinking to be based on fact. When people discover their thinking is not based on reality, they become motivated to change & make decisions that make sense to them.

Innovation: "Faces" is unique because people are empowered to discover beliefs & thinking patterns they may not be aware they possess. Many individuals become closed-minded because of trauma, emotional neglect, & social pain. Faces is designed so people can learn insightful thinking through gentle self discovery. Nothing is forced, taught or imposed. Innovative methods & tools such as masks, pop-up books, mirrors, & exercises help people discover surprising (to them), universal thinking patterns.They learn to look reflectively at their decision making processes & tendencies to make generalizations about other people. Through "Faces", people become more empathetic & caring.

Impact: "Faces" has been presented to thousands of people of all ages, religions, gender orientations, education, & ability in the U.S.A. & from over 75 countries in South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, & Europe. The "Faces" program helps people discover themselves & understand their thinking/belief systems. Faces helps people develop social thinking patterns based more on fact, rather than cultural patterns & individual bias. My theory, based on experience with the workshops, is that when enough peopleýs thinking becomes based on insightful reflection, society will change.

Ethical Action: Arun Gandhi, grandson of M.K. Gandhi & founder of the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, felt very accepting of all people. This has been central to his life's work & association with people from around the world. After participating in a "Faces" Workshop in 2001, Arun discovered some hidden biases he held & became more open to a group he had previously judged. He was so impressed, he endorsed Faces as ýone of the best diversity programs in the countryý & adopted it as part of the Institute's work.

In 2005, a corrections officer in the Howard County (Indiana) Sheriffs Department jail division, presented ýFacesý to corrections & police officers for instructor development at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. The group was so moved by their experience they hope to bring it to the state prison system. The officer was recommended for a promotion & now does diversity training for all new employees.

Replication: I plan to manufacture 5000 re-usable kits at $11 each. 50 trainers will each train 100 groups. The groups will receive kits & present workshops to others.

Trained facilitators have presented ýFacesý in the U.S.A., South America, & Europe at places such as: Kent State University; Museum of Tolerance; National Headstart Fellows; Boys & Girls Club; YWCA; Cornell University; NYS Family Development Association; American Society for Quality; Erie County Consortium; Warren/Washington County Youth Bureau; Alternatives to Violence Conference; Silver Creek High School; Chautauqua County Office of the Aging; Silver Creek High School; Beverly Hills Holiday Inn; American Society of Training & Development; Freedom to Change Violence Prevention Summit; Teen Mentoring Program; Chautauqua County Department of Probation; National Conference for Peace & Conflict Resolution.

Sustainability: Because the program is a very a low-key, low cost and highly effective way to have individuals develop deep understanding of themselves and others in a social context, it has the potential to spread exponentially.

Educators, social service agencies, law enforcement, businesses, medical professionals, churches, community groups & others provide a ready market for the program. Trained facilitators can deliver the program independently, with support from a central office. Groups can receive facilitator training and then present workshops to their own constituencies/ One kit can be used for hundreds of groups and thousands of participants. As individuals learn more unbiased ways of thinking, the tools will take a back-seat. As individuals become more aware of their thinking processes through ýFaces,ý they will challenge existing biases & behavior.

Position in the Ethics Mosaic of Solutions:

Factor: Otherness

Principle: Developing self-awareness and interconnectedness

Contact Information:
Name: Valerie Walawendermailing
Organization: Mailing address: 2847 Route 39, Forestville, New York 14062
Country: United States
Email: valerie@facesinthecrowd.net
Tel: 716-679-3359
Website: www.facesinthecrowd.net

Organization Size: There is only one "employee" with the Faces In The Crowd Program (myself). However, dozens of independent trained facilitators are located throughout the United States, and one trained facilitator has taken the program across Europe and South America.