Creating a More Inclusive Ski Community

On-line Workshop for CWSAA Members

Date: May 4, 2022  |  Time: 1:00-4:00 MST / 12:00-3:00 PST

$75 per person. Spots are limited and pre-registration is required.  REGISTER NOW

Want to improve your resort’s DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) practices?

 This workshop is a good place to start.

 Workshop Description:

The ski industry is not known for its diversity. Studies have shown that 88% of both Canadian and US snowsports participants are white (USSA Skier Demographics 2021, Canadian Ski Council Ethnic Profile 2008), and we also see limited diversity on the slopes around gender, gender expression, ethnicity, body types, and income levels. Increasing diversity among western Canada’s ski area employees and guests isn’t just good business practice, it’s the right thing to do. In order to work towards diversity, we need to focus on inclusion.

Participants in this workshop will gain information and practical tools to enable them to take an active role in shifting western Canada’s ski culture. We’ll start with baseline  JEDI concepts and vocabulary (JEDI = justice, equity, diversity and inclusion), and explore how these manifest on the individual, interpersonal and institutional levels. Expect to check out your biases, practice recognizing and responding to microaggressions, and engage in a brainstorm around best practices for policies, practices and action steps specific to ski area operations.

This is NOT a webinar – it is an interactive on-line (Zoom) workshop, with large and small group discussions, scenarios, reflection, and opportunities to share experiences, successes and shortcomings. Participants should prepare to be actively engaged the whole time, and will need a camera-equipped computer or tablet.

There will be a small amount of prep-work, which will be sent out a week before the workshop. In order to promote open and honest discussion, the workshop will not be recorded.

Let’s explore this timely and important topic together!

Registration:

Cost for this workshop per participant is $75 +GST, and enrollment is limited to 20 participants.

Please register here on or before April 27, 2022. 

Facilitator Bio:

Cathy Cowles is a Community Consultant and Facilitative Trainer who has worked as an Outward Bound instructor and Staff Trainer since 1991. She has been invested in social justice since embracing feminism in the 1980s. Over the past two years, the worldwide reckoning with racism has created a worldwide teachable moment, and Cathy has responded by facilitating workshops that invite participants to explore justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI).

As a Facilitative Trainer, Cathy introduces content, and then supports participants on their learning journeys. She has done this work with teachers and school administrators, avalanche industry professionals, wilderness instructors, nonprofit boards and staff, and the general public. Cathy’s circles of community radiate out from her homes in southwest Colorado and Golden, BC.

Custom Workshops for Your Resort Team:

Want to bring a workshop like this to your team? Let’s talk. Cathy Cowles & Associates can work with you to design and deliver a customized Inclusion Workshop that suits your needs. We deliver interactive, participatory workshops (virtual or in-person) lasting 1-4 hours. Pricing starts at $1,000 US, and for 2022 we will offer a 10% discount on Inclusion Workshops for CWSAA member resorts. Contact cathycowles@gmail.com