AIRS Forum MSD - How to Have Healthy and Helpful Conversations About Race With Your Team

Carmen C. Marshall loves working to strengthen and elevate nonprofit organizations. Her expertise in the nonprofit sector incorporates a wealth of on-the-ground experience as an executive director and a consultant helping organizations with building capacity, strategic planning, board governance, fundraising, equity and inclusion, team building, leadership development and change management. She is an expert trainer, facilitator and keynote speaker. 

Carmen knows first-hand how transformative it can be when people get serious about confronting racism, sexism and the other isms and schisms that divide us in the workplace and community. Informed by her work in civil rights, Carmen is dedicated to working with world changers – organizations and leaders – who are serious about making progress in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). “As a country, we don’t necessarily do a good job talking about racial issues. It’s hard. It challenges everyone to look at themselves and the systems of oppression that plague us. And, if we can’t bring ourselves to talk about it, then it is doubtful that we’ll do anything about it”, she says. 

Through her coaching, facilitation and consulting, she helps those who are committed to establishing an environment or culture where individuals can succeed, grow and thrive regardless of race, ethnicity, identity or gender. Whether at the beginning of their journey or in the midst of a full blown crisis, Carmen steps into the fire with you. She helps CEOs, boards of directors and teams, to find their way through sensitive conversations about racial and ethnic disparities and board diversity, for example, to bold and progressive action. In addition, she can often be found facilitating workshops on DEI, racial equity, unconscious bias and managing racial conflict in organizations. Clients appreciate how she manages these sensitive conversations with finesse and deep respect for the life experiences that all participants bring to the table. Consequently, Carmen has been honored to do this work not only with the Black and White but also, Asian, Asian American, Native American and Latino communities. 

Her passion is integrating coaching, facilitation and training to call upon the giftedness and greatness in others who work in the nonprofit sector. 

Specifically, her work is aimed at helping: 

• Create an awareness, deepen their understanding, then moving to corrective action 

• Organizations to fulfill their missions 

• Organizations to deliver greater service to the community 

• Organizations to raise more money 

• Boards and staff to step into their power, calling and responsibility. 

• Organizations to develop systems and processes, with built-in accountability that lead to success and sustainability. 

Carmen is also the creator of Uncovering and Confronting Racism: Laying the Foundation for Transformative Change, a program designed to help organizations in their equity and inclusion work. Her work with CEOs, boards of directors and teams has earned her the reputation of peaceful gatekeeper and master facilitator. 

Carmen is also a Standards for Excellence ® Institute licensed consultant. She has served as a member of the Ethics Committee at the Standards for Excellence Institute and is a professional coach certified by Coaching for Transformation (accredited by the International Coaching Federation). 

Carmen is the former Executive Pastor of the historic Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (formerly led by the late Congressman William H. Gray III). In that role, she shouldered both the executive and senior pastor responsibilities in the absence of a senior pastor. She is the first woman to lead the congregation in 107 years. She is also the former Executive Director of the National Black Media Coalition. 

She attended University of Massachusetts at Boston majoring in Economics. She holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from Texas Southern University. 

Carmen is currently the Director of Consulting at Maryland Nonprofits. 

Christopher Moore is the Director of the MAP Program at the Howard County Office on Aging & Independence, as well as the Immediate Past President of Maryland AIRS. He first received his CIRS-A/D certification in 2008. He has worked in Human Services for 21 years, and in Information & Referral for the past 13 years. Chris earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Hampton University in 1999 and his Master’s Degree in Management of Aging Services from the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Erickson School in 2015.

Maricela Alcala has been in the field of I&R and 2-1-1 since 2005. Before Gryphon Place Maricela she was the Program Director for United Way 2-1-1, in Toledo, Ohio.  Where she oversaw the 2-1-1 and its internal programs. Free Tax Preparation Program, Coordinated Assessment, Critical Identification Program and Family Information Network. Prior to that, Maricela held several positions within United Way including: 2-1-1 Program Manager, Technology Resource Manager and I&R/Resource Specialist. Before joining United Way, Maricela was an Outreach Specialist at Adelante Latino Resource Center assisting Latino/Hispanic families with Drug and Alcohol Prevention. Maricela has been an active member of National AIRS, nominated and accepted to become National Accreditation Reviewer in 2011.  Maricela has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Information Systems from the University of Veracruz (Mexico) Maricela in 2019 founded along with other Latinas in the Kalamazoo area a Latina Leadership Program called “ELLAS” Empowering Latina Leaders Advocates for Success. ELLAS mission is to Empower, Enrich, and Elevate Latina leaders and allies to become bridge builders and influential change agents in Southwest Michigan.