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FRE Session Five: Advancing Equity Through Organizational Culture and Operations

In the fifth session of the 2025 Foundations of Racial Equity (FRE) series, we will deepen our understanding of where and how identity-based assumptions and inequities are often baked into organizational policies and norms.

In this highly experiential session, participants will engage in conversation and activities to practice noticing and linking patterns around identity to policies and practices that could be greatly improved to be more expansive and inclusive.

We will cover topics like organizational culture (the unwritten rules), how human resources can play a helpful role, and how financial decisions like vendor choice, where your operating capital goals, and how you prioritize your investments and partnerships all have potential equity layers, opportunities, and implications.

Join us to:

  • Learn creative modern-day approaches to help disentangle white dominance and masculine supremacy from “professionalism”
  • Practice pushing back and offering viable alternatives to norms and policies that systemically disadvantage certain kinds of workers
  • Explore how dominant and non-dominant identities influence organizational culture, operations and policies
  • Utilize an evergreen tool that will help you and your organization increase awareness of precise ways that our identities and lived-experience influence our work together

Session Five Integration Hour: Tuesday, December 9 – 2:00 pm ET (90-minutes – extended closing session)

Each session is a 3-hour faculty-led session held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 4:00 pm ET for a total of five sessions. Following each session, there will be an integration hour. Integration Hours are 1-hour lightly facilitated peer-learning spaces between each faculty-led session, where participants can reflect on and apply key themes from earlier sessions to discuss how FRE topics relate to current internal and sector-wide cultural shifts, especially in the face of rapid organizational changes.

The closing Integration Hour on December 9 will be extended to feature a call back to the content on Healing Justice, facilitated by Marisol Jiménez. This session aims to support participants in planning for the necessary resources and restoration practices, empowering them to advance critical race equity work in an increasingly chaotic system.

Registration: Participants must register here for the full 2025 Foundation of Racial Equity series to attend this session.

Speakers

Trina Olson

Trina C. Olson (she/her) is an executive coach, equity expert, author, facilitator, and trainer who has been leading teams and building content for over 20 years.

Trina is currently running her own practice (www.TrinaOlson.com), coaching and training people and organizations across the U.S. who want to deepen their skills to live their values. Trina has a particular passion for helping leaders navigate the complex intersections of race, gender, class, age, religion, sexuality, and geography in our current contexts.

Trina is a trained community organizer who has built an impressive portfolio of national and regional policy, organizing, and advocacy expertise. Over the course of her career, Trina has driven campaigns and projects spanning a multitude of progressive issues, including: healthcare, hunger, living wage, immigration reform, transgender inclusive non – discrimination, and more. A two-time non-profit executive director and CEO of national strategy firm Team Dynamics, Trina has a track record of building and retaining teams across race, gender, and sexual orientation to achieve shared goals.

Trina is the author of Fairness in Philanthropy, Leveling the Playing Field for Our LGBTQ Neighbors, as well as, Seeking Safe Haven: LGBTQ People and the American Immigration Experience.

Trina has purposefully lived and worked all over the U.S., including: Seattle, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York, and Minneapolis. She currently works with U.S.-based leaders in the C-Suite, HR, Talent Acquisition, Finance + Operations teams, and more.

In addition to her work life, Trina loves spending time painting, building furniture, listening to music, and enjoying podcasts. Trina loves hosting people, watching historical documentaries, and cultivating her wild garden.

www.TrinaOlson.com

Alfonso Tomás Wenker

Alfonso Tomás Wenker (he/him) is a seasoned social sector strategist with deep experience in racial equity, community philanthropy, and organizational development. Alfonso is currently the Senior Vice President of Community Impact at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. His work is to ensure the Foundation’s community impact grants and programs are informed by and responsive to our communities in partnership with our community impact team. He also gets to work across the executive leadership team to think with his peers about how the Foundation uses their voices and resources to advance community-defined solutions.

Alfonso began his career as a student organizer working on LGBTQ+ inclusion across Minnesota’s private colleges. Born and raised on the West Side of Saint Paul, Alfonso is deeply committed to resourcing leaders across communities to build thriving and equitable communities. Alfonso has served as a philanthropic leader through his roles at the Bush Foundation, PFund Foundation, Minnesota Council on Foundations and the Trillium Family Foundation board of directors.

Alfonso has been recognized by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal as a 40 under 40 leader, Lavender Magazine with LGBTQ leader award, and by the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation with a Facing Race Award. Alfonso lives with his partner David and outside of work enjoys trying out new recipes, singing in a very amateur cabaret group and spending summer weekends on the pontoon.

www.AlfonsoWenker.com

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