Please note: This is a remote webinar that will be held outside the CE Institute. Webinar access instructions, evaluations, and certificates will be communicated by NASW MEChapter a day before the webinar. You must attend the live workshop to receive CEs associated. 

Join us for an engaging online fireside chat (candid conversation) to explore the realities, tensions, and opportunities that arise when BIPOC students and families interact with non-BIPOC staff who may not share their lived experiences.

Together, we will examine where connection breaks down, what families are truly seeking from school-based social workers, and what practitioners may be unintentionally overlooking. Panelists will reflect on mindset shifts that foster trust, the impact of implicit expectations on both sides, and the difference between compliance-based engagement and relationship-centered partnership.

This conversation is designed to move beyond theory into practical insight—grounded in lived experience—so that social workers can strengthen cultural humility, responsiveness, and authentic connection in their daily practice.

Speakers include Blanca Santiago, LCSW, clinician in private practice, Priscilla Bitencourt, McKinney Vento Liaison, Portland Public Schools (PPS), Betsy Paz Gymesi, Family and Community Engagement Specialist, PPS, and facilitated by Grace Valenzuela, PhD, Executive Director of Communications and Community Partnerships, PPS.

Purpose

To create a reflective and action-oriented dialogue that deepens social workers’ understanding of how lived experience, race, language, and culture shape trust, service delivery, and family engagement.

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Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will:

● Identify key barriers that affect connection between BIPOC families and non-BIPOC staff, including saviorism, deficit thinking, and unspoken expectations held by families and professionals that can create friction or mistrust..

● Recognize gaps in service delivery that may stem from cultural misunderstandings, systemic assumptions, or institutional norms.

● Develop practical strategies to build authentic relationships, strengthen communication, and center family voice in decision-making.

This fireside chat invites openness, humility, and honest reflection as we work collectively toward more equitable and relational social work practice.