City of Toledo offering free implicit bias training

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - The City of Toledo, alongside the Toledo Human Relations Commission, the YWCA of Northwest Ohio, and the United Way of Greater Toledo, held a free implicit bias training session Thursday.

The session, held at Imagination Station, is being taught by Steve Francis, the president and lead strategist at Franchise D&I Solutions LLC.

“Depending on how you act or don’t act or what you say or don’t say based on your bias, that’s where the trouble can lead,” says Francis. “We help our clients and participants in our workshops identify biases when they pop up, because I guarantee they will, and manage them before they cloud their judgment or lead to poor decision making.”

Francis says the sessions will include discussions about race and its role in biases.

“Unless we can address head-on with honesty and objectivity issues of race and racism, we can’t possibly talk about issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” says Francis.

Residents say implicit bias training is especially important in Toledo because of how diverse the city has become.

“The first thing I think needs to be combated is ignorance,” says Valerie Thompson, a Toledo resident. “The more that we know about what we sometimes may not have paid attention to, what might happen subconsciously when we look at someone who is different from us. If we don’t understand that, we’re going to repeat it.”

Thompson says that learning is the first step and this training can change the way the community thinks.

“Once we know that it is coming from a place that might have been manipulated or that is not based in truth, then we can actively work to think differently.”

In case you missed this implicit bias training session there will be another session held on August 26th, at the Imagination Station at 6:00 p.m. To register for the second session, use this link.

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