Colleen Connell, Executive Director
ACLU of Illinois
Biz developed and implemented an aspirational –and inspirational – implicit bias training program for staff at the ACLU of Illinois. She helped ACLU staff – who work to challenge bias in their professional careers and who are deeply immersed in the law and literature of discrimination and bias – identify and confront individual and cultural bias in ways that will help us be better advocates, better colleagues and better people. Ours is an interesting group to deal with because of our professional areas of expertise; Biz’s honest approach to these difficult issues helped us all to learn.
Patrick Keenan-Devlin, Executive Director
James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy
Due to the nature of our work advocating on behalf of and alongside individuals with disabilities and those caught in the criminal justice system, our clients are some of the most traumatized, marginalized and disconnected members of our community. We sought out Ms. Lindsay-Ryan’s services to ensure that every member of our organization could appropriately respond to and represent all clients in an inclusive and culturally aware manner. Ms. Lindsay-Ryan deepened our awareness, sensitivity, knowledge and skills for serving a diverse client population, strengthened staff capacity to respond to clients in a culturally sensitive manner, and effectively assessed our organizational opportunities for growth in developing inclusive, culturally sensitive policies, programs, practices, systems and communications. We will better serve our clients and community because of Ms. Lindsay-Ryan’s coaching.
Scott Baeseman, Diversity and Inclusion Co-Chair
Lake Forest Country Day School
Biz was particularly adept at helping our faculty and staff become more aware of diversity topics, become more reflective in our approach with students, and also helped us to develop healthier and more open conversations surrounding diversity and inclusion. Her honest and sometimes humorous approach to facilitating sensitive diversity topics has had a long-lasting positive impact on our own ability to build community at our school.
Debbie Boileve, Executive Director
Warren W. Cherry Preschool
Elisabeth Lindsay-Ryan is Evanston’s local expert on all issues related to race, gender, diversity and inclusion. She has been invaluable as a consultant to Warren Cherry Preschool, both as a speaker leading trainings for our parents and staff, and in helping the administration review our policies and handbooks to help keep the language current and up to date. Elisabeth (Biz) speaks from her heart in a way that is relatable to her audience. She blends humor and personal experiences with thought provoking information that helps each participant begin the journey of self-reflection that is so important in learning to support young children in our diverse world. Biz helps parents and educators find the language necessary to begin these difficult conversations with children. She seamlessly blends theory and practice with practical ideas as she inspires her audience to continue these important conversations and feel more confident in supporting their children. Learning to navigate issues of diversity and inclusion are so important in the world we live in right now. Biz will help show you the way. I can’t recommend her highly enough.
Kate Biggs Ellison, Principal
Washington School District 65
Biz is an amazing resource! She supports our school climate process through professional development and consultation. She is a strong advocate for equity and is gifted in her ability to call people into the work. She is a systems thinker, while at the same time skilled at working with individuals and groups of people. She is truly making a difference in our community.