Our Mission is to provide education, support and leader development services for clergy, congregations and organizations who want to build communities of belonging where cultural differences are recognized, understood, appreciated and utilized as strengths.
Through educational facilitation, immersive experiences, and spiritual leadership support, Belonging, Inc. helps diverse communities address and change the biases, behaviors, and emotions that hinder authentic belonging, peacemaking, and collaborative leadership.
Your contributions make this possible! Thank you!
Our Services
Community Conversation - This virtual weekly meeting on Tuesdays at 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. using Zoom is open to anyone who wants ongoing education, support and development as a leader of multicultural change. We learn and practice tools taught by VISIONS, Inc. for building healthy, culturally inclusive communities of belonging. The tools that we use allow for (at times) difficult and intensive work within a model that makes participants feel safe enough to stay invested and engaged. People are welcome to come and listen, bring challenges to work on, practice teaching one of the tools and celebrate success in their own work. Subscribe here to receive Community Conversation notifications and access information via our newsletter.
Cross Cultural Hospitality Training - This one-day training supports learning to transform cultural differences into strengths, foster authentic belonging, and build healthier relationships across church, community, and workplace. Leave with practical tools, exercises, and frameworks for appreciating your own culture and that of others. Addressing and healing personal, interpersonal and organizational harm. Replacing traps in our thinking, behaving and feeling so that cultural differences become strength for our way forward. More information and registration for Cross-Cultural Hospitality Training in Ocoee, FL on May 2.
Pilgrimage Experiences - Participants journey through cities and towns, going onsite for insight into the deeper, often under-told stories of trauma and transformation that have occurred around race. Equipped with cross-cultural hospitality tools and spiritual resources for attending to God's presence, these pilgrimage journeys become a means of healing, inspiration and vocational discernment for many. More information and registration for the St. Augustine Pilgrimage on May 15.
Training and Coaching - Customized for your needs or the needs of your group, training events are adaptable in length, process and content. They are led by experienced facilitators to support and develop leaders of multicultural change.
Trainings are designed to support your learning goals through an experience of diverse and collaborative teams that address and change the way exclusion happens at personal, interpersonal, institutional and cultural levels. Trainings can help participants lead effectively in the 21st century. Build trust, belonging and authentic engagement where cultural differences are present. Communicate more effectively across difference. Identify previously unconscious biases and misinformation in themselves, in others, and in organizations. Develop collaborative solutions that both heal legacies of conflict and chart new ways forward together. Contact us for help with designing your training or plan to attend our September 3-day Training or January 2-day Training in St. Augustine.
Our Facilitators
Rev. Laverne March (pronouns: she, her, hers). Rev. March is the pastor at Living Waters Ministries in St. Augustine and Co-Executive Director of Belonging, Inc. She grew up in St. Augustine, graduating from St. Augustine High School and holding a degree in Social Psychology from St Leo’s University. Rev. March is known for her dedicated love for her community, leading multicultural education efforts one-on-one and in group settings with St Augustine and St John’s County government leaders and concerned residents. She is the founder of a beautification and empowerment project in West St Augustine called “Pride in the West Side.” She has been using and coaching others to use the VISIONS model for building beloved community leaders since the summer of 2018. Laverne@belonging-inc.org
Rev. David Williamson (pronouns: he, him, his). David is an Elder in the Florida Conference United Methodist Church and Co-Executive Director of Belonging, Inc. He is a skilled facilitator providing education, support and leader development services for clergy, congregations and communities who want to build communities of belonging where cultural differences are recognized, understood, appreciated and utilized as strength for God’s mission in the world. David has 29 years of experience as a pastor in the UMC and 7 years of experience facilitating effective cross-cultural dialogue where diverse groups of people can address and transform conflict at personal, interpersonal and system levels. david@belonging-inc.org