Making the Invisible Visible: Decoding Systemic Racism through Cultural Humility

Amanda Florence Goodenough (she/her/hers) is a dedicated educator operating from a cultural humility framework to center and elevate historically marginalized voices, promote belongingness and mattering, disrupt structural inequities, and advance intersectional social and racial justice. Leaning on 16+ years of professional experience in justice, equity, decolonization, and interconnectedness (JEDI) efforts within a higher education setting, Amanda engages in systems-change work and strives to speak truth to power as an act of love and liberation. Amanda currently serves as a Team Lead for Social Responsibility Speaks™, LLC, a womxn-owned and BIPOC-centered consulting agency, whose mission is to create a culture of belonging and mattering through a focus on equity, inclusion, and justice. The Social Responsibility Speaks’™ team partners with individuals and organizations to commit to becoming better and stronger in the journey to prevent harm, confront bias, and seek justice. Amanda is also a member of the Greater La Crosse Area Diversity Council's (GLADC) Speakers Bureau, and an independent contractor/facilitator for the La Crosse area YWCA Racial Justice workshops, Waking Up White Collaborative, and Creating a Healthier Multicultural Community initiative. Previously, Amanda served as the Director of the Research & Resource Center for Campus Climate at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. For 15+ years, Amanda facilitated workshops, programming, and assessment, provided leadership for the award-winning Awareness through Performance, and guided the institution's Hate Response Team. During her tenure, Amanda co-founded RISE UP (Racial & Intersecting Identity Symposium for Equitable University Progress) and the nationally-growing Hate/Bias Response Symposium. Amanda has presented and consulted at the national, state, and local levels for institutions of higher education, K-12 school districts, non-profit organizations, and corporate entities on topics of cultural humility, inclusive company and campus climate, hate/bias prevention & response, white supremacy culture, mattering of black lives, racial justice, multiracialism, microaggressions, bystander intervention, student activism, social identity development, power & positionality, and healing centered engagement. Amanda resides in Wisconsin, where she attended the University of Wisconsin-Platteville for her Bachelor's degree in Communications, before heading to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to earn a Master's in College Student Development & Administration. In her personal life, Amanda and her partner enjoy raising their multiracial kiddos and helping them to make meaning of the world.