[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″ el_class=”exprtposter”][vc_single_image image=”5″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” el_class=”dsnimg”][vc_single_image image=”3549″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” el_class=”dsnnameimg”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”The Diversity and Spirituality Network ” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff” google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1481885431953{background-color: #f62b0a !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]DSN’s mission is to explore the nexus between diversity and spirituality and create ways for people to explore and expand their sense of individual and group identity in the context of community.We believe that there is something greater than ourselves that transcends our differences and that the process of collectively exploring that “something greater”is inherently transformative, not only for ourselves, but for our communities and the world. Accordingly, we create and offer venues for exploration, healing and personal growth that aspire to be free of dogma or pre-conceived institutional beliefs of any kind.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”A BRIEF HISTORY ” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff” google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1481886001918{background-color: #f62b0a !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

The Diversity and Spirituality Network (DSN) was founded in the spring of 1995, after a series of conversations with Zachary Green and Angelo John Lewis. Their plans to create an organization in which members explored the nexus between diversity and spirituality were realized during a small Washington, DC meeting hosted by the Alexander Institute, of which Green was the executive director.

Shortly after these initial conversations, Rene Molenkamp and Cynthia Franklin joined Green and Lewis to form the DSN Planning Circle. A membership organization, DSN founders conceived the organization as a “diverse group growing towards community that actively explores the diversity and spirituality nexus.” As expressed in its brochure, they envisioned the network as”…a process – an experiential exploration of the diversity and spirituality nexus. Participants are invited to bring their differences to the process and to share their experiences of spirituality in their lives. DSN saw itself as a diverse group growing towards community. The organizations held one-day events called Explorations that were held every other month to find ways to connect and deepen personal and group awareness. The best of these explorations were incorporated into weekend public conferences. From 1995-1998, DSN hosted a dozen explorations in Washington, Philadelphia and New York, two “discoveries” (experiential events taught by guest teachers) and weekend conferences hosted by Temple University, the National Multicultural Institute and the National Organizational Development Network. The organization disbanded in 1999 and restarted in 2016, as a fiscally-sponsored project of Group Relations International (GRI), a California non-profit (501(c)(3) Corporation founded in 2013.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”ABOUT THE FOUNDERS” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff” google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1481885099878{background-color: #f62b0a !important;}”][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] [/vc_column][/vc_row]