The Work Has Begun

Pilot Cohort kicked off!!!!!

This past week, we kicked off the pilot cohort for the Project 2045 Skill Building Cohort. The project began last November but in some ways it felt like the real start. And aside from my awesome Bridgerton clip not working and a few opening nerves, it went really well.

That may sound like a small thing, but if I am honest, launching this cohort carried more weight for me than I expected. Project 2045 has lived for a long time as an idea, a conviction, a framework, and a hope. To finally gather people in a room and begin doing the work together felt significant.

What made the evening especially meaningful is that the room was filled with people I know to varying degrees. Friends. Colleagues. Trusted conversation partners. People willing to step into something new with me before there was much proof of concept beyond conviction and vision.

And they showed up with grace.

One of the first things we named together was something that resonated deeply across the room: many of us have not only never been taught how to talk about race and culture well, we have often been actively discouraged from doing so.

For so many people, silence was presented as politeness. Avoidance was framed as wisdom. Colorblindness was sold as virtue. But silence has not prepared us for the world we actually live in.

If anything, it has left many people anxious, underdeveloped, and unsure of how to engage across difference with honesty and courage.

That reality was present in the room. And if I am honest, I do not think I was the only one who came in a little nervous.

We also found ourselves navigating religious difference in the room almost immediately. That was not planned, but it was welcome. One of the things I hope this cohort becomes is a space where people can practice the kind of relational honesty that makes deeper conversations possible. Difference does not have to be a threat. Sometimes it is the very thing that creates the conditions for growth.

By the end of the night, we had begun moving into people’s personal experiences with race and culture, which is where the real work starts. We only scratched the surface there, and I will write more about that in a future post.

For this first session, the focus was mostly introduction, framing, and setting the table. And perhaps I set the table a little too thoroughly. I think I talked too much.

But that is part of piloting something new. You learn in public. You adjust. You refine. What matters most is this:

The room had energy.
The room had trust.
The room had curiosity.
The room had courage.

And now we get to begin the actual work of the Six Conversations.

That is where this gets exciting.

Because the goal of this cohort is not merely to help people understand ideas. It is to help people build the skills, confidence, and relational capacity to engage difficult conversations with honesty rather than performance or debate.

And apparently others are seeing the need too.

We already have two communities interested in running cohorts with us this fall and a publication of a major university ready to do an article on us.

That tells me what I have suspected for a while:

People know they need help with this.
They are hungry for frameworks.
They want spaces to practice.
They just need somewhere to begin.

This pilot cohort is that beginning. And I cannot wait to see where it goes.

An Invitation

If these ideas resonate and you want structured support to understand them, Project 2045 is hosting Skill Building cohorts in 2026 that teach the conversation skills white people need for this moment. It is a space to build capacity, deepen self-awareness, and strengthen the muscles required for a shared multiracial future.

Check out cohort details and apply here.

Conversation and action is how change begins.