Judiciary

community partners

"Implicit bias training is quite an eye opening experience. It helps one recognize many different types of bias that are normally subconscious. The training also demonstrates how people see things very differently. The training should be a requirement for everyone!"

Gina Calvert

Jefferson County District Judge

"Pastor Palmer’s Implicit Bias training was, hands down, the most effective and informative racial training I’ve attended. His information was founded in research and his stories both funny and shocking. I left the training more aware of my own bias and motivated to change myself and my community. Pastor Palmer is a gifted messenger with a crucial message."

Deanna Wise Henschel

McCracken County Family County Judge

Testimonials

child welfare

"Pastor Palmer is doing a great service for the commonwealth. He is bringing to all of our attention issues regarding racial bias in our justice system in a calm and data driven way! The data speaks for itself! The challenge is how we respond!!"

James Adams

Christian County District Court Judge

"It makes you think and consider how your mind categorizes and processes things. We act on impulses of which we are not truly aware. This training causes you to examine your inner wiring so that we can consider bias that have been there since childhood."

Brent Hall

Hardin County Family Court Judge

"I recently attended the training in Fayette County, and was very impressed with the presentation in general and with Pastor Palmer in particular. This training challenged my assumptions, my biases, in a direct, yet gentle way, so that I could safely reflect on how we got to this divided place, consider my own responses, and look carefully at my own behavior. This is a vital topic for discussion within the court system, and particularly for judges, as our biases can result in devastating results. I believe that this program should be required for all judges as part of our judicial college curriculum."

Lucinda Masterton

Fayette County Family Court Judge

"Pastor Palmer's presentation on Implicit Bias is both eye-opening and informative. Without being confrontational, the presentation forces us all white, black or other to see the inherent prejudice in the system where we each live and work, participate and contribute in ways sometimes healthy and sometimes harmful. We share a bond of humanity, but after the presentation I became more mindful of each individual I encounter."

Lisa Jones

Daviess County District Judge

I found the Implicit Bias training valuable to my work as a judge in that it allowed me to start a meaningful conversation about what is or isn’t happening inside the juvenile justice system in my home county. Understanding the impact of implicit bias in our juvenile justice system is vital as we work towards true restorative justice."

Karen Thomas

Campbell County District Judge

law enforcement

Racial sensitivity training has been taken a new direction, and perhaps to a higher level, by Pastor Edward Palmer. By focusing on the novel and somewhat newly explored concept of implicit bias, Palmer has helped us become more self-aware by addressing unconscious racial understandings with his data-driven presentations. His awareness training will be valuable to the professionals and volunteers involved in serving children and youth in out-of-home care."

Ed Staats

Citizen Foster Care review Board’s Executive Board Chairperson

"Pastor Edward Palmer's recent presentation, is a particularly useful tool for everyone, especially volunteers who are members of a Citizen Foster Care Review Board (CFCRB). Through statistical data, Pastor Palmer illustrated that although black youth in Kentucky comprise a very small percentage of young people between the ages of one and eighteen, a disproportionate number of black children and young adults within this group reside in the child welfare and judicial systems. He reminded us that racial bias is a subject that must be discussed and though it causes discomfort, it is vital that we begin a path toward change."

Susan Taylor

Citizen Foster Care Review Board Volunteer

"Pastor Palmer does a superb job at peeling back the layers to the subconscious level and exposing the bias that many did not realized exist. In order to begin to change, a person must acknowledge a need for change. Pastor Palmer's Implicit Bias training skillfully has a person look deep within and acknowledge that the bias does indeed exist without any conscious thought. Implicit Bias training can have such an impact on the outcome of events that it should be taught at the first sign that a child can comprehend the concept and refresher training throughout a person life. Without question, everyone that interacts with the public in any fashion should attend the Implicit Bias training. It will give you a moment of pause to reflect on why before making a decision."

Marcus D. Ray

President

Hardin County NAACP Branch 3087

"The training helped me to recognize and understand micro aggressions as a part of implicit bias. As the session is titled "Starting the Conversation," I look forward to ongoing discussions that will help me to continue to explore, investigate, learn, and increase my awareness as well as to share this information with other leaders across the Commonwealth. It is a great beginning!"

Carol Cecil
Children Director

Kentucky Partnership for Families and

"Pastor Palmer is helping lead the charge in the Commonwealth by bringing attention to racial bias in our criminal justice system. While utilizing factual data to emphasize the need for change, he focuses on helping those in leadership positions as well as citizens throughout Kentucky realize and understand how they too must play an active role in assuring that racial bias is eliminated."

Clayton Sumner

Hopkinsville City Police Department Chief

"The training on implicit bias is a conversation that has needed to happen. I think Pastor Palmer did an excellent job of getting to the core issues while making it non-threatening. The inclusion of state data was helpful as it provided facts to back up the premise of disproportionate treatment. KPFC plans to explore this subject further through our Children's Mental Health Day event this May 11."

Maggie Krueger

Kentucky Partnership for Families and Children Board Chair and Parent Representative

"The Implicit Bias training that has been provided to almost all of DCBS Central Office staff (last session is scheduled for 11/10/2016) has been extremely beneficial and is long overdue. The awareness raised surrounding the outcomes for those children and youth in our care and the beginning awareness that our own individual biases contribute to those results has already impacted internal conversations regarding issues of dis-proportionality and has already triggered conversations surrounding existing policies. I am extremely encouraged by beginning to witness these “courageous conversations” taking place among all levels of staff."

Adria Johnson
Commissioner

Department of Community Based Services

"Finally a training that explores the pink elephant in the room. We have needed this for so long. I am so happy are leadership sees how important this is."

Pam Cotton

Department of Community Based Services Director of Permanency & Protection

"The Implicit Bias training impacts the participants on three levels: personal, interpersonal and professional. Personally participants are challenged to become more self-aware and examine largely unconscious messages that have developed throughout their childhood. Interpersonally, it strengthens participant’s ability to remove barriers to listening and communicating with others about issues of race and bias and developing empathy. Professionally, discussions of data directly related to the daily work enables participants to take a focused look at practice and begin exploring individual practice changes and suggesting system changes. I would recommend this training for anyone working with programs that serve children and families."

Jackie Stamps

Department of Community Based Services

diversion

"The implicit bias training provided an informative presentation around the disproportionate number of youth represented in the juvenile justice system. Pastor Palmer provided us with eye opening data that made us aware of the underlying issues we have in Jefferson County. African American youth represent 26% of the total youth population in Jefferson County but make up 62% of complaints filed. We gained self-awareness towards our personal bias that may come out in our everyday work. "

Jefferson County Court Designated Worker Staff

legal field

"Pastor Palmer’s presentation on implicit bias was instructive and eye-opening. Even though I work with a great group of people, with what I believe to be unquestionably good intentions, it is important to review our actions with a critical eye to ensure that we are treating everyone engaged in our justice system fairly and equally. Pastor Palmer’s evidence-based presentation helps us do that. "

Duncan Cavanah

Christian County Attorney

education

Pastor Palmer gave insight on the data across the state. The message is that we have to keep addressing these issues and continue to have the hard conversations so we can make the changes necessary to make all students successful."

Kim Stevenson

Christian County Public Schools District Discipline Administrator

"Pastor Palmer is an engaging speaker and I found his presentation on implicit bias to be informative and thought provoking. The presentation made me conscious of how each of us can unintentionally contribute to racial and ethnic disparity in our society by choosing to view people and events only through our own cultural lens. Pastor Palmer also offered valid suggestions for systemic change to combat this problem in the criminal justice system. The presentation included a good mix of personal experiences and anecdotes, studies, data, and open discussion. I definitely think implicit bias training should be mandatory for anyone involved in the juvenile justice system and I would send my staff to any future trainings."

Elizabeth McMahon

Louisville Metro Public Defender

This is by far the best program and the best speaker I’ve seen on bias. Very well done.”

Wes Shumate

Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys Executive Committee member