Our Facilitators
Sarah Halley (she/her)
Sarah Halley is an organizational development consultant and experiential educator with 18 years experience, working primarily on team building, leadership development, inclusive strategic planning, and diversity/cultural competence.
She began taking on leadership for the White People Confronting Racism program in 2012 as well as helping train new facilitators. Sarah is also the founder and co-director of Playback for Change, a multiracial improvisational theatre troupe that uses playback theatre as a vehicle for social change, and is an international leader and trainer in the international Playback Theatre movement. Sarah also has a background in engineering and spent 8 years as a classroom teacher in the Philadelphia area.
Erika Thorne (she/her)
Erika Thorne has been a progressive activist, writer, facilitator and cultural worker since 1974, including coalition-building across lines of difference, conflict-waging, nonviolence training in jails and prisons, and lesbian culture-building. (She's a revolutionary lesbian dancer!) In 1986, Erika dedicated her life to working for racial justice: training & consulting with multi-racial organizations, innovative approaches to engaging other white people, fundraising, campaign- and community-building. She is a Core Trainer with Training for Change, and works in multi-racial organizing in Minneapolis--on stolen Dakota land--particularly around police violence. A proud high school graduate from rural Iowa (Class of '72), she brings rooted wisdom to all her work.
Mike Likier, Ph.D. (he/him)
Mike has been a racial justice activist since 1991. The unrest in Crown Heights that August, followed by a course in Racial Identity and Mental Health taught by Robert Carter, Ph.D. set him on his journey. Mike has been involved with the National People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) and in several faith based initiatives. As a psychologist, he brings a justice lens to his therapy practice and he is involved with training therapists in multicultural competence. Further, he consults with organizations that are working toward realizing these values. Mike was a participant in the White People Confronting Racism workshop in 2011 and returned as a facilitator in 2016. “Ron Chisom, founder of PISAB, once told me that if you bring 2 White people together to talk about undoing racism you are doing something important. I’m honored to be part of a team that is engaging hundreds of White people in this struggle”
Cara Tratner (they/she)
Cara is a goofy and fiery community organizer who loves supporting people to step into their own power and leadership. Cara learned from their father and their Jewish and queer communities about how to fight for the rights of all workers, and how to find laughter and music and rebellious joy in the face of violent systems. Cara’s commitment to fighting for our collective liberation grew stronger over the past 9 years as they organized in the movement against mass incarceration, helped found the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, organized renters in Frankford, and worked to start programs across Philly in harm reduction, reentry and housing with homeless and queer and trans communities. They also bring over a decade of experience as a facilitator, and they have found deep healing in working with other white people to unlearn the trauma of supremacy and to find a personal stake in fighting for Black trans liberation. When not organizing or facilitating, they can be found playing music, jumping in lakes, or sharing a meal with their friends, their plants, and their cat child Dracula.
Andie Corso (she/her)
Andie is a learner, teacher and coach. Andie spent the first 20 years of her career in public school education - investing in youth ages 3-21. While Andie can (and will!) still teach a great math lesson, she has shifted her focus to adult learning and development. Andie first encountered White People Confronting Racism as a participant in May 2018 and experienced the transformational power of working with other white people in an embodied, rigorous and non-judgemental community. Returning time and again to the community of White People Confronting Racism - as a learner and a facilitator - allows Andie to prepare and practice for embodied collective action. Andie's other life interests include baking, reading fiction and caring for her wonderful cat.
Marlene Pray (she/her)
Marlene Pray, MEd (she/her). PhD Candidate. Community Organizing, Education and Training Consultant. Adjunct Professor. Director and Founder of Planned Parenthood Keystone’s Rainbow Room (center for LGBTQ+ youth). Board Member: NAACP Bucks County, NAMI Bucks County. Over 30 years of professional, non-profit management, and board leadership – in community organizing, sexuality education, environmental education, wilderness therapy, social emotional wellness, social justice, and human rights. Marlene is also a mother, sister, earth-based celebrant, leader of the Rise Up Resistance Community Chorus, and lover of birds, bees, funky music, vegan food, smashing the patriarchy, and cats.