Starlight North Star Community of Practice
What is the North Star Community of Practice?
Starlight’s “North Star” Community of Practice invites leaders of color from the end-of-life field to meet each other in a place of exploration, learning, and mutual resourcing around the questions:
“How can we expand our understanding and acceptance of the constellation of providers supporting people of color at end-of-life?”
“What might we need to do as individuals and institutions to better serve people of color navigating end-of-life?”
“What role does identity (both mine, as a provider, and that of my patients) play in the end-of-life experience of the people of color I serve?”
What does the North Star Community of Practice include?
Over the course of two years, participants will work together to map the field’s current approach to whole person care as it relates to the end-of-life experience for people of color and identify gaps and key areas where progress can be made. Through both internal group discussions and the leaders taking these discussions back to their colleagues, institutions, and communities, participants will define the problem, explore their personal parts in perpetuating it, and identify opportunities for change.
From here, the group will work on determining what solutions could be strategically and sustainably implemented within their individual work/practice, the work of their organizations and/or in their interactions with their wider communities.
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Cohort environment and support
As a Starlight Residency participant, you will connect and learn within an intimate cohort of entrepreneurs, leaders, changemakers, and peers.
Communities of Practice (CoPs): Guided group meetings where participants gather for project guidance, community support, and resource sharing.
Peer Coaching: One-on-one coaching sessions designed for members to receive open coaching and foster relationship building within the industry.
One-on-One Coaching from Subject Matter Experts: Individual support from professionals in the field.
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Customized learning modules and integration
In the first half of the Starlight Residency, themed modules will be facilitated by experts from various industries. These subject matter experts will share their knowledge and experiences to empower participants to effectively develop their work and business.
These modules are intentionally designed to support the cohort with business-related barriers, ideally leading to more sustainable, supported companies that are equipped to serve each individual and their customer base the best they can.
Module topics include building a business model, financial management, content creation, advocacy, and more.
In the second half of the Starlight Residency, participants will process their experience while integrating and testing what they have learned, with the final wrap up months focused on retrospectives and strategic planning for the coming year.
Learn more about the specifics of each module theme below.
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Content creation and amplification
PAUSE will support each cohort member by developing a unique package of materials built to support their business.
This includes, but is not limited to, a custom media kit featuring their business and story, published articles featuring their writing, custom presentations, and more.
Additionally, PAUSE will also draw from its deep network of publications and platforms to help amplify the voices of each cohort member in third-party content and media.
Program Structure
Phase 1: Learning & Reflecting
Participants will partake in a series of modules focused on learning, storytelling, level-setting, and exploring how we define the work we’re doing and assess the impact it’s making.
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Guiding question: Who are we (as a collective) and how do we show up in this work?
Learning objective: Share personal information, experience, and history about ourselves to familiarize the group with each other’s lives, identities, and work.
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Guiding question: What is whole person care? What does it look like in practice, particularly for the way POC support each other in their communities and their family structures?
Learning objective: Examine the concept and practice of whole person care through various learning activities.
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Guiding question: What does the current end-of-life experience look like for POC in California? How is the practice of whole person care applied at EOL?
Learning objective: Map the stakeholder network. Apply our understanding of whole person care to analyze how it impacts the EOL experience for POC.
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Guiding question: How does identity (race + culture) factor into the ways we receive care, seek care, engage care providers for EOL related issues?
Learning objective: Identify how identity impacts the EOL experience for POC.
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Guiding question: What do POC in California want and need to have their end-of-life needs met?
Learning objective: Learn about the desires of POC by directly listening to their stories. Examine and critique our existing understanding of what POC desire for their end-of-life experiences.
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Guiding questions: What barriers are in place preventing folks from accessing their desired end-of-life experience?
Learning objective: Define what the existing barriers are. Analyze and critique the existing barriers. Discuss and acknowledge our part in creating and dismantling/addressing those barriers.
Phase 2: Applications & Blueprints
After defining the barriers, confronting our personal parts in perpetuating them, and opportunities for change, the group will work on determining what solutions could be strategically and sustainably implemented individually, within their orgs, and within their communities. Participants will individually and collectively define what upskilling and development opportunities could best serve them on their journey to expanding the ways they support POC in their work.
Phase 3: Development, Learning, and Implementation
Participants will participate in individual learning opportunities, group learning opportunities (modules, workshops, etc. hosted within the program), and have the opportunity to co-design products (referral database, etc.) with PAUSE and partner organizations. This phase is all about doing the work, learning, practicing, and growing.
Phase 4: Retrospective & Iteration
The participants, PAUSE team, and partners will collectively review the learnings, products, and experience of the program and development phase. The period of reflection will involve providing feedback on what worked, didn’t work, and what could be improved upon.
Phase 5: Long-term Community of Practice & Residency engagement
Program Objectives
Identify and gather 24+ end-of-life and healthcare leaders who have sustained, long-term commitment to community-based sharing, learning, and problem-solving.
Define who and what support mechanisms a “constellation of care” includes/involves in relation to the end-of-life experience for POC in California.
Critically analyze the barriers to People of Color achieving the end-of-life experience they desire.
Develop and disseminate 1-2 innovative, culturally-informed tools and resources to support end-of-life providers in increasing their comfortability serving POC folks at end-of-life.
Collectively, the program participants and PAUSE will:
Design and disseminate 1-2 solutions over the course of the project, particularly focused on supporting providers in expanding their ability to make identity-focused referrals (ie. building a referral network, database, matching system).
Collaborate to design a long-term community of practice that supports all participants in the cohort through their ongoing learning, development, and growth journey.
Pilot a residency for participants who are looking for shorter-term project-specific support and a deepened network of partners for those projects. (Modeled after PAUSE’s existing Business Development Residency for early-stage entrepreneurs in the end-of-life field, but specifically focused on supporting folks that come out of this North Star CoP with unique project goals).
What will participants get out of this experience?
By the end of this program, participants will:
Identify the different stakeholders within EOL and grief care spaces and how each profession impacts patients' experiences.
Identify and categorize the benefits and barriers that Communities of Color have in accessing different stakeholders.
Articulate how patients' race, gender, class and sexuality influence where and how they access care, especially beyond formal healthcare systems.
Increase their capability for making culturally-sensitive/identity-based referrals, which also improves professionals' capacities.
Analyze what non-formalized education offers to disrupt formal care systems.
Analyze the colonial history of mental healthcare in America, and ways to disrupt it.
Build strong bonds with new connections working in adjacent fields
Eligibility and applying
Eligibility
LA-based People of Color who serve as providers working in the end-of-life, grief, and healthcare fields ~ including but not limited to:
Clinicians
Nurses
Other healthcare providers
Death Doulas
End-of-life planners
Hospice volunteers
Funeral professionals
Mental health professionals
Social workers
Grief coaches
Art therapists
Healers
Spiritual leaders
Our definitions
End of life: We expect applicants to work in the end of life space, which encompasses the full spectrum of dying, death, and grief experiences that individuals have at the end of their lives. “Dying” includes but is not limited to palliative care, hospice, doula services, and experience post-terminal diagnosis. “Death” includes but is not limited to funeral experience/services, death-related arrangements, and death-related rituals (cultural/religious). “Grief” includes but is not limited to personal grief experience, grief’s connection to mental health, public mourning, and grief-related rituals (cultural/religious).
People of Color/Communities of Color: Individuals from communities that identify as non-White. We currently primarily focus on serving and working with People of Color in the United States.
Participant requirements and guidelines:
Availability to attend community of practice sessions and peer coaching sessions September 2025-December 2026
Must live or work anywhere within the greater Los Angeles region
Participants must have access to reliable transportation to in-person sessions and internet to attend virtual meetings
Participants must be 18+ years old
Interested in the program but find this page before applications are open? Please get in touch below.
