Finding the right place to start for your organization

This is the first step in the journey in creating better workplaces.  We acknowledge that traditionally it has been considered taboo to speak about bias and oppression at work. However as James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it’s faced.” 

As an organization we are choosing to face the following as we work to build more equitable and inclusive workplaces:

1. Organizations lack perspectives from any community that is not well represented on the team. This lack of perspective is an organizational deficit that needs to be addressed intentionally. 
2. A homogeneous workforce (across race, class, gender, orientation, ability, or any other identity) is based on entrenched and biased hiring, culture, and retention methods and needs to be proactively changed to achieve a different result. 
3. Racial justice, gender justice, disability justice, and other forms of Social Justice efforts are advanced by building an inclusive workplace that embraces diversity and enables everyone to feel safe, valued and like they belong. This must include inviting new perspectives, work styles, and cultural norms to impact the workplace. 
4. Team members holding underrepresented identities feel isolated, tokenized or worse. Representation for those identities is needed at all levels of the organization and those voices must be empowered to influence the direction of the organization.