Phase 1.1

Mobilize Yourself: Developing

Organization may have minimal to some experience with implementing cultural initiatives and projects, organization has a stated interest in developing goals that forward racial equity, diversity and inclusion but no clear commitments or goals, yet. Across the board, some team members are deeply passionate about this work, and others are still questioning why this work matters. The organizational leader is committed to move this work forward but is unsure how to move the full team forward to commit to racial equity, diversity and inclusion goals. There may even be discomfort for some team members and stakeholders to fully buy into the organization’s stated interest in developing clear racial equity goals. The organization leadership has relied on the passion of a few team members or a designated department to address issues related to racial equity, diversity, and inclusion. Leadership might only address concerns through issuing diversity statements, but these statements have not translated into organizational change. Team members are skeptical of how racial equity shows up in day-to-day operations. The organization is unsure how to advance racial equity and lacks a clear strategy for how to move forward.

In this phase, the racial equity team should focus on:

  1.  Organize your Racial Equity Team/Taskforce
  2. Create opportunities for staff to engage in multiple capacity building and framing sessions to establish a foundation for the deep, personal work that organizational DEI change requires
  3. Establish data collection and analysis processes that allow the organization to audit their progress in racial equity, diversity and inclusion across their stakeholders and programs.
  4. Research best practices on the budget needed to engage in racial equity work.

At the core of mobilizing yourself for racial equity work in your organization is building self awareness. People change systems. If you are not consistently engaged in self reflection and interrogation in your personal equity journey, the work you are trying to cultivate will not be sustainable. Below are actions to consider along with resources that could support those actions.

  • Step 1:
    Determine where you are in your personal commitment to advancing racial equity personally and professionally.
  • Step 2:
    Deeply explore how your social identities impact the racial equity work you’re advancing
  • Step 3:
    After reflecting on social identities, consider how your biases might be showing up and standing in the way of advancing racial equity personally and professionally.
  • Step 4:
    To take mobilizing yourself for racial equity work into another level, it’s critical to address how privilege and marginalization based on racial identity shows up in society.

If you’re in the Developing phase, you may be aware of your different identities and why they’re important to you. You may want to push yourself to move past awareness of identities and consider the complexity of intersectionality and privilege. As you think about carrying out racial equity work, there are a few questions and actions to consider.

STEP 1:STEP 2:STEP 3:STEP 4:

Step 1:

Determine where you are in your personal commitment to advancing racial equity personally and professionally. Reflect on past experiences and current experiences that help contextualize where you currently are.

Questions to consider:

  • Where am I in my own racial equity journey and competency?
  • Am I ready to be a part of the organization’s vision for racial equity?
  • What key areas do I want to learn more about so that I can fully engage in advancing racial equity personally and professionally?
  • What support do I need to advance racial equity in my workplace?
  • How can I become more culturally competent and culturally humble in my practices?

Actions to consider:

  • Take a staff assessment of racial equity and inclusion competency. (1, 2)
  • Identify key areas of racial identity, equity, and inclusion that you want to learn more about or bring more awareness to (2, 3, 4, 8, 10)
  • Identify professional development opportunities or coaching that can aid you in your personal racial equity development (7, 8, 9)
  • Learn the language of anti-racism and racial equity. Research a range of definitions from resources that center racial equity work and organizing. (5, 8, 12)
  • Reflect on where you ultimately want to be in your racial equity journey (3, 4, 6, 11, 12)

Resources:

  1. Template Survey from Living Cities: Assessing Our Staff’s Racial Equity & Inclusion
    • Replace Living Cities with your organization and lived experience
  2. Beloved Community’s Equity Lens Map
  3. Racial Equity Journey – CRE
  4. Courage and Commitment: Our Personal Journeys for Racial Equity
  5. Racial Equity Tools Glossary
  6. Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice
  7. Racial Equity Institute’s Groundwater Approach 
  8. Cultural Competency for Social Justice by Diane J. Goodman, Ed.D.
  9. Cultural Competence and Social Justice: A Partnership for Change
  10. Project READY – Module 8: Cultural Competence and Cultural Humility
  11. National Equity Project – No Right to Comfort
  12. Striving For Anti-Racism: A Beginner’s Journal
Next
Phase 1.2: Mid-Level
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