How to Create a Plan for Racial Inclusiveness: One Nonprofit Story

This is part one in a multi-part series documenting the story of one historically white organization’s journey toward becoming racially inclusive.  The series seeks to document the challenges and successes on the road toward racial inclusion in an effort to provide a resource for other nonprofit organizations who wish to do the same.  This first part is designed to give a brief snapshot of the entire timeline with subsequent editions delving more deeply into each step of the process (11-7-2013).

Forward by David Antonio Garcia, Executive Director of Affirmations  “This past Saturday I attended an Affirmations’ Board Retreat. As I looked around the room, I saw a tremendously diverse group of board members. The Affirmations’ Board of Directors is a beautiful mix of diversity and a true representation of our vast LGBT community. The Board consists of transgender members, straight allies, people of color, seniors, varying social economic backgrounds and much more. The current staff at Affirmations is also representative of this diversity from the top down. There are currently five director level positions at the Center and of those 5 positions, two are held by people of color, two by women, and our current Fund Development Director is a straight female ally. Having a diverse board and staff is not simply the right thing to do, it is the best way forward. The organization is profoundly changed, grateful, and stronger because of the work done by so many. It is not enough to simply talk about the importance of a diverse culture, you must live it to truly understand its inherent value. We are not perfect but we are improved. We are not finished but we are better.” (11-6-2013)

How to Create a Plan for Racial Inclusiveness: One Nonprofit Story

By Kathleen LaTosch

 “Black employees say racism played part in Affirmations shakeup” read the newspaper headline on October 12, 2006.  The article reported on the exit of two black staff members from Michigan’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center, based outside of Detroit, Michigan.  The circumstances surrounding the two staff members leaving the organization reopened historic wounds within the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and sparked the formation of picket-style protests, letters to the editor, and boycotting of services.  It was also the catalyst that drove the agency to embark upon what would end up being a multi-year racial inclusiveness initiative.

How it began. The process formally began in 2007 after a heated meeting between community members and organizational leadership.  At that meeting, LGBT people of color met with an all-white group of Affirmations leaders and shared a comprehensive and proactive list of recommendations for the organization to become racially inclusive.   Following the meeting, a small group of board and staff members gathered together to take a closer look at the circumstances leading to the incident, explored the long-standing historical context within which it took place, and began to seek varied and vocal community perspectives.  By 2008, the committee had determined that Affirmations needed to form a quasi-independent “Multicultural Advisory Committee” (MAC) tasked with creating a set of best-practices to address racial diversity and inclusion. 

Getting the right people.  The committee, made up largely of non-staff, non-board community members of color, was offered the opportunity to do culture-changing work with full support of the board of directors. The MAC began meeting twice per month and would continue to meet at least monthly throughout the duration of its existence, maintaining and limiting participation to two staff and two board members at all times plus one coordinator in order to maximize community input and participation.  The racial balance of the committee, until the last year when the committee was coming to a close (and new members were no longer sought to replace outgoing members), maintained a white minority to enhance the relevancy, quality and integrity of the process and eventual outcomes.

Doing the work. By 2009, the committee had pledged to do the work at a very detailed level, leaving no stone unturned and documenting the entire process so that it could be used as a learning tool for other organizations.  Two years later, in 2011, the MAC completed the “Blueprint for Change” and forwarded it to the Affirmations’ Board of Directors for legal review and adoption.  With a subsequent reading and minor revisions, the plan was fully adopted and formally worked into the organization’s strategic plan in the fall of 2012.

Monitoring progress.  Once released to the public, a formal MAC2 was formed – the Multicultural Advisory Compliance Committee.  The committee, chaired by people of color community leaders, was tasked with monitoring Affirmation’s progress in meeting the objectives outlined in the Blueprint for Change.  This winter, 2013, Affirmations will be releasing its first report on work toward meeting those objectives.   The full plan is available online at Affirmations’ website: http://www.goaffirmations.org/?page=about_us.

This is one post in a multi-part story documenting one historically white organization’s journey toward becoming racially inclusive.  The series seeks to document the challenges and successes faced along the way in an effort to provide a learning tool for other nonprofit organizations who wish to do the same.  For a complete copy of Affirmations’ “Blueprint for Change” visit www.GoAffirmations.org and click on About Us. 

Read Part 2 here.