Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Framework
We believe there are several important areas that focus on habits, the things we do, that either enable diversity, equity, and inclusion or don’t. By identifying these habits, we can begin to make changes that enable and promote equitable practices. This is what weaves true inclusion, diversity, and equity into daily lives and prevents it from being a document of dry legal and bureaucratic language that’s stored away and not part of habitual practice.
ACCESS
Access is the importance of a welcoming environment and the habits that create it.
This is what our participants (families, students, teachers, volunteers, employees, and community members) experience when they interact with My Mother’s Voice. It’s the environment and culture of our place in time. A great example of this is our Welcome Project. It is what access really means in the physical and non-physical environment.
ATTITUDE
Attitude looks at how willing people are to embrace inclusion and diversity and to take meaningful action.
We ask ourselves how willing we are to actually make this a habit. We can identify a gap between simply wanting to be inclusive and putting up a statement and actually doing something about it. Our attitude is about having the willingness to take real action.
CHOICE
Choice is all about finding out what options people want and how they want to get involved.
We can identify what a participant can do. Choice is the friend of inclusion. By offering many options for participation, we have more diverse people involved in our activities.
PARTNERSHIPS
Partnerships are how individual and organizational relationships are formed and how effective they are in practice.
A partnership could be as easy as an introduction, conversation, and a handshake. It can be really informal. You’ve just got to connect people. It could be more formal with agreements, MOUs, and contracts, but partnerships are what bind us together and join our communities. They need to be trustworthy, transparent, and respectful relationships. There are influential partnerships in networks, and they can become key partners if the working relationship has the same ethics and habits.
POLICY
Policy considers how an organization commits to and takes responsibility for inclusion and diversity.
Policy is about holding yourself, your employees, organization, and community to account for inclusion. It’s about saying “Inclusion and diversity are important.” But much more than that, it’s about saying, “This is how we’re going to address it, and this is what it means for us” and then having mechanisms to actually deliver on those statements.
We are exceptionally proud of rejecting the old practice of selecting board members who can bring in funds which in practice means selecting people of wealth, race, and background who have experienced few if any of the life situations we are working to improve. It is a losing game no matter how it is pitched. Our board is comprised of people who have life experiences that match our families and can provide direction with knowledge and impact. Our challenge board, a nonvoting board, is invitation only, competitive, resource and contact rich.
OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunity explores what options are available for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
This is similar to choice but not the same. Opportunity asks the question, “what do you want to do?”. We can explore the opportunities that are actually available in the place where we live and work. As an example, community members might have a whole range of things that they want to do or achieve, but can they actually take advantage of that choice? We must ensure we understand the issues that prevent the actual opportunities from existing for them. We need salaries are livable so that someone besides an older retired person with assets and a pension can afford to work at our organization. We need to post those salaries with the job description so that we are transparent. We must make sure our immigrant families can have the opportunities to choose to live in a clean environment. We need to make sure our employees, volunteers, and community members are considered a resource and their input is valued and heard. We have zero tolerance for bullying and harassment. This is making sure the choice can match the opportunity.
ACCESS
Access is the importance of a welcoming environment and the habits that create it.
This is what our participants (families, students, teachers, volunteers, employees, and community members) experience when they interact with My Mother’s Voice. It’s the environment and culture of our place in time. A great example of this is our Welcome Project. It is what access really means in the physical and non-physical environment.
ATTITUDE
Attitude looks at how willing people are to embrace inclusion and diversity and to take meaningful action.
We ask ourselves how willing we are to actually make this a habit. We can identify a gap between simply wanting to be inclusive and putting up a statement and actually doing something about it. Our attitude is about having the willingness to take real action.
CHOICE
Choice is all about finding out what options people want and how they want to get involved.
We can identify what a participant can do. Choice is the friend of inclusion. By offering many options for participation, we have more diverse people involved in our activities.
PARTNERSHIPS
Partnerships are how individual and organizational relationships are formed and how effective they are in practice.
A partnership could be as easy as an introduction, conversation, and a handshake. It can be really informal. You’ve just got to connect people. It could be more formal with agreements, MOUs, and contracts, but partnerships are what bind us together and join our communities. They need to be trustworthy, transparent, and respectful relationships. There are influential partnerships in networks, and they can become key partners if the working relationship has the same ethics and habits.
POLICY
Policy considers how an organization commits to and takes responsibility for inclusion and diversity.
Policy is about holding yourself, your employees, organization, and community to account for inclusion. It’s about saying “Inclusion and diversity are important.” But much more than that, it’s about saying, “This is how we’re going to address it, and this is what it means for us” and then having mechanisms to actually deliver on those statements.
We are exceptionally proud of rejecting the old practice of selecting board members who can bring in funds which in practice means selecting people of wealth, race, and background who have experienced few if any of the life situations we are working to improve. It is a losing game no matter how it is pitched. Our board is comprised of people who have life experiences that match our families and can provide direction with knowledge and impact. Our challenge board, a nonvoting board, is invitation only, competitive, resource and contact rich.
OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunity explores what options are available for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
This is similar to choice but not the same. Opportunity asks the question, “what do you want to do?”. We can explore the opportunities that are actually available in the place where we live and work. As an example, community members might have a whole range of things that they want to do or achieve, but can they actually take advantage of that choice? We must ensure we understand the issues that prevent the actual opportunities from existing for them. We need salaries are livable so that someone besides an older retired person with assets and a pension can afford to work at our organization. We need to post those salaries with the job description so that we are transparent. We must make sure our immigrant families can have the opportunities to choose to live in a clean environment. We need to make sure our employees, volunteers, and community members are considered a resource and their input is valued and heard. We have zero tolerance for bullying and harassment. This is making sure the choice can match the opportunity.
Roseville Office Location
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Because of our busy schedule working in classrooms and with families, we are often out of the office. We'd love to see you though so if you call our office number, 916-770-6887, we can coordinate schedules. You can also email us at:
[email protected]. If you are interested in donations of physical items, we occasionally post needs on our Facebook and Instagram profiles. We also have a closed group that receives information about needs that are critical and can't be posted publicly. To learn more, please contact us through our Messenger or call the office number and leave a message. We will return your call as soon as we can. Thank you! |
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My Mother’s Voice | 8331 Sierra College Blvd., Suite 206 | Roseville, CA 95661 | 916-770-6887 ph
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