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Purpose: To share with the Core Team a strategic framework we can use to make DEI-related decisions.
There are three reasons why understanding our strategy is important:
1. DEI is resource intensive.
2. Our current strategy is incoherent
3. A strategy is not a plan!
Currently, we have a sprinkle strategy, made up of trainings here and there, statements here and there, meetings and discussions, but none of our efforts are working together and moving us towards something definitive
Before getting into our DEI strategy framework, let us recap our current DEI vision and the general approach we've established for ensuring this vision.
A sustainable, inclusive, and equity-focused community of support, fueled by transformative relationships & centered on antiracism, that works alongside our students and families to help them feel valued in schools, realize their full potential, and achieve in life
1. Work with schools and families to establish a welcoming, restorative climate for our students
2. Engage our stakeholders & community partners in initiatives around the systemic barriers our students face
3. Challenge the influence of white supremacy culture in our policies, procedures, and partnerships to help uplift our staff, Board, and volunteers in their work to empower students.
There are six components of our DEI strategy. Each component works logically from the one before it. They include
1. Key Assumptions
2. Strategic Positioning
3. Supporting Factors
4. Potential Barriers
5. Areas of Focus
6. Framework
1. To create sustainable change, we need to develop & utilize positions of influence and leadership within our schools, our communities, and our own organization.
2. We will be met with a lot of resistance from various stakeholders and in a variety of ways.
To sustain our approach, there are three positions we'll need to occupy:
1. School Partner
2. Community Thought Leader
3. Agency Leader
In order to continuously work with schools to promote a welcoming, restorative climate for our students, we need to be in a position where we can influence school culture, policy, and practices towards equity & justice. This position is characterized by a more equal partnership with the schools in which we serve.
In order to sustain engagement and focus around the systemic barriers our students face, we need to step into a leadership role in the community, educating our stakeholders & community partners and forging a path forward with effective initiatives for breaking down these barriers.
Challenging the influence of white supremacy culture in the agency requires that we engage all staff in the principles and practices of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This means that the agency must step into a leadership role, driving staff engagement & development in DEI as well as modeling these principles internally and externally.
For each position we want to enter into, we need to determine what factors needs to be in place to make that happen.
In order to establish a strong working partnership with schools where we can help foster a welcoming, restorative, and antiracist climate for our students, there are three factors that will determine our success:
1. Our ability to identify key issues or areas that need to be addressed
2. Our ability to develop effective, cooperative solutions or strategies for addressing these issues
3. Openness on the part of schools with respect to discussing and considering our solutions and strategies
In order to establish a leadership role in the community with regards to systemic barriers in education, certain factors need to be in place. These factors include:
1. Access to community platforms on which we can engage partners on these issues
2. Ability to implement effective strategies for engaging, uniting, and empowering partners on these platforms
3. A communication infrastructure for continually inform stakeholders on these issues
In order to lead the agency in doing DEI work, there are a few factors we need to have in place:
1. Clear & inspiring DEI statements, including mission, vision, values, and principles
2. Policies, procedures, processes, and training that empower all in the CIS family and support their investment in DEI
3. DEI commitment communicated regularly and in various ways & platforms for the CIS family
Creating sustainable change for students & families is not going to be easy. For each position of influence or leadership we want to enter into, there will be potential barriers that will make this difficult and potentially unsustainable.
Given the supporting factors we must meet and the barriers we have to look out for, there are three strategic areas of focus in which we want to concentrate our efforts:
1. Messaging
2. Engagement/Relationship-Building
3. Training
The communications we share need to be crafted & tailored so as to inform, persuade, and unify our different stakeholders & community partners on the issues we care about.
Our messaging approach when it comes to establishing our role as school partner should be centered on developing & communicating discussion points that position CIS staff as an authority on equity/justice issues.
Our messaging strategy for establishing our role as a community thought leader involves determining relevant, data-driven topics and messages for engaging community partners around structural barriers.
Our messaging approach for establishing the agency leader role will involve developing clear guidelines, updates, statements, and practices that inform staff of our DEI commitment and can guide staff in incorporating DEI into their work.
In conjunction with messaging, we need to ensure we are building relationships, internally and externally, based on trust, respect, and equity, and that we are engaging stakeholders & community partners in effective and inclusive ways.
Our engagement/relationship-building approach when it comes to establishing our role as school partner should be centered on increasing communications and conversations with schools around equity/justice issues.
Our engagement/relationship-building strategy for establishing our role as a community thought leader involves engaging community partners & stakeholders on a regular basis with effectively designed communication infrastructure, including scheduled posts, emails, community conversations, etc.
Our engagement/relationship-building approach for establishing the agency leader role will involve
1. Including staff & Board in development of statements and with staff & Board in mind.
2. Developing spaces where DEI-related discussions with staff & Board can occur.
3. Conducting regular reviews of policies, procedures, and processes with a lens towards ensuring equity, flexibility, inclusion, and recognition.
This category supports the other two. We need training that allows us to identify our areas of weakness, determine effective solutions for social issues, and feel confident in developing messages and communication strategies that will engage all our stakeholders & communities.
Our training approach when it comes to establishing our role as school partner should be centered on determining key equity or justice issues to address with schools as well as recommending strategic solutions for dealing with equity or justice issues in schools.
Our training strategy for establishing our role as a community thought leader involves providing training to our main presenters related to engagement strategies on key community platforms (leadership and Board).
Our training approach for establishing the agency leader role will involve Determining specific DEI development for site staff and selecting key trainings that support this development..
There are five sequential questions we can ask ourselves whenever we must make a DEI-related decision:
1. Does the decision align with our vision & approach?
2. Does it support at least one of the three key positions?
3. Would it help us obtain or maintain one of the supporting factors?
4. Does it help address potential barrier?
5. Under which area of focus would it fall?
1. Determine accuracy and scope for each of the components of our strategy.
2. Determine responsible parties for each of the strategies in our areas of focus.
3. Re-assess current DEI efforts (plans, ideas, initiatives, etc.) within our framework to ensure alignment and support of our overall DEI strategy.