As a society, we often talk about the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), yet rarely do we know what it looks like or the level of commitment it takes to create inclusive and equitable communities. For many companies and organizations, DEI is simply a box they need to check. It’s mistaken for adding a person of color to a board or to an organization’s executive leadership. And oftentimes it looks like blanket statements of solidarity and half-baked pledges to “be more equitable,” efforts that are superficial at best. But DEI is so much more than that.
To change the trajectory of marginalized communities to one that allows them to thrive at all levels, we must change the systems that box them in — from workforce and education to housing. Investing in diversity, equity and inclusion takes real, long-term commitments that are both tangible and measurable.
In 2017 I founded Beloved Community, a nonprofit consulting firm that helps organizations, businesses and schools develop and implement sustainable DEI practices because I know that when empowered, people can change systems.
When given the tools, people have the power to dismantle the deeply ingrained systems that uphold white supremacy. One individual may not always be able to transform an organization’s culture, but a team absolutely can.
We’ve seen it. We’ve helped countless organizations do it. And we know it’s possible.
We support organizations and communities in turning their equity commitments into action, and in equipping leaders to drive sustainable change for DEI. We offer cohorts to help leaders learn with a network of equity-aligned peers, trainings to assist teams in successfully executing structural changes, customized consulting services to support the sustainable implementation of equitable practices, and online courses to further individuals’ knowledge of DEI.
The organizations we have the honor of working with understand that DEI is more than a term. It’s a commitment to changing how we nurture, treat and help our communities prosper.
And this year, we took it one step further.
We launched AWA, meaning “all of us,” a powerful digital tool to assess individual and organizational DEI capacity, set priorities, drive change and build plans for sustainable racial and economic equity practices.
Equipped with data, organizations can explore how they perform on DEI and prioritize the areas that will result in measurable systemic change. AWA offers two ways to engage — through an Equity Audit and an Equity Lens Map.
The free Equity Audit helps organizations assess equity in their institutional practices and identify how they are performing on DEI. The Equity Lens Map offers an individual self-assessment that staff members take to give organizations critical insights into how they are experiencing their workplace and what specific capacity-building supports they need. It helps teams explore questions like how staff perceive inclusion and if that perception is equal across demographics.
Take for instance Gladiator Consulting, who used the free Equity Audit following a training with Beloved. As a result of working with Beloved, Gladiator Consulting made the collective decision to implement their first ever sabbatical as a protest against the unrealistic and unhealthy conditions of modern work culture.
“Since the retreat, we’ve really worked hard to practice a culture of teamwork and cross-functionality — one that prioritizes human-centered, community care. We know that rest, resistance and mindfulness will only strengthen the quality of our work and our commitment to our partners, clients and community,” shared Brooke Black, operations and content manager for Gladiator Consulting in a recent conversation.
Last year, our New Orleans-based schools and education-adjacent partners participated in our Equity in Schools cohort, where they each completed an Equity Audit. They assessed things like how success is defined for marginalized, underrepresented or underperforming communities or whether individuals, regardless of demographics or identities, report a strong sense of belonging with the school. With Beloved’s help, they were able to translate the Equity Audit into tangible measurements and as a result committed to incorporating more equitable and inclusive talent practices, as well as to building more intersectional data collection and tracking processes. In order to operationalize their DEI initiatives, one program has begun to look at outcomes for participants in the context of racial and gender identities. Another is now intentionally recruiting and engaging identities that are representative of the community they work with through hiring and staffing, professional development and training, and decision-making and evaluation.
DEI is transformative when there is a real, sustained commitment. And it has always been and must continue to be a way to lift up marginalized communities.
If you or your organization are committed to DEI — and you should be — there are free tools and resources, like AWA, that can support your equity journey.
There is no excuse not to get started today.
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Rhonda Broussard is an award-winning education entrepreneur, sought-after public speaker, author, and founder and CEO of nonprofit Beloved Community.
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