Building a more equitable KLC
Welcome to KLC's 2023 Racial Equity Campaign At the core of our journey toward KLC 5.0 lies Strategic Objective 5 - to make inclusion and racial equity central to KLC’s work. This includes:Increase our rate of experimentation related to engaging individuals and communities of color in leadership development and civic engagement.Implement a process to build KLC staff competence related to diversity, equity and inclusion.Create policies and norms related to inclusion and racial equity.Achieve diversity and inclusion goal of at least 25% of Kansas participants across initiatives identify as people of color. Our collective adaptive challenge is this: Starting from where we are, how do we advance greater racial equity at KLC, both for our employees and our participants? This challenge encompasses both internal and external dimensions:For Internal Focus: What types of experiments can we take on to promote equity among KLC staff?For External Focus: What types of experiments can we take on to promote how equitably KLC participants experience our offerings? Depending on your role and the context of your work, you may find yourself more aligned with equity efforts either within or outside of KLC. We invite you to use Actioneer to guide you through the process of building a team, defining the challenge you want to work on, considering multiple perspectives, designing and launching your project, and sharing your progress with each other. We hope all KLC staff members will interact with Actioneer as part of an experiment. Our long-term vision is to create a culture where, whenever someone identifies a racial equity challenge or opportunity, they have the capacity and connections to exercise leadership, mobilizing others to experiment and make progress. We aim to make trusting relationships, or at least trustworthy processes, the driving force behind our progress. --------------------How do we team up? Leadership involves engaging others, considering multiple perspectives, and experimenting. Consider creating a group with other employees who…Share a similar internal/external focus Don’t usually work with youHave different perspectives than you do --------------------What are some examples of action projects in this campaign? Learning about the culture of a racial group with which KLC seeks to connect with more closely Identifying procedures at KLC that would benefit from clearer communication Testing interpretations related to specific KLC processesSurveying staff to inform capacity building effortsDefining how racial equity shows up in your workExperimenting with the way you invite people to a program --------------------How do we avoid common pitfalls of equity work?Let's do this authentically. We acknowledge that, in the landscape of organizational equity efforts, there are unfortunate tales of well-intentioned initiatives gone awry, resulting in discomfort, skepticism, and further division. We are committed to charting a different course. Our hope is to approach this in authenticity—to create an environment where employees are not told what to do, but rather are encouraged and supported to organically contribute to progress in their own ways. By fostering a culture of genuine engagement, dialogue, and shared responsibility, we aim to avoid the pitfalls of performative equity work. Equity isn't a mandate, but a collective journey towards a more welcoming workplace that honors people of all backgrounds. --------------------Why does equity matter? We aspire for our colleagues to be valued and heard, which inspires their motivation and engagement. Our leadership framework teaches that diversity of background and thought foster stronger paths forward, and the same is true for our organization.We want our workforce to mirror the increasing diversity of our society, which allows us to connect with our audience on a deeper level and better understand their needs and preferences. We encourage you to ask questions and seek clarification about equity concepts. If concerns or questions about your involvement in this work, please reach out to Lucy - she will connect you with someone from our advisory team. --------------------What do we hope to see as a result of this work? Externally, we aspire to observe an increased presence of people of color in KLC programs, coupled with a higher number of diverse organizations applying for Leadership Transformation Grants.Internally, we aspire to a heightened sense of equity reported by people of color within our organization, more colleagues applying an equity lens in their work and spending time with others of different backgrounds and races, and more people changing their perspectives and work habits as a result of their learning from this campaign.Internally, we also hope that KLC staff become familiar with Actioneer, can provide feedback about how to strengthen the software, and can begin to see where it applies in the context of their work.-----------------Supplementary Materials:KLC 5.0 Strategic Framework What we Heard - From Equity Talk to Equity Walk with Dr. Tia McNairCase Consultation - KLC Staff Ownership re DEI.pdf 185.31 KBDEI Case Consultation - KLC Staff 8-10-23.pdf 18.79 KBKLC acknowledge commits from Tia McNair 4-25-2023.docx 22.11 KBLearning Day - Dell Gines - Equitable Development Considerations.pptx 873.5 KBInclusionRacialEquity2023staff development.pptx 353.01 KBracial equity logic model 12-23-2022.docx 17.51 KB
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