{"id":2087,"date":"2021-01-28T16:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T22:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rockfordhabitat.org\/?p=2087"},"modified":"2021-01-27T15:08:11","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T21:08:11","slug":"furthering-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-at-rahfh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rockfordhabitat.org\/es\/2021\/01\/28\/furthering-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-at-rahfh\/","title":{"rendered":"Furthering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at RAHFH"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By Glasa Gottschalk<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world has been forever changed by 2020.  At the Rockford Area Habitat for Humanity (RAHFH), it was the year we launched our first ever Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee.  Alongside the rest of our country, our organization was confronted with the inequity existing in our policy and structure as a nation, community and organization.  Faced with this realization, and the desire to create sustainable change, RAHFH brought together board members and volunteers last June to further and forward the conversation around inequity and injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have heard the term DEI thrown around casually this past year, but what is DEI?\u00a0 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is the work of identifying and addressing opportunities to create fair treatment, access, opportunity and advancement to all who have been traditionally excluded due to policies, processes, or accessibility.\u00a0 The work of the DEI committee these past 7 months has been to address newly identified inequitable practices, and to construct a more equitable process within the Rockford Area Habitat for Humanity. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maya Angelou has said, \u201cDo the best you can until you know better.  Then when you know better, do better.\u201d  Since coming to formation, it has been the duty of the DEI Committee to continue to push the Rockford Area Habitat for Humanity to both know and do better.   This has come by bringing awareness, analysis, action and accountability around the practices and processes of the organization, and to do the hard work required. This includes not only looking within our organization, but in also leading transformation in this space in our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since coming to formation for bi-weekly meetings last year, this dedicated group of committee members has been tirelessly active.\u00a0 As of recently, the committee hosted four free community conversations around equity.\u00a0 The first focused on Richard Rothstein\u2019s book, The Color of Law, which included a compelling conversation regarding de facto and de jure segregation in the United States (click here<\/a> for our blog post reflecting on the Color of Law community conversation).\u00a0 To deepen the conversation, the second community discussion focused on the documentary movie Owned, which centered on national housing and home ownership history.\u00a0 In December, the group turned the attention to two pieces for the third community discussion.\u00a0 One piece, an article written by Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich featured in the New York Times<\/a>, and the second piece, a Ted Talk by David Lammy<\/a>, both of which discussed the intersectionality between climate change and inequity in housing, shedding new light on connections to other racial disparities. \u00a0Most recently, the committee hosted a discussion on Ibram X. Kendi\u2019s book, “How to Be Antiracist”. These events brought together community members to further the conversation around injustice, bring new awareness around housing inequality today, and to enlist each participant to reflect on U.S. historical policy and its impact on today\u2019s discriminatory policies.\u00a0 Lastly, and most importantly, it engaged members around their personal and societal awareness, biases, and challenged participants to create action with this new found insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within our organization, the DEI committee quickly became aware of opportunities for change and has been evaluating the affiliate\u2019s programs and processes.  This began with improving the process to recruit, evaluate and onboard new board members to assure that our board of directors is a representation of our diverse community.   This also meant taking a look at the dynamic and composition of our current board and creating new ways and policies to include equitable practices in board member recruitment and selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we move into 2021, the committee has adopted a framework for the journey ahead.  It is both a personal and collective one, which supports members in bringing awareness to biases both as an individual with a lived experience, and as a member and participant of our affiliate.  The framework, which is a modified adapted version from the Sustained Engagement series from University of Wisconsin, includes working from awareness to analysis to action and allyship through to accountability.  As the committee adopts the framework, the work this year is to take account of all known opportunities and categorize them.  The committee will then thoroughly evaluate each individual piece to explore it more fully.  Through the evaluation process, they will then address inequitable policies and practices as they arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As our Executive Director, Keri Asevedo, quoted in her pledge made last year<\/a>, \u201cHabitat for Humanity was founded and continues to believe that everyone \u2013 and we mean EVERYONE \u2013 deserves a safe, affordable place to live, and this movement \u2013 this very powerful movement \u2013 has strengthened our drive to be a leader in the fight for equality.\u201d\u00a0 It is the honor and duty of this devoted DEI group to do the important work of creating lasting change towards a more equitable future.\u00a0 The year 2020 may always be remembered infamously.\u00a0 But through the lens of our DEI Committee, it is the year where awareness rose, momentum ignited, and a perfect storm culminated to release the veil between lived experiences.\u00a0 All that remains is the pursuit of equity to further equality for all humankind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glasa Gottschalk is the Vice President of the RAHFH Board of Directors. She is the owner of GII Coaching & Consulting<\/a>, and is also a Life & Business Mindset Coach. <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Glasa Gottschalk The world has been forever changed by 2020.  At the Rockford Area Habitat for Humanity (RAHFH), it was the year we launched our first ever Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee.  Alongside the rest of our country, our organization was confronted with the inequity existing in our policy and structure as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161727633,"featured_media":2091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rockfordhabitat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Untitled-design-8.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb8kyv-xF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1562,"url":"https:\/\/rockfordhabitat.org\/es\/2020\/10\/07\/new-board-member-spotlight-katrina-boykins\/","url_meta":{"origin":2087,"position":0},"title":"New Board Member Spotlight: Katrina Boykins","author":"Community Engagement","date":"octubre 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"We are so excited to highlight Katrina Boykins, the newest member of the RAHFH Board of Directors! 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