Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity, and Belonging in Leadership community of practice

A community of practice model has three components: the domain, the community, and the practice.   For our Equity in Leadership community of practice, the domain is organizational equity through leadership. Community is you – those organizational leaders with the authority to institutionalize change in policy and practice and/or those who supervise the operationalization of those changes.  Practice is what you will be doing as you work together to imagine – to deepen the practice of – to operationalize structural change that demonstrates fair and just practice in your organization.

The Equity in Leadership  community of practice is designed to advance the capacity of those who are authorized to embed and realize organizational  justice, equity, and belonging through digging into and expanding on the following outcomes:

• Reflection and analysis of organizational policies, practices, and structures through the lens of equity vs. equality
• Peer-level support for thinking strategically about the impact of infusing equity practices, that move beyond passive training and into the organization’s functional structures 
• Bolster leadership’s understanding of individual and collective accountability for bringing just and fair human service (health and social services) delivery systems alongside existent racial, ethnic, and cultural communities
• Practice in having brave, curious, thoughtful, and constructive conversations (e.g., about race, class, gender/gender identity, ability, age)
• Increased capacity to recognize emergent issues that may be subverting, derailing, or detouring efforts to move toward organizational equity.

Following the uprising that shook the nation in response to the murder of George Floyd, and the recognition of the multiplicity of violent acts against black people and in other marginalized communities, many organizations responded by creating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion positions designed to provide training to employees.  While an important step to be sure, this is only an early step along the road to addressing the type of internalized oppression that is replicated in organizational policy and practice.  

Communities of practice are meant to support the imagining of what could be.  The Equity in Leadership community of practice is designed to create a shared space where those who are making policy, shaping practice and/or supporting others who are charged with implementing policy and practice can candidly talk and work together to identify and try out ways for organizations to deepen its practices of  fairness and justice.  

So that we can be sure to apply what we learn from you, for this first cohort, we are striving to create a community of up to 15 individuals who serve in health and social service organizations and represent the demographics of Northwest Washington. Factors used to ensure representation within the community of practice include: racial, gender/gender identity, and geo/political diversity including tribal affiliation; diversity of lived experience; sector representation.  As long as we can meet our intent for representation, we would invite more than one person to come along! 

The facilitators will be  David Gibbs and Clarice Bailey (www.drcbailey.com).