BY JENNI NEWBURY ROSS
PALS Co-Founder & Executive Director
In May 2020 PALS made a public statement on Black Lives Matter. It has been over a year since I posted that blog and it is time to share an update. Our work at PALS to build a more equitable and inclusive organization goes far beyond a public statement, and as we mark some progress we also know we have so far to go.
“D&I went from an important initiative to a core component in achieving our mission as an organization.”
While PALS has worked to build a world of belonging since its inception, we began making deliberate efforts around diversity and inclusion in the summer of 2019. We hired our first D&I associate in September 2019 and established an official D&I commitment. This led to an organization-wide audit considering where we could begin to move the needle towards a true community of acceptance within PALS. We began by sharing a list of action items we committed to take. In addition to these items we also began building out our new strategic plan and several major funding opportunities centered on this new investment around D&I.
Even having started this work and with a few first steps in mind, the racial reckoning in June 2020 forced our team to more deeply consider the urgency and absolute necessity of these initiatives.
We believe that transparency is so important to this process and so want to share an update of the steps we’ve taken in the past year.
June: We began weekly staff trainings and reflection. We have covered a wide range of topics, and this time provides an opportunity for our team to share with each other and build our collective knowledge to make informed decisions with regards to the organization.
July: We established a team of volunteers to focus on Inclusive Conversations about Race (ICAR). This team met with other nonprofits to understand best practices and built an accessible resource guide for talking about race and other areas of diversity for parents and participants.
August : We were able to hire multiple new individuals to our team to focus specifically on diverse outreach, community building, and accessibility.
September: We established a cross-functional team on staff to specifically evaluate and lead all D&I initiatives. One of their first tasks was to begin writing monthly blog posts on a key topic around diversity.
October: We used work from the ICAR team to formalize the “PALS Promise.” This is a commitment we make as an organization, a commitment that all participants make on their application, as well as a core programming component at every single PALS camp.
November: We hosted a virtual Director summit, centered around Diversity & Inclusion with pre-recorded online training and virtual learning opportunities during the weekend.
December: After launching our spring programming applications, we established new recruitment strategies to focus specifically on diverse camper and volunteer recruitment, including working to identify and eliminate barriers to entry for new participants to our programs.
January: We adjusted our interviewing and enrollment processes for all participants to better align with equitable hiring practices.
February: Our Community Development Associates worked on building new partnerships and conducting key outreach in communities that PALS has not historically reached.
March: We established new closed loop feedback processes, ensuring that all new participants, and especially those from diverse backgrounds, receive follow-up communication and opportunities to share their thoughts and experiences from during PALS programs.
April: Our D&I staff team highlighted a new goal of elevating the voices of those from diverse communities and created affinity groups as an opportunity for individuals to share their experiences and build recommendations to PALS.
May: We established brand new intervention strategies to be piloted at all summer programs, providing participants with realtime opportunities to step out of a situation and get support.
June: In addition to focusing on the evaluation of our new strategies and policies during in-person programming, PALS is also actively recruiting and hiring for several positions and encouraging BIPOC applicants to submit their resume.
As we look to the future we are excited for the public release of our strategic plan, aligned around our efforts to build PALS communities that are representative of the communities and regions where we offer programs. We are also working to increase the BIPOC representation at staff and Board levels and will be looking for qualified candidates to serve our organization in this way.
As a predominantly white organization, we recognize the magnitude of the work ahead of us. With every small step, we also hear stories of our participants growing in their compassion, building a new understanding around inclusiveness, and beginning to trust that PALS is worth the investment to truly find a place where you can see the value in every person.
I want to thank all of those who have offered support, feedback, and ideas throughout this process. I especially want to thank those in the PALS community who identify as BIPOC and are working alongside us to make PALS better and to enable us to achieve our mission of inspiring a world of belonging. Please reach out to our team at any time to learn more or offer any observations that encourage us to consider perspectives we are not yet seeing. We know a world of belonging for all people is not a stagnant place that we eventually reach, but an evolving vision that we are constantly striving towards. Thank you for growing with us on this journey!