Belonging (or DEI) is core to the work we do and the transformation we are seeking through all our work. In 2019, we began an internal process to establish standards and practices that could move us towards being an organization that advances equity internally with our staff and externally with our grantees and other partners. We approach DEI from a Race+ lens, a concept that acknowledges that power differentials in social identities exist, beginning with race, and influence lived experience.

More than just being seen or feeling included, belonging entails having a voice and the opportunity to use it to make demands upon society and political institutions. Belonging is more than having access; it is about the power to co-create the structures that shape a community.

john a. powell, Othering and Belonging Institute