Woke @ Work

Read Time: 4 minutes Equity In The Center® (EIC) seeks a Data Coordinator Consultant to assist with data preparation for Racial Equity Tools’ bi-monthly newsletter. RET is used broadly across the social sector as one the best sources for racial equity tools and resources field-wide. This position is an exciting opportunity to advance racial equity and justice. The ideal candidate excels in managing data, and assisting in the creation and dissemination of bi-monthly newsletters. Familiarity with digital tools and platforms (including Wix, Excel, and Google Sheets), as well as a commitment to racial equity, are essential for this position.

Read Time: 2 minutes Dr. Gutierrez’s core values of personal transformation, continual learning, and aligned contributions guide her work. She demonstrates a unique ability to create compassionate learning spaces and build relationships rooted in the essence of philanthropy—”love for humanity.”  Her experience with line staff, C-suite leaders, and board members to create a vision, develop strategic objectives, and activate courageous organizational leadership is informed by the social sciences, her experience in ontological coaching, and her ongoing study of leadership development.

Read Time: 3 minutes On July 21, 2024, President Biden released a statement saying he would suspend his presidential campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. It took conservative pundits and media little time to relentlessly attack Harris on the basis of her race and gender, labeling her a “DEI hire.” The attacks are rooted in a history of sexist and racist attacks on Harris dating back to her campaign for the presidency in 2019. And, the foundation for these attacks lies in the structural and systemic racism, and the deep-seated patriarchy, that are endemic to our nation’s history.

Read Time: 3 minutes Published in 2018, Awake to Woke to Work®: Building a Race Equity Culture™ couples the case for organizations centering race equity with an actionable framework (the Race Equity Cycle®) and concrete next steps. Since then and over 71,000 downloads later, we continue to build the social sector’s capacity to operationalize race equity. In 2021, we introduced the Race Equity Cycle Pulse Check™, an assessment for organizations to determine where they are on the Race Equity Cycle® and that provides action steps to move from one stage to the next. Initially launched as a free resource, the Pulse Check has been utilized by over 50 organizations, and was determined to be a robust, valid tool when evaluated in 2023. We have complemented our resources and tools with programmatic supports, including training, coaching, cohort programs and a network for race equity practitioners.

Read Time: 2 minutes Equity In The Center (EIC) is excited to announce the adoption of Racial Equity Tools (RET)! As RET celebrates its 15th anniversary, EIC is honored to lead the next phase of expansion and advancement of RET’s comprehensive website. With this transition, RET will focus on enhancing curation expertise, technical assistance, user-friendliness, responsiveness, and the integration of accessibility and language justice practices. Created in 2009, RET is a key source in the racial justice field, providing a wealth of resources for activists, practitioners, and scholars. With more than 4,500 resources in 98 categories with a robust and popular glossary, RET serves as a critical resource to the race equity, racial justice and movement fields.

Read Time: 3 minutes Profound, collective grief has followed Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, the deepening conflict and resulting humanitarian crises. We mourn the lives lost and continue to hold Israeli and Palestinian victims, their families and loved ones in the light.

Read Time: 3 minutes Embracing difficult conversations is essential towards building a Race Equity Culture™ – not just in external organizations, but also internally at Equity In The Center (EIC). Our team extends immense gratitude to our partners and consultants at Building For Mission (BFM) for their unwavering support and guidance with this (and much more) over the past two years. Their transformative partnership has been a crucial part of our nonprofit start-up journey as we continue to grow and lean into our values.

Read Time: 2 minutes The two recent Supreme Court rulings – striking down affirmative action in college admissions and LGBTQ+ rights – represent a significant regression in civil rights. By diminishing the ability of institutions to consider race as a factor in admissions, the ruling disregards the enduring effects of systemic racism and the need for proactive measures to address historical oppression. “Refusing to acknowledge race doesn’t make the exquisite design of racism disappear. It makes it take hold even stronger,” as stated in The Skillman Foundation’s recent blog, “Racial Neutrality Does Not Exist: Why Affirmative Action Actually Benefits ALL of Us.” 

Read Time: 4 minutes On Jan. 17, The New York Times published an opinion piece from Jesse Singal titled “What If Diversity Training Is Doing More Harm Than Good.” The article was a missed opportunity to highlight the benefits of organizational transformation focused on mitigating measurable identity-based inequities, a change that unfolds along a developmental continuum from diversity to inclusion to equity and is executed over years. The “gotcha” framing of the article focused on a well-known fact among equity practitioners and demonstrated in studies: transactional trainings focused on unconscious bias and “consciousness raising” yield little to no measurable benefit and can challenge morale in ways that degrade commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Read Time: 2 minutes Mara Brennan-Magidson (she/they) is the White Allies Training Associate at Equity In The Center. Mara is a facilitator, organizer, and highly distractible creative living and learning her way on the Dakota and Anishinaabe land, also known as the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota. Mara is honored to support EIC’s learning spaces that are intended for white folks to examine internalized white supremacy and commit to anti-racist action.

Read Time: 2 minutes As a start-up organization driven by race equity, we strive to make decisions that are aligned with our values AND recognize the importance of being held publicly accountable to those values. Our announcement to leave Twitter was followed by a wave of support from many individuals and organizations who appreciated the transparency and agreed with the decision, but weren’t sure if or how they might do the same.

Read Time: 3 minutes We’ve grown significantly since 2020 – from our staff to our reach – making progress towards realizing our vision of a future where nonprofit and philanthropic organizations advance race equity internally while centering it in their work externally. As we end the year, we remain hopeful. And, we’re excited to share highlights and reflections on what we’ve accomplished in the past year.

Read Time: 2 minutes Niki Jagpal has been the Executive Consultant at Equity in the Center since January, helping with vision, strategy, research, and more. She is a seasoned leader, researcher, and facilitator with over 15 years of progressive organization- and field-building experience. She tries to lead with compassion, intention, humility, and inclusion and her work is informed by her practice of Buddhism.

Read Time: 2 minutes As we continue this period of rapid growth, we are now looking for an Operations Manager. This is a full-time role (32 hours per week). Reporting to the Vice President of Operations, the new Operations Manager will be a key leader who supports the President, maintains current internal systems and processes, manages relationships with vendors, oversees event logistics, and partners with leadership on the long-term growth and expansion of the ops team.

Read Time: 2 minutes As a start-up organization, we’re experiencing a period of rapid growth and transition. We are grateful to each stakeholder that has supported EiC’s work since our debut in 2017! Cross-sector support from race equity leaders, champions, and funders has been crucial in positioning us for this moment of transformation.

Read Time: 2 minutes Equity in the Center is hiring for the VP of Operations, a role that will be critical to our start-up organization’s growth and sustainability! The VP will be responsible for building and running cross-functional processes that touch every employee at EiC.

Read Time: 2 minutes With three recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, Orange Country, California, and Uvalde, Texas, we’ve seen, yet again, how deeply white supremacy and violence are embedded in the fabric of this nation. We are heartbroken for these victims and their families. We are angry that “thoughts and prayers” are offered but action to prevent gun violence, which disproportionately affects BIPOC, is not.

Read Time: 2 minutes An educator by training and an organizer at heart, Juan Serrano (he/him) believes in his power to attach peoples’ broader understanding of race and power to tangible actions that affect change.

Read Time: 2 minutes Sandra Herrera (she/her) is excited to join Equity in the Center as the new Communications Associate. She’s worked for a leading real estate website and in the non-profit sector, learning to hone her design and storytelling skills and lead with fearless empathy. She enjoys being a plant mom, eating tamales and arroz con gandules, and reading any book that Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes.

Read Time: 2 minutes Miyo Hall-Kennedy (they/she) is the new Training Associate for Equity in the Center. Miyo has spent the last fifteen-plus years working across a variety of sectors, including the U.S. Navy, mental healthcare, K-12 education, and employment services for nonprofit organizations in California, Virginia, Chicago, and Las Vegas.

Equity in the Center is thrilled to be one of the 286 organizations that received a part of the almost 3 billion dollars that MacKenzie Scott committed to addressing social inequities in our society. We are very proud to be amongst our race equity peers in receiving...

Equity in the Center is inviting applications for the Director/Sr. Director, Content and Stakeholder Engagement, a new role that will be critical to the organization’s growth and sustainability. The person in this position will lead service delivery of EiC...

In Partnership and Solidarity Broader reach and sector-level focus will guide the next chapter as Equity in the Center becomes an independent organization Today marks a new chapter in Equity in the Center’s story — one we are writing in partnership with stakeholders...