The Equity Committee
Mission:
Change the way employees and clients of The Family Development Center experience the workplace and mental health services by advancing equity and creating a climate of inclusion through intentional awareness and demonstrated action.
Purpose:
We recognize the complexity of the intersectionality of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, SES, sexuality and identity, which creates disparity and underrepresentation in mental health care, therefore we put forth these goals…
Goals:
To recruit, train and retain culturally responsive therapists and POCI therapists
To reduce disparities in mental health care through accessible, effective and holistic programming
To partner with existing organizations that share these values
Ongoing and thorough assessment of The Family Development Center’s policies and practices using an antiracist lens
Commitment to Courageous Conversations on Race
Definitions from which we can all work:
RACE: A socially constructed characterization of individuals based on skin color, culture, etc.
RACISM: Racism is different from racial prejudice, hatred, or discrimination. Racism involves one group having the power to carry out systematic discrimination through the institutional policies and practices of the society and by shaping the cultural beliefs and values that support those racist policies and practices.
PREJUDICE: An attitude based on limited information, often on stereotypes. Prejudice is usually, but not always, negative. Positive and negative prejudices alike, especially when directed toward oppressed people, are damaging because they deny the individuality of the person. In some cases, the prejudices of oppressed people (“you can’t trust the police”) are necessary for survival. No one is free of prejudice.
PRIVILEGE, SOCIAL and INSTITUTIONAL POWER:
access to resources
the ability to influence others
access to decision-makers to get what you want done
the ability to define reality for yourself and others
a right or advantage that is given to some people and not others.
“Whiteness”: The component of each and every one of ourselves that expects assimilation to the dominant culture.
The Four Agreements
1. Stay engaged: Staying engaged means “remaining morally, emotionally, intellectually, and socially involved in the dialogue”.
2. Experience discomfort: This norm acknowledges that discomfort is inevitable, especially in dialogue about race, and that participants make a commitment to bring issues into the open. It is not talking about these issues that create divisiveness. The divisiveness already exists in the society and in our schools. It is through dialogue, even when uncomfortable, that healing and change begin.
3. Speak your truth: This means being open about thoughts and feelings and not just saying what you think others want to hear.
4. Expect and accept nonclosure: This agreement asks participants to “hang out in uncertainty” and not rush to quick solutions, especially in relation to racial understanding, which requires ongoing dialogue.
In our courageous conversations we will monitor and actively uphold these six components:
1. Focus on personal, local and immediate
2. Isolate race
3. Normalize social construction & multiple perspectives
4. Monitor agreements, conditions and establish parameters
5. Use a "working definition" for race
6. Examine the presence and role of "Whiteness"
*Adapted from Glenn E. Singleton & Curtis Linton, Courageous Conversations about Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools. 2006. pp.5865. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Our Equity Consultants
Felicia Washington-Sy
MSW, PhD, LICSW
Dr. Felicia Washington-Sy provides "Supervision of Supervision" to The Family Development Center's supervisors. These meetings are focused on how to create psychological safety, building trust, centering the relationship, and cross-cultural supervision practice. Dr. Sy also meets with Delta Larkey and Alyssa Wright monthly to address the blindspots that arise from two white women leading a clinic focused on racial equity.
Will O’Berry, M.Ed
Dominique Jones
MA, LMFT
Dominique Jones has worked with our staff in several capacities. Ms. Jones has supported difficult staff conversations, met with affinity groups, and is a central part of our Equity Committee. Dominique guided the Equity Committee in the formation of our goals and objectives.
Robin DiAngelo, PhD
Dr. DiAngelo and Will O’Berry work with our white affinity group to notice, identify and dismantle the “white moves” that maintain the racist status quo and destroy relational trust and connection. Dr. DiAngelo and Will O’Berry are challenging the deeply held belief by white people that racism is about individual intent. Instead, they are working from the reality that racism is a structural system that institutionalizes inequity and violence. Dr. DiAngelo and Will are inviting the white affinity group to grapple with the ways they benefit from this system; individually, collectively, with their colleagues and with their clients.
