Embedding racial equity into an organizational culture requires intentional work everyday. On a personal level, it can require a lifetime of studying, learning, and unlearning. There are many ways to incorporate thoughtful reflection and “racial equity pauses” into your processes in your day-to-day. At Living Cities, we have, for example, compiled playlists with songs about race, identity, and justice, as well as songs that remind staff of their culture. We have made time in meetings to reflect on current events as they relate to race. And, we have opened meetings with artistic and imaginative activities and check-in questions.
Through these pauses, we have been able to reflect on our personal identities and individual processes and how they show up in our racial equity work.
If you have any questions or want to share your story of your racial equity journey, please email racialequity@livingcities.org.
As a follow up to our first checking in with our humanity resource, we are offering a second resource building off all we’ve explored since then. This resource is tailored to themes and needs Living Cities staff have named through our Racial Equity and Inclusion Survey. We are committed to open-sourcing our journey toward embedding racial equity in our work and to that end want to share this second version of our popular resource. We encourage anyone who comes across this resource to adapt these activities and questions to your own needs