Sep
8
2016
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld
This blog post was written for Independent Sector‘s blog for their New Frontiers Conference to be held in Washington, DC from Nov 16-18. To read the full post, click here.
Over the past few years, racism has been a major topic in the news and on social media. But are nonprofits connecting the discussion about continuing inequities and oppression in society at large to dynamics within organizations and the sector?
Lately, I’ve been going around the country to do focus groups to discuss some of the themes explored in my organization’s survey on Nonprofits, Leadership and Race that more than 4,000 staff and board members of nonprofit organizations from across the country completed. Recently, a focus group participant shared that the nonprofit community has a race problem because it is “still focused on diversity and not on removing barriers.”
Valuing diversity does matter, and it was probably necessary groundwork, but today the conversation has to be about recognizing and removing barriers to the full inclusion, leadership, and advancement of nonprofit staff of color. Talking about barriers to advancement, biases in hiring, and tokenism within organizations may cause discomfort. But rather than shy away from internal conflicts, we have to embrace tension as an essential part of making progress.
Read the whole article to learn more!