Saturday, December 14, 2019

Regarding Diversity Nonprofit Boards

When talking about diversity and nonprofit boards, if you reference and/or share nothing else, here are 4 quotes and sources I recommend anchor any conversation you have.
Having a board with diverse perspectives is critically important. Each person will bring his or her own personal and professional contacts and life experiences to their service on a nonprofit board. With a diversity of experience, expertise, and perspectives, a nonprofit is in a stronger position to plan for the future, manage risk, make prudent decisions, and take full advantage of opportunities. A diverse board that is also sensitive to cultural differences is usually one that has a stronger capacity to attract and retain talented board members - as well as to be in touch with community needs. 
 - Diversity on Nonprofit Boards, National Council of Nonprofits
---
As stewards of the public good, all social sector organizations, regardless of mission, are called on to embrace and celebrate our common humanity, and the inherent worth of all people. In doing so, we must also acknowledge that a climate of growing intolerance and inequity is a challenge to our democratic values and ideals. Divisions along economic, racial, religious, and political lines have created an increasingly polarized society in need of healing. And the complex issues and dynamics at the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality call for deeper thinking as we seek to understand each other. 
 - Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity, BoardSource
---
Although nonprofit board members are aware of the importance of diversity and inclusion, they lack the knowledge, skills, resources, and commitment needed to turn that awareness into action, a report from executive recruiting firm Koya Leadership Partners argues. Based on an online survey of board or executive committee members at more than a hundred nonprofits, the report, The Governance Gap: Examining Diversity and Equity in Nonprofit Boards of Directors (42 pages, PDF), found a significant gap between respondents' intention to increase diversity and the actions they've taken to do so. 
 - Report Urges Nonprofit Boards to Turn Diversity Awareness Into Action, Philanthropy News Digest 
---
Whether we like it or not, nonprofit and foundation boards wield a tremendous amount of influence on this work. And whether we intend to or not, the lack of board diversity trickles down and has some wide-ranging consequences...Because of the self-reinforcing cycle, mostly-white boards are likelier to hire white EDs/CEOs, who then are likelier to hire white staff, so now there’s lack of staff diversity in the sector as well. 
 - 7 Things You Can Do to Improve the Sad, Pathetic State of Board Diversity, Nonprofit AF


Tuesday, November 26, 2019

A notification meditation in three breaths

Definitely not claiming this to necessarily be original, but I also haven't read this specific thing anywhere. More likely it's a way I've synthesized general readings and understandings of how we interact with mobile tech, and thought I'd share.

So upon feeling, hearing, and/or seeing a notification on your phone.

Breath 1 - Simply think about the thing you felt, heard, and/or saw. How many beeps did you hear? How long did it vibrate? The important thing is to just focus on the experience of the thing and not the meaning of it.

Breath 2 - Think about how the notification makes you feel. Are you feeling anxious, excited, uninterested, etc?

Breath 3 - Think about if you want or need to check it in this moment. But make sure not to conflate the two. Were you expecting an urgent message/text?  If you don't "need" to check it, why do you "want" to? Think about NOT checking the phone in this moment, especially if you're in the middle of something and/or with other people.

After those three breaths, even if you want to based on how you feel because of the thing you felt, heard, or saw, make a choice to check your phone as an intentional action rather than a reaction.

And if you don't have enough time to breathe because of how many notifications you get, consider dialing back the notifications.

So...what do you think?

Sunday, June 02, 2019

A Talk about Centering - A Case Study in Irony

About a week or so ago, I was having a conversation with someone where I mentioned centering someone else's perspective, and then was asked to unpack what that meant, what "centering" meant in this context, because they were unfamiliar with it.

I unpacked it by example, and mentioned how, when I'm walking down a street to work or whatever, and I am behind a white female presenting person, I center their experience in things I need to do as a black male to minimize their surprise and/or any perceived threat to their personal safety.

I was about to unpack some of the things I do, i.e. pulling out a phone, sneezing, making myself smaller, walking faster to indicate that I have somewhere to go, moving to the other side of the sidewalk if possible to put as much space between me and them as I pass, so that realizing that I'm a black man is as least threatening as possible (especially because of any unconscious bias more than anything), etc. when this person (who was a white lady themselves) interrupted me.

The nugget of what they shared was something like, well any man really.

And so here's why that's ironic. In sharing an experience centered on my own perspective not just as a man or a black person, but as a black man, she "But All Men"ed it, as if to say a woman's reaction would be the same for any man.

She colorbind'ed my own perspective and, whether explicitly or not, centered it on her own, as if to imply that she and/or women in general, would react to all men more or less the same way.

I wish she had read this article, particularly the first point: Pause Before Contributing to the Conversation.

Unfortunately, the insight and reflection I shared above was something that wouldn't come to conscious thought until a day or two later. In the moment of the conversation, I followed her lead and minimized my own intersectional identity, to in the moment agree with her that she was right, as a woman, that she and other women would react to all men the same way, and that my race had nothing to do with it.

When in fact, by stating how I walk through the world as a black man, in this situation, I wasn't saying that a woman or femme-presenting person wouldn't also react to a white presenting man at all or just assume they were safe. And in fact, a lot of times when people of color are sharing experiences like this, it's not that we're saying we're the only ones who go through things like this.

But often times, our intersectional marginalized identities compound the degree to which...to oversimplify it, bad things happen when things go south, the swiftness in which judgments are made in which they go south, etc.

Anyway, I digress. Just wanted to share. Happy Pride!!

P.S. Here's the article I linked, "4 Ways White People Can Process Their Emotions Without Bringing the White Tears".

P.P.S. Here's the Facebook post:

Friday, February 08, 2019

Racial Justice Resources

Hey friends,

So I just wanted to share several Racial Justice resources that I've learned about over the past couple of weeks and thought others may find them useful.

Sea Change: Navigating Oppression from The Icarus Project on Vimeo.

"Seeing White Fragility" from RISE District


"Expanding the Table for Racial Equity #3: White Privilege - Dr. Robin DiAngelo"
from Washington Grantmakers



Would suggest for any people of color who are preparing for any mediation with a white person, that unless that person has done the kind of consistent and thorough work Robin DiAngelo has done, this be required viewing to prepare for any conflict resolution process, regardless of whether anything explicitly racist was said or done. Because the lack of explicit and verbal racism doesn't mean that an interaction isn't informed and affected by structural racism and white supremacy

Also, for funsies, check out White Nonsense Roundup:
White Nonsense Roundup (WNR) was created by white people, for white people, to address our inherently racist society. We believe it is our responsibility to call out white friends, relatives, contacts, speakers, and authors who are contributing to structural racism and harming our friends of color. We are a resource for anti-racist images, links, videos, artwork, essays, and voices. These can be used by anyone for a DIY white nonsense roundup, or by the WNR team to support people of color upon their request.

Any other resources folx would recommend, particularly those for white people to do the work themselves and not really on colleagues and/or friends of color to take on any unnecessary additional emotional labor beyond that which simply being a person of color walking through a white-centered world warrants.

I think that's it for now.

Nexus aka JR