Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
The Kempe Center endeavors to promote justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) across all levels of the organization.
The JEDI Core is dedicated to fostering excellence by upholding the ideals of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. These core values drive a profound transformation in our identity and approach. We wholeheartedly acknowledge the capabilities, skills, and welfare of both families and the dedicated workforce that serve them. Through collaboration with our diverse faculty, staff, partners, and community, we aspire to connect our research, advocacy, education, and clinical cores to create synergy in our endeavors to serve, all while maintaining a JEDI-focused perspective.
Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI)
MISSION
Statements
The Kempe Center’s AntiRacism Statement
Our statement describes a desired state, a desire to become an antiracist organization. It is a journey, not a destination. Our commitment is not static. As we learn, we may need to shift and do better with what we know. We didn’t get here overnight, nor will we change it overnight. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” It will take persistence and time, but our ripples will create impact.
Affinity Groups
Affinity groups – Goals & leaders
At the Kempe Center an affinity group is a group of people who come together to discuss, prepare for, make recommendations and take direct action that forwards Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI). The group makes decisions together and supports each other during and after action.
JEDI Strategic Impact Areas and Approach
- Foundational Analysis
- Objective: A foundational analysis is about the “why” The Kempe Center is investing in JEDI as a core area around all of our ways of being and doing the work.
- Personal & Professional Growth & Development
- Objective: Expand understanding of the history and construct of social justice through the lens of race as a construct and find application in all forms of social inequities (gender, LGBTQ+, etc.).
- Understand and reckon with white privilege, unconscious bias, and their roles in creating structural inequities.
- Organizational Development
- Objective: To evaluate support for and understanding of key structural equity concepts, assess how the Center is/is not integrating JEDI into programs and interactions with colleagues and external partners.
- To understand how faculty & staff are experiencing organizational and workplace culture.
- Implementation and Evaluation
- Objective: Assessing the Center's Impact on JEDI Integration Internally and Externally
- To foster continued growth as evidenced in our commitment to an iterative design approach as we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of JEDI across various fields of expertise.
Values & Principles in Action
We have identified principles that further define our values and exemplify how we live into these values and principles.
- We Value... JUSTICE
- We Value... EQUITY
- We Value... DIVERSITY
- We Value... INCLUSIVITY
Justice
JEDI PRINCIPLE BASED ON OUR VALUES
- Actively identifying and removing systemic barriers, opening access to resources and opportunities.
- “Make right” through relationship, maintaining ethical standards and correcting oppressive behaviors resulting from unjust control, mental pressure, and distress.
- Have accountability for mitigating the negative impact of bias in outcomes and actions.
BEHAVIORS THAT EXEMPLIFY HOW WE LIVE INTO OUR VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
“When I am living this (value) I am…and others see/hear that….
… I address acts that have diminished a sense of belonging and safety within the organization, in an effort to it make right.”
… I engage in uncomfortable conversations to reduce or eliminate the minimization of voices from groups historically and currently oppressed.”
… I take a stand on systemic racism by admitting past harm, committing to justice, and moving forward.”
… I acknowledge injustices that have and will occur, with the intent of validating the experiences of those who have been harmed.”
… I have a hope for the world moving forward that encompasses justice for all.”
… I step forth in courage to name and seek out opportunities for justice.”
Equity
JEDI PRINCIPLE BASED ON OUR VALUES
- Demonstrate a condition of fair, inclusive and respectful treatment that recognizes and acknowledges differing needs and expectations of groups at risk of not being afforded equitable opportunities and not maintaining conditions that perpetually confer opportunity to members of dominant or majority groups.
- Create an environment where each can grow and thrive. An individual’s race, personal background, or individual characteristics should not predict (not another statistic) an individual’s or group’s determinants for well-being outcomes.
- Redistribute access and resources to elevate opportunity to those most affected by systemic inequities.
- Seek and take seriously diverse voices, experiences, and ideas.
BEHAVIORS THAT EXEMPLIFY HOW WE LIVE INTO OUR VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
“When I am living this (value) I am…and others see/hear that….
… I am aware of who is trying to get in the room but can’t, and whose presence in the room is historically limited or under constraint.”
… I am aware of the conditions I and others have created that maintain certain groups as the perpetual majority voice and that denies opportunities for all.”
Diversity
JEDI PRINCIPLE BASED ON OUR VALUES
- Commit to a wide range of human qualities and attributes, visible and invisible, to expand the range of creativity, problem solving, decision making; and employee engagement and retention.
- Commit to elevating the value and reputation of the organization by reflecting, advising, and inviting diverse human qualities and attributes from partners and the community.
- Seek out and invite diverse opinions and perspectives.
- Reflect the communities we serve, encompassing the broad tapestry of people, life experiences and viewpoints.
- Encourage diverse stories and experiences from our team members and from the communities with which we work.
BEHAVIORS THAT EXEMPLIFY HOW WE LIVE INTO OUR VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
“When I am living this (value) I am…and others see/hear that….
… I maintain awareness of who is in the room and who is not.”
… I am asking what experiences or perspectives there are to challenge or provide an opportunity for me to see or understand things differently?”
Inclusivity
JEDI PRINCIPLE BASED ON OUR VALUES
- Create an environment that conveys belonging and that champions the full potential of all within the organization.
- Colleagues are heard and understood, supported, led, and coached to maintain or elevate the value of their contribution to the organization.
- Create a safe and welcoming environment where all individuals feel that they belong and where the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) principles can thrive.
- We behave in ways that convey cultural humility. Infinite diversity, infinite combinations mean we can’t know it all so we must have a beginner’s mind
BEHAVIORS THAT EXEMPLIFY HOW WE LIVE INTO OUR VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
“When I am living this (value) I am…and others see/hear that….
… I seek out the voices of individuals or groups that have not been heard and different from my own.”
… I am aware of the limits of emotional safety for some groups and actively encourage a sense of belonging and honoring of all voices and experiences.”
Education & Awareness
Race Intelligence Coaching Program (RQ)
The Kempe Center’s trained and certified coaches provide RQ-Race Intelligence™ coaching services that help individuals, groups and teams build the capacity to understand their relationship with race as a construct and reveal, recognize, and reconcile conscious and unconscious mindsets, attitudes, behaviors, and belief systems that enable racialized oppression. RQ™, as a coaching modality, seeks to equip individuals, teams, and organizations in accessing this form of intelligence and develop specific and deliberate skills that transcend conversations beyond blame and shame to those that foster growth, understanding, connection, healing, and restoration of relationships as human beings in a racialized world. In doing so, participants of this program will have the skills needed to challenge and change structural practices by developing the knowledge of systemic racism and the skills needed to begin dismantling it within their sphere of influence and beyond.
Programs, Initiatives, & Consultations
JEDI core provides consultation and support to internal and external programs. Consultation involves guiding programs in the utilization of JEDI principles to advance and achieve sustainable change throughout the Center’s Core service areas of advocacy, clinical, research, education and business operations to include hiring and retention, and external partner programs and practices.
