Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

Introduction

Our mission—our work—at LSSI responds to the Gospel to bring healing, justice, and wholeness. Wholeness requires that each of us hears and understands the pain of disparity, inequity, and racism. We believe that LSSI, as an organization, and each of its employees, individually, must commit to an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion journey.

At LSSI, we recognize the centuries of inequities, injustice, violence, and systemic racism has been experienced by employees and clients of color. Race and color remain the top characteristics for discrimination. Through addressing the deep-seeded biases that impact people of color, we will create a more equitable and welcoming employee experience for employees of varying races, genders, sexualities, disabilities, and religions, etc.

The same barriers marginalized people have faced in the past continue to exist today. We acknowledge LSSI is not isolated from those systems created to be barriers for various groups but an active component in it. Thus, we commit to becoming an active voice in our social sector, learning from our peer organizations who are already making strides, and modeling through action to create the changes we seek for our clients and staff.

Read LSSI’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Inaugural Report.

Read LSSI’s Anti-Racism Statement.

stewardship

Purpose

Ensure the representation of diverse groups and active dismantling of barriers that keep under-represented groups from opportunities for professional advancement, recognition, and full participation. LSSI will build a culture of Equity.

Acknowledge, seek, and welcome differences, including but not limited to race, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, class, geographic location, mental or physical ability, language, and learning style. Commit to open-mindedness, to be curious and to learn, share, and celebrate different cultures, beliefs, and experiences. LSSI will build a culture of Diversity.

Actively identify and remove barriers in an ongoing effort to ensure that diverse individuals fully participate in organizational work and community-building. Engage all voices to encourage diverse thinking. Insist that diverse employees and clients are seen as mutually respected members of LSSI’s community who are encouraged to represent themselves in authentic ways. LSSI will build a culture of Inclusion.

Equity is both representation of diverse groups and active dismantling of barriers that keep under-represented groups from opportunities for professional advancement, recognition, and full participation.

Improving equity requires:

  • Ensuring and promoting justice and fairness within existing systems
  • Acknowledgement and understanding of the root causes of disparities
  • Working intentionally to address root causes of disparities

Diversity acknowledges, seeks, and welcomes differences, including but not limited to race, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, class, geographic location, mental or physical ability, language, and learning style.

Diversity is a commitment to open-mindedness, with the responsibility to be curious and to learn, share, and celebrate different cultures, beliefs, and experiences.

Inclusion is the intentional removal of barriers in an ongoing effort to ensure that diverse individuals fully participate in organizational work and community-building. An inclusive workplace engages all voices to encourage diverse thinking. Inclusion requires that diverse employees and clients are seen as mutually respected members of LSSI’s community.

Inclusive environments create space for diverse employees and clients to represent themselves in authentic ways.

Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Steering Committee

In November 2020, a cohort of 15 LSSI staff from across various departments began meeting during the COVID-19 pandemic to create an equity, diversity, and inclusion plan for clients, employees, and board members. With the guidance of Social Current consultants, the committee identified four strategic priorities.

  • Establish accountability and oversight for EDI within LSSI
  • Engagement of all LSSI Employees and assessment of current EDI culture
  • Embed EDI in recruitment, onboarding, advancement, and retention of LSSI employees
  • Assess LSSI’s whole-person work and establish priorities for addressing structural inequities in communities being served

The work of the committee produced the first steps of LSSI’s equity, diversity, and inclusion journey, and the organization hired its inaugural Executive Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. The journey now exists as four pillars for the organization to transition through.

EDI Steering Committee Members

  • Kelly Sappington, Director of EDI
  • Laterria Bass, SDS
  • Cheyenne Boyer, CCS
  • Donald Hardaway, BHS
  • Damaris Jimenez, IS
  • Dan Maxon, IS
  • Shezelle McCaskill, SDS
  • Jason McClarin, QCD
  • Jere Murray, CCS
  • David Novak, Advancement
  • Pat Pearse, HR
  • Ashley Siepl, Advancement
  • Timothy Smith, IS
  • Lakedra Vaughn, BHS
  • Terri Wilkerson, Org Dev/EDI
  • Joseph Winford, CCS

Resources

The EDI journey is continuous and personal. Below are some resources you can utilize to further your personal learning.

Documentaries

Race—The Power of an Illusion
https://www.racepowerofanillusion.org

Books

  • The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
  • The Color Bind by Erica Gabrielle Foldy
  • White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
  • Decolonizing Wealth by Edgar Villanueva
  • Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive by Kristen J. Sollee
  • The Memo by Minda Harts
  • Black LGBT Health in the United States: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation Edited by Lourdes Dolores Follins and Johnathan Mathias Lassiter
  • The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability
  • What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party by Michael Kazin

 

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