While our JEDI work shows up throughout IslandWood in a variety of ways and each department has it’s own specific work and initiatives, we identified three organization-wide goals to focus on for this fiscal year. They are below:
#1 Develop and launch a staff JEDI training program.
#2 Ensure those we serve are stakeholders in the assessment of our JEDI work.
#3 Ensure JEDI culture is supported consistently across the organization.
This goal builds on work we’ve had in progress for several years now. In fiscal year 2018, we identified that teams that were effectively reducing bias and advancing equitable practices were led by directors and senior leaders who were prioritizing JEDI work for themselves and their teams. We understood that for this work to consistently be integrated throughout the entire organization, we needed to ensure our leadership team had a shared understanding and commitment to equity work. As a result, in fiscal year 2019, we held two half-day equity trainings led by Fleur Larson Facilitation for staff on our leadership team, as well as all staff in managerial or supervisory roles. In this fiscal year, to build on that shared understanding, we set out to expand JEDI training to all staff in the organization. We know that for IslandWood to truly be an anti-racist organization, it’s critical we provide these opportunities for everyone working at, and on behalf, of IslandWood.
Following an anonymous all-staff JEDI survey giving employees the opportunity to assess our progress against our JEDI vision, along with our commitment to providing a workplace that is safe for BIPOC employees, we identified microaggressions in the workplace as the first topic for all-staff training.
All staff participated in a series of training sessions focused on microaggressions. The series included several short videos selected by our staff-run JEDI Council that were watched and then discussed during departmental team meetings; an online training program through Traliant; and remote workshops dually led by external BIPOC and non-BIPOC facilitators Andrea Paull and Fleur Larson. In addition, we have been including board members in facilitated JEDI discussions with our leadership team.
This quarter, we’ll have another all-staff training on JEDI led by external facilitators Andrea Paull and Fleur Larsen. We will also work to plan and develop the content for JEDI trainings for the rest of the fiscal year.
While within the organization we are working to continually assess our JEDI progress, we know that without authentic feedback from people that participate in our programs, we run the risk of blind spots, areas where good intentions may have resulted in negative impact, and potential bias on where and how we need to continue to push ourselves to grow and improve.
This quarter we designed a survey to engage a variety of community stakeholders in providing feedback and an assessment of our JEDI efforts. Stakeholders included alumni from our graduate program, school teachers, conference and wedding guests, docents, and donors.
The community stakeholder survey was sent in October and received 55 participant responses. Our key learnings and takeaways include the following:
This quarter, in response to feedback from the community survey, we’ll be working on documenting and sharing tangible examples of how JEDI is showing up across the organization in a variety of departments. We’ll note things such as changes in policies, instruction, curriculum and more. We’ll also note where we’ve fallen short and what we’ve learned about how we need to do better.
JEDI work at IslandWood has been happening for many years, led and carried by individual staff members. But it was often siloed within particular teams and small groups. In committing to ensuring that justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion are at the forefront of our work, we recognized that the commitment to JEDI could not be held only by individual staff, but needed to held by, and supported consistently, throughout the entire organization.
It became apparent that we needed more organization-wide communication, understanding, and alignment on our JEDI commitments, goals, and the next steps we believed it would take to make progress toward our goals. In this quarter, we assessed where the gaps in staff communication were and developed plans to help ensure all staff would be working with the same understanding of IslandWood’s JEDI commitments and next steps.
This quarter we began to share organization-wide communication to all staff about our JEDI goals and work in multiple ways.
This is a work in progress that continues to evolve as we hear staff feedback about what’s working well and what needs improvement.
For many years, IslandWood has been an advocate for public policy solutions that advance environmental education. As we’ve committed to ensuring JEDI throughout all our work, we’ve realized we need clarity and guardrails to help us make advocacy decisions around a variety of JEDI issues. This quarter we’ll assemble a team of staff and board members to create a decision-making lens for JEDI advocacy and public policy work.
IslandWood acknowledges that we live and work on the ancestral land of the Coast Salish people, who have been stewards of this region's land and waters since time immemorial, and who continue to protect these lands and waters for future generations, as promised by the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, the Treaty of Point No Point of 1855, and the Treaty of Medicine Creek of 1854.
While the majority of our work takes place on Suquamish (suq̀ʷabš) and Duwamish (dxʷdɐwʔabʃ) land, we also conduct programs on the land of the Snohomish (sduhúbʃ), Puyallup (spuyaləpabš), Muckleshoot (buklshuhls), Skokomish (sqoqc’bes), and S’Klallam (nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm) peoples.
4450 Blakely Ave. NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 206.855.4300
IslandWood is a registered 501c3 charitable organization.
A Special Thanks to our corporate sponsor
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