As an LGBTQ person, I have lived my adult life as a member of a historically marginalized community. I have experienced discrimination, been denied equality, and have lived life at times as a second-class citizen.
And as a national LGBTQ activist, I have seen its impact on a national scale.
I believe this lived experience has made me so much more aware of the inequities in our society and instilled in me an inability to sit idly by. My commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is real and runs deep. I make mistakes and I acknowledge that my Whiteness leads to significant bias, but here I am. On the journey.
Joangarry.com reaches hundreds of thousands of nonprofit leaders every single month and I want this platform to reflect this commitment.
We had many goals we hoped to achieve for our 2022 site redesign. At the core is a commitment for diverse nonprofit board and staff members to see themselves here, to feel a sense of belonging, and to see and feel the evidence of our commitment.
Working with outside partners from The Raben Group, we have created a rubric for our content and we review each article and each podcast through that lens. It goes so much deeper than images and names. For example, we also look at links to outside sources, ensuring that I acknowledge my own biases. It might be a great thing for us to share as I think about it.
Accessibility is also a priority for us — this remains a work in progress, but the podcast page is a great example with transcripts and a robust search function now available.
I have been writing this blog for 10 years and there are hundreds of pieces of content. We are working our way through all of it, but it will take some time. No doubt you will find articles and/or statements and/or images that are problematic to you. Please do not hesitate to let us know. Your concern may already be on our ‘punch list,’ but your eyes and ears will help us on our journey.
We have much work to do to create a truly civil society and nonprofit leaders are exactly that — leaders in the work to build a civil society. That work includes a commitment to walk with intention on a journey toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.
