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Equity. Quality. Collaboration.

About

Racial Equity Focus

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The following goals support racial equity and anti-racism at Minnesota Alliance With Youth. Goals were developed by staff and are intended to guide the organization’s governance, programming and activities. These goals reflect the Alliance’s commitment to ongoing anti-racism and equity work as an organization, and unlearning and undoing racism in the culture and practices of the Alliance. 

  1. Develop and ensure equitable and anti-racist Board and staff hiring and selection practices, personal and professional development, and retention.
  2. Strengthen practices and policies for the Alliance’s programs to ensure that participants mirror the demographics of students impacted, and have the support needed in order to be successful as an AmeriCorps member or Minnesota Youth Council representative.
  3. Prioritize economic justice by devoting 25% of outside organizational spending to POC (People of Color), locally-owned businesses and vendors.
  4. Conduct annual review of practices, policies and advocacy in order to ensure progress towards Racial Equity goals, and identify and respond to emerging issues.

Tools and Resources:

Alliance Racism and Discrimination Response Protocol 

Race, Equity, and Anti-Racism Resource Library 

Progress towards goals:

In line with goal 4, the Alliance is committed to regular analysis and review of our progress towards these Racial Equity Goals.  The following updates reflect the 2021/22 program year:

Goal 1: Develop and ensure equitable and anti-racist Board and staff hiring and selection practices, personal and professional development, and retention.

Update on Hiring Practices:

  • Updated position description and postings to include an education equivalency, salary transparency, focus on racial equity, and an overt commitment to diversity. 
  • Weekly review and assessment of candidates, which helps in ensuring a diverse candidate pool.

Goal 2: Strengthen practices and policies for the Alliance’s programs to ensure that participants mirror the demographics of students impacted, and have the support needed in order to be successful as an AmeriCorps member or Minnesota Youth Council representative.

Update on participant demographics:

Goal 3: Prioritize economic justice by devoting 25% of outside organizational spending to POC businesses and vendors.

Update on spending: 

FY20.21 Progress:

  • Overall less than 1% of external spending was to POC owned vendors.
  • Certain budget categories had significant POC spending %s (ex: non-office space rental: 90%, services: 14%)
  • Increased POC-owned spending should be targeted on areas with most opportunity: gear/supplies, food, trainers

FY21.22 progress (to date):

  • As of March 2022, POC spending in recommended categories saw significant growth (ex: 41% of spending in services was to to POC owned vendors)
  • Ongoing challenges to overall external spending include limited availability of or knowledge of POC-owned vendors in the areas such as technology, office supplies, software, financial systems, and required AmeriCorps systems

The Alliance invites and welcomes feedback, questions and suggestions on our Racial Equity work and the updates shared on this page.  Please reach out to Kate at ksuchomel@mnyouth.net if you would like to have a conversation, or have comments to share.