“And I saw that what divided me from the world was not anything intrinsic to us but the actual injury done by people intent on naming us, intent on believing that what they have named us matters more than anything we could ever actually do.” - Ta-Nahesi Coates.

Every day in the workplace, individuals face challenges being their authentic selves. As leaders and colleagues, we each have a role to play in creating inclusive workspaces. Diverse perspectives enrich our workplaces, and studies are showing that involving diverse voices improves performance, problem solving and decision making. Yet, people of color and women are underrepresented in C-Suite, upper management, and Board roles compared to their representation in the overall working population. The culture of an organization provides insight into the racial dynamics and racial equity/parity within the organization. Today we will focus on how you can create a race equity culture at work.

Read the Building a Race Equity Culture in the Social Sector 2-pager or download the full report entitled Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture to learn from one or both of these excerpts: the explanation of dominant culture in the context of building a race equity culture, found in the box on top of page 10, the two-page executive summary on pages 2-3. Explore ways you can help build a race equity culture in your organization, neighborhood, and/or community.

Get comfortable with words and language to engage in more inclusive and respectful dialogue – learn from Racial Equity Tools’ new Glossary of Racial Equity Terms. Examine which terms you may have been using that need to be replaced with more appropriate racial equity terms.

If you are connected to an organization, consider joining the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, which is dedicated to confronting and undoing systemic racism impacting local communities and the state of Michigan.

Take courage by knowing you are not alone, watch this 3-minute video shedding light on common struggles people face bringing their authentic selves to the workplace. Reflect on struggles your colleagues (family or friend group) may be facing in bringing their authentic selves into space with you. Explore ways you contribute to this phenomenon.

Listen to this podcast featuring Harvard Business Review co-hosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn responding to some common challenges faced by businesses in promoting diversity and inclusion in their workplace (transcript included). Explore ways to help support your organizational leadership to promote diversity and inclusion.

United Way of the Lakeshore is partnering with the Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance to hold a town hall discussion to reflect with other participants taking the challenge. These town hall meeting will happen on Wednesdays at 12:00 PM via Zoom throughout the challenge. We'd like to thank Gloria Lara for being our facilitator for these discussions.

This week's town hall will be Wednesday, September 30th at 12:00 PM. RSVP below to be sent the Zoom Link!

United Way of the Lakeshore is offering a safe and secure place for you and other in the challenge to be able to reflect and discuss about what you read today. These reflections are optional but a great way to connect with others.