March 2022 - SPOTLIGHT Edition - REVISED

Please accept our apologies on what may look like a duplicate email. In further review, we found a few important sentences that needed correction. This is the correct, updated version!
Greetings!
In the summer of 2020, the DeKalb County Community Foundation began an internal process to take an honest and comprehensive look in the mirror to better understand and hold ourselves accountable to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

This was done in response to the racial injustices and calls in the field of philanthropy for foundations to hold themselves more accountable by putting into practice their commitment to DEI.
“We talked about whether we should make a public statement that summer (2020) about our commitment to DEI. The decision was to wait. We needed to focus first on our actions in terms of our policies, procedures, and decisions as an organization and then communicate concrete actions we have taken.”
~ Dan Templin, Community Foundation Executive Director
From this internal work, the Community Foundation created a DEI Roadmap. The goal of the roadmap is for the Foundation to be a more effective organization that practices diversity, equity, and inclusion in fulfilling its mission and services from now on.
The DEI Roadmap consists of three areas:

  1. Encouraging Board members and staff to ‘look inward’ through individual self-reflection and actions they can take to be more ‘anti-ism’ (e.g. anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-ableism).
  2. Looking inward as an organization by all Foundation committees walking through recommendations from a document titled “Council on Foundations – Ten Ways for Community Foundations to Consider Diversity and Inclusive Practices.”
  3. Listening and learning from people and organizations in the community in order to determine what external role we can play to positively contribute to practices of belonging in DeKalb County.
“What an exciting and challenging time to be Board President. As a long-time member of this community and an African-American man, I was humbled by the Foundation’s willingness to engage in this. I’m delighted with our detailed direction and what lays ahead for our philanthropic efforts.”
~ Joe Mitchell, Community Foundation Board President
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815-748-5383 | dekalbccf.org
DeKalb County Community Foundation | 475 DeKalb Ave., Sycamore, IL 60178