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Beginning Our Journey Toward Equity and Inclusion


Last month, the Ashby Village (AV) Board of Directors passed a resolution committing our organization to promoting greater inclusion in our community and to challenging the institutional racism that impacts us and our society. The action coincides with the beginning of AV’s second decade and formalizes efforts made during those first ten years to address diversity, equity and inclusion.

 

In a letter to the Ashby Village community, Board President Andra Lichtenstein explained that the Board plans to set this in motion through deep self-reflection and a systematic assessment of the values, policies, practices and strategies of Ashby Village.We intend to draw on the knowledge and wisdom of experts in our community and across the country as we join thousands of other communities and groups on this journey.”  Read her full letter here.

 

This work seizes a moment in our nation’s consciousness and history, and follows this month’s merger with North Oakland Village, also founded 10 years ago, and AV’s inclusion of Richmond last December.  It has already begun, with AV participating in a Village Movement California discussion on racism with 19 other villages as well as conducting a special Board meeting last month. There will be other convenings for the Board, the Program Leadership Team and for broader groups throughout our community in the coming months.

 

To help us on this journey, AV has engaged Rita Shimmin, a Richmond resident and a teacher, trainer and coach for more than 35 years. Rita retired as the Executive Director of GLIDE Church in San Francisco last year and is the creator of Racism, Diversity and Risk of Self, which is the source and inspiration for UNtraining which she co-founded. She reminds us inspirationally, “Times of discomfort are the times when growth and love happen.”

 

Much more information will be shared in the coming weeks about how our whole Ashby Village community can be part of this historic opportunity for our nation and our organization, a time that challenges us to look deeply inside of ourselves and our organizational culture.



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