Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Statement
Born of our historical commitment to serve under-represented populations through our anti-poverty work, MASSCAP pledges to face racial bigotry, white supremacy, religious hatred, attacks on LGBTQ+, and other forms of hate, in a direct and active manner. MASSCAP’s Board of Directors and staff, and statewide agency staff, pledge to commit ourselves to promoting and defending diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, in all aspects of our work.
The goal of DEIB is to create an environment that ensures that everyone can thrive. This entails dismantling biased systems and adopting an authentic culture of respect—with resources, policies, systems, structures, and practices that provide equity in opportunities and outcomes and lead to individuals feeling valued and supported for who they are.
While our programming is inherently inclusive and systemically formulated to address the most under-resourced members of society, it is through our continued education and reflection we see that there is always more that can be done. With this understanding, MASSCAP and its members commit to continuing to fight poverty and strengthen communities within an intentional framework of DEIB. We commit to addressing these matters at the individual, interpersonal, and institutional levels. We pledge to hold ourselves accountable to the below commitments as we work together to build real and lasting change.
Community Action Agencies (CAAs) were created 60 years ago, alongside the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights legislation, to address all forms of inequality. MASSCAP is the statewide membership organization of the 23 federally mandated CAAs serving close to 600,000 people in the Commonwealth, in virtually every city and town. CAAs also work closely with scores of allied organizations to address local and emergent needs together. MASSCAP recognizes the wide reach of our network and embraces our ability to contribute to fundamental systemic changes that lead to a truly anti-racist society.
MASSCAP Commitment
We commit to the continued monthly meetings of the networkwide DEIB Roundtable which shares best practices, utilizes a common Resource Repository, and provides both accountability and a forum for talking through DEIB-related issues and progress.
We commit to providing DEIB training’s through our network that support an anti-racist and non-discriminatory agenda and present a forum to discuss inclusive and pragmatic solutions and paths forward.
We commit to supporting our strategic plan goal of Embedding DEI in Community Action by providing a DEIB lens into all networkwide Community of Practices.
MASSCAP and Member Commitment
We commit to addressing DEIB matters both internally with staff and through external communications with clientele, the public, partners, and other entities.
We commit to nondiscrimination on the basis of age, ethnicity, color, disability, gender identity, marital status, military status, national origin, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation, and all other protected identities.
We commit to fostering a culture of openness, transparency, and accountability, by providing opportunities for feedback, communication, collaboration, and education on DEIB issues.
We commit to magnifying our voice by working alongside or partnering with likeminded organizations on DEIB initiatives to counter outright racism and biases in our communities.
We commit to working towards diversifying staffing that represents our communities as well as providing the necessary professional development for staff to be enabled to succeed even further.
We commit to using our platform to magnify the voices of and create opportunities for marginalized communities and advocate for public policies that promote social justice, equality, and human rights, as well as creating platforms for the voices of our staff and our clients.
We commit to allocating financial and human resources to these efforts and to integrating this work at all levels of operations and decisions.