Mission Statement

The Fortune Society’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee nurtures a culture of belonging across personal and programmatic boundaries, directly addressing issues that impact the organization’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. We do this by facilitating conversations, endorsing recommendations for improvement, and holding ourselves and our community accountable to our vision and values.

Vision

We commit to contributing to and sustaining an organization that…

– Encourages inclusive conversation across roles, experience levels, and identities;

– Promotes transparency throughout the agency;

– Identifies and recommends opportunities for structural change to advance equitable power dynamics;

– Hosts open conversations within the organization and beyond to deeply discuss the challenges we face;

– Reduces barriers to the health and well-being of all members of our community

– Fosters a culture of belonging so that all Fortune community members feel safe, respected, and able to thrive

Values

We…

– Acknowledge that all Fortune community members (including participants, staff and volunteers) add great value to the agency’s work, culture, and environment;

– Celebrate people’s identity as a whole;

– Acknowledge intersectionality, recognizing that people experience overlapping inequities;

– Lead with respect and acceptance of difference;

– Identify instances of bias, exclusion, misrepresentation and/or intolerance;

– Act with courage and advocacy by directly naming and challenging inequities;

– Commit time, space, and resources to stay informed, educated, and hold ourselves accountable;

– Recognize that responsibility for sustained engagement exists across all levels of Fortune;

– Honor the work done through past initiatives and seek to build on it;

– Ground ourselves in the idea that the work is ongoing and always changing.