BUILDING A CULTURE OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of what it means to live united and advance the common good. At United Way, we strive for our staff and volunteers to be a reflection of all our neighbors who proudly make up our regional community.
To value diversity is to respect and appreciate race; religion; skin color; gender; nationality; language differences; sexual orientation; gender identity; physical, mental, and developmental abilities; age; socioeconomic status; work and behavioral styles; parental status; and the perspectives of each individual shaped by their ethnic heritage experiences. To be inclusive is to leverage diversity by bringing together unique individual backgrounds to address the issues facing our communities.
To achieve our vision of building a stronger, more equitable Chicago region, we must be a diverse and inclusive organization, committed to working against racism and toward racial equity in everything we do.
Together, we must LIVE UNITED.
STANDING AGAINST RACISM
Throughout our city and nation, racism remains a daily reality. While the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others have dominated the headlines, countless other Black deaths and decades of disinvestment in our predominantly Black and Latinx communities have received far too little attention.
The impact of systemic racism on our neighborhoods has produced dramatic gaps in the health, wealth, and economic outcomes for many of our neighbors. At United Way, we are committed to working alongside our community partners to reverse the effects of the decades of systemic racism and disinvestment. We are also committed to being an anti-racist organization, working against racism and toward equity in everything we do.
Our Anti-Racist Commitments
Workforce
We will be an anti-racist employer, striving to remove racism and unconscious bias from our internal workplace processes and procedures.
Workplace Culture
We will foster a culture of listening and teaching for all our stakeholders, providing a safe space to discuss and unlearn racism and unconscious bias.
Commerce
We will use an equity lens in our purchasing, hiring, and contracting decisions, working to interrupt unconscious bias and advance minority-owned businesses.
Community
We will make funding decisions through an equity lens and work alongside our community partners to address inequities in neighborhoods across the Chicago region.