“Structural racism remains pervasive in the U.S. and around the world, leading to persistent injustice and suffering. At the Institute for Humane Education (IHE), we are working to address racial injustice through the ongoing work of our DEI Taskforce comprised of board members and staff; by hiring a DEI consultant to advise us; by integrating racial justice issues deeply into our graduate courses and our K12 solutionary resources and programs; and by offering free webinars on structural racism and how to build a more racially just society.”
~ Zoe Weil, Co-founder and President
We invite you to read the description below of our racial justice goals, the steps we are taking to achieve them, and the ways we will be measuring our progress.
Our Goals
- Deepen our individual and collective knowledge of racism and its impacts and continually apply this growing awareness to ensure our organization does as much as possible to advance racial justice through our work.
- Diversify IHE’s faculty, staff, advisors, and board of directors.
- Facilitate learning about racial injustice and ways to collaboratively address and transform unjust systems through our curricula, programs, and resources.
- Provide humane education opportunities to an increasingly diverse group of people through our K-12 school and teacher programs, workshops, and resources.
- Help build a diversity of leadership to advance humane education in schools and in the world.
- Build partnerships with, learn from, and amplify the work of organizations educating about racial justice.
Steps Taken
- Engage our staff, faculty, and board in understanding, identifying, and implementing antiracist practices. (Ongoing)
- In 2021, board, faculty, and staff attended two multi-session trainings by the Equity Literacy Institute: the Antiracist Educator Series and the Antiracism Institute for Educational Leaders. These trainings led to expansive and critical conversations and deepened our commitment to ensure our organization contributes meaningfully to education for racial justice. (Completed)
- Explore ways to bridge our learning about racial injustice with our Solutionary Framework to advance solutions to racism. (Planning stages)
- Produce and promote free resources that address racial injustice directly, as well as more fully and consciously integrate racial justice issues into comprehensive humane education topics. (Ongoing)
- Ensure our graduate programs meet the needs and interests of a diverse group of students. (Ongoing)
- Integrate racial justice into all core courses in our graduate programs and offer an elective “Race, Intersectionality, and Veganism.” (Ongoing)
- Offer our Solutionary Micro-credential Program free to any teachers, schools, or districts that cannot otherwise afford it. (Ongoing)
- Offer low cost and free professional development opportunities in under-resourced school communities. (Ongoing)
- Partner with a consultant, Holly Rodriguez, who reviews our materials and advises us in our efforts to identify and meet our racial justice objectives. (Ongoing)
- Team up with various consultants and partners to help us build relationships with and support the efforts of racially diverse learning communities in the United States and internationally. (Beginning April 1, 2022)
- Offer free webinars to educate about racial injustice
- In 2020, IHE offered three free webinars, led by IHE graduate and faculty member, Dana McPhall, to all IHE constituents on the importance of understanding and committing to antiracism within our work as humane educators.
- In 2022, IHE offered a 3-webinar series on Structural Racism with IHE Advisor Ayo Magwood, founder of Uprooting Inequity.
- Also in 2022, IHE offered a webinar on the groundbreaking book Antiracism In Animal Advocacy led by Dana McPhall and Aryenish Birdie, executive director of Encompass
- Reduce barriers to IHE board service such as the requirement to attend our annual retreat in-person; advertise new staff positions to diverse constituencies; actively seek out diverse perspectives through our Curriculum Advisory Board and engage their counsel in achieving our racial justice goals (Ongoing)
- Identify and analyze key metrics of diversity, equity, and inclusion and take action to address disparities. (Ongoing)
- Currently analyzing data regarding the diversity of our graduates, and we have begun to collect demographic data regarding those downloading our resources.
- Through our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force, continually work to achieve and improve upon the goals above. (Ongoing)
Measuring Progress
We will know we’ve achieved our goals when:
- Our organization (board, staff, faculty, students) will better reflect the diversity of the country in which we’re based and the communities we serve.
- We will be in partnership with a steadily growing number of racially diverse schools.
- A growing number of school communities will be developing and implementing solutions to racial injustice.
