Planning for Equity
Equity Assessment
We start the equity planning process with an equity assessment designed to help you understand where you are now, and to uncover the equity related issues at your organization. Your assessment will be shaped to fit your scope and budget, but often includes an analysis of existing policies and procedures alongside a combination of interviews, focus groups, and/or surveys with groups like the board, staff, constituents, and/or external partners.
Following our assessment, CommunityConnective will meet with you to share insights to help you understand how current policies and procedures support or hinder your equity goals as well as how stakeholders view the organization in relation to those goals. We will also provide a written report that shares the themes of what we learned through our assessment, what these findings mean, and our recommendations for possible focus areas as the organization plans for the future.
Foundational Equity Workshops
In order for your organization to fully embrace the role equity plays in your internal and external work, it will be critical to embark on a shared learning journey.
All of our workshops are three hours long, are capped at 25 live participants, and take place over Zoom. We can also work together to figure out the best plan for sharing recordings with your team if that is desired.
We offer a series of core workshops that will set your team up for success as you work to align with the values of equity. These topics typically cover:
- Important vocabulary and concepts to ensure your team is starting from a shared understanding
- Key moments in history that shaped our current culture
- Helping your organization connect that history to where we are today through a framework to help you spot inequity in action and begin to flip the script
We are also able to provide coaching, identity caucuses/affinity groups, and facilitated workshops on a number of different topics. (For more specific information, please refer to our Workshops & Other Learning Opportunities page)
Creating an Equity Plan
Following the assessment and workshops, organizations are ready to create a plan to prioritize equity throughout the organization. Through a collaborative process, we will help you draw upon what you learned in the assessment and workshop phases to outline priorities, goals, and objectives to achieve your desired outcomes. Additionally, we work with the organization to create an implementation plan that includes accountability measures, timelines, success measures, and more to ensure that the plan is actually usable and doesn’t simply gather dust sitting on the shelf.
She knows her topic and she brought good resources to our group as well! I also found her to be empathic and supportive and thoughtful.
Deep knowledge of racial equity topics, great questions to ask that generated thoughtful responses.
Helping to get us into the uncomfortable zone; she was consistent; focus on our accountability
Tracy Bishop
Forest Preserves of Cook County Director of Permits, Rentals and Concessions
Alex Cornwell
Chicago Lights Director of Evaluation and Impact Racial Equity & Social Justice Committee Co-Chair, Chicago Women in Philanthropy
Rev. Carlos Reyes Rodríguez
Immigration Law & Justice Network Culture & Outreach Manager