Each quarter, our RISE HIGH (Racial Inclusive Solutions for Equitable-Development, Healing, Impact, Growth) Team will provide updates on our equity efforts.
Read our first update.
The purpose here is not to tout our accomplishments and to pat ourselves on the back, but to be open and transparent about our internal efforts to more deeply embed equity within our organization, offer insight into our future trajectory and to reaffirm our commitment to being a leading change agent of equitable growth for the Pittsburgh region, which starts right in our neighborhoods.
Since Neighborhood Allies’ inception in 2014, the highest ideals of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) have been core to who we are and all that we do. From intentionally increasing the levels of diversity amongst our board and staff, to directing a majority of our investments and support towards Black-led organizations, MWDBE fims and communities of color, JEDI is the driving force behind our work.
Our aim is to not stop now but to actually ramp-up our equity efforts, as we still have a lot to learn and much more work to do. The racial reckoning we are experiencing as a nation along with concerted efforts to undermine progress made during the civil rights era – the recent supreme court ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act as an example – teaches us that the fight for social and economic justice is just as important now as it has been in years past.
