Equity

Join the Equity Challenge

January 6 - 26

Thank you for your interest in the challenge and we hope you will join us.  At United Way of Washtenaw County we are working to ensure your zip code doesn’t determine your opportunity in life.  At present in Washtenaw County, it does. We have work to do and understanding how inequity and racism affects our lives is an important first step.

Join us on a virtual self-guided learning journey examining the history and impacts of racism and how it shapes people’s lived experience in Washtenaw County.  Along the way, you’ll also receive examples and tools on how to undo racism and build racial equity and justice.

This Challenge was originally developed by Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr., Dr. Marguerite Penick-Parks and Debby Irving and has been adapted by Food Solutions New England. United Way of Washtenaw County has committed to adapt the challenge with our community along with our Equity Champions (listed below).

We believe it benefits us all to have greater collective capacity and courage to identify and address the different ways that bias, prejudice, privilege, and oppression show up in our work and lives.

About the 21 Day Equity Challenge

• You (along with thousands of others in Washtenaw County) commit to deepening your understanding of and willingness to confront racism for 21 consecutive days beginning January 6 and ending January 26.
• During every morning of the Challenge, you'll receive an email "prompt" with readings, videos and/or podcasts. You are encouraged to take about ten to fifteen minutes each day with the material in the prompt.
• Explore this work on your own, with friends and family, or organization-wide. Download our discussion guide by clicking here. 
• Share your reflections and “a ha” moments using the hashtags #unitedforequity , #equitychampions, and #uwwcequitychallenge.  Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Your participation in this challenge is 100% private, free and anonymous. 

     We are inviting companies, nonprofits and community groups to promote the challenge and help us reach our goal of 10,000 voices.  We’ll list all our partners on this web page beginning in January 2020 and acknowledge you at our Equity Convening February  26, 2020. 

Want to sign your team up?  Click here to sign up as a community partner before December 31^st, 2020.

Click here to read our full Equity Vision and Statement

Build Your Equity Muscle

The resources below are helping us learn and understand how to intentionally focus on equity in all of our work. We invite you to explore these links to build your "equity muscle" and learn with us. 

United Way Governance Series Hosted by Nonprofit Enterprise @ Work. Below are the meeting agendas, materials and slide decks from the last 3 session in this series, which focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

1. People Power: Preparing Ourselves to Advance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• Meeting agenda and materials
• Awake to Woke to Work research
• 2019 Fakequity pledge
• MNA DEI Assessment Tool
• The Principles of Equity in Fundraising article
• Slide deck

2. Culture Shift: Building Equity-Driven Cultures

• Meeting agenda and materials
• Slide deck

3. Implementing Change: Integrating DEI Lens throughout our Organizations

• Meeting agenda and materials
• Slide deck

• Implicit Association Test: Take this free test from Harvard University and learn more about your personal levels of unconscious bias
• Bias Cleanse: MTV’s Look Different campaign is here to help open your eyes to hidden biases

• The Equity Manifesto, PolicyLink
• Resource Guide: Diversity, Inclusion, Implicit Bias & More, compiled by Nonprofit Enterprise at Work
• 10 Lessons for Taking Leadership on Racial Equity, The Aspen Institute
• 7 Steps to Advance and Embed Racial Equity, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Staff Core Competencies to Achieve Racial Equity, Center for the Study of Social Policy
• The Social Justice Action Continuum, Step Up! Facilitator Guide
• Identifying Institutional Racism Folio, Seattle Human Service Coalition
• Assessing Institutional Racism, Dismantling Racism project at Western States Center
• Awake to Work to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture, Equity in the Center, a project of ProInspire

• The Business Case for Racial Equity in Michigan, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
• The Competitive Advantage of Racial Equity, PolicyLink
• Right Side Up: One pager on wealth inequality in the U.S., Prosperity Now
• The Road to Zero Wealth: How the racial wealth divide is hollowing out the middle class, Prosperity Now
• Bridging the Racial Generation Gap is the Key to America’s Economic Future, PolicyLink
• Washtenaw Opportunity Index: a tool to benchmark opportunity in the community.  The Index utilizes five key data sources to “map” equity and opportunity in Washtenaw County: health, education, job access, economic vitality, and neighborhood safety and stability.
• National Equity Atlas: data to build an equitable economy
• The Opportunity Atlas: See where and for whom opportunity has been missing, and develop local solutions to help more children rise out of poverty.

Find more data, reports, and resources on our Data Portal.