Mission Minded was founded out of a deep desire to serve organizations that improve our communities. We have the daily privilege of living out our vision—that no good cause should suffer from bad communication. Yet, at the same time, we know that there is more that Mission Minded can do to help dismantle the racist systems in which we operate. That’s why we have made an intentional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and we actively strive each day to be more inclusive, more equitable, anti-racist, while holding each other accountable in the process. Here’s how:
- A company-wide commitment to asset-based framing, knowing that the stories we tell—and help our clients tell—can either reinforce or deconstruct the stereotypes many of us unconsciously hold around race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, disability, nativism, and more. Each day, our team gets stronger in their own ability to assess language that advances these efforts.
- Our DEI advisor reviews and assesses all client deliverables to ensure that they don’t inadvertently reinforce any form of bias.
- DEI Team Conversations: Every few months, we hold an internal, subject-specific session, on topics like unconscious bias, privilege, equitable storytelling, and the ladder of inference to help us promote an inclusive, anti-racist culture at Mission Minded and apply what we learn to our methodologies as an organization.
- Strengthened internal Mission Minded practices around inclusivity and equity in hiring by adopting best practices from DEI experts.
- DEI Learning Club: Each month, a Mission Minded team member selects an insightful information piece that everyone is invited to read, listen, or watch, and those who are able to join come together to reflect, discuss, and grow.
- Two DEI Internal Communications Channels: One is for team members to share podcasts, articles, readings, and personal insights to promote discussion and deeper understanding of DEI issues. The other is called “#deadidioms” where we identify idioms and expressions that are rooted in sexist, racist, classist, colonialist, ableist or other offensive assumptions and that we should NOT use.
Each of these initiatives is helping to move our company in the right direction and we are invested in learning more ways in which we can carry out this work. We know there is much work to be done, but we’re in this for the long haul and are determined to keep fighting for justice.