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—nonprofits that make the world a better place have what they need to succeed.
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 on-team DEI expert provides ongoing training and review of our client deliverables to ensure that they don’t inadvertently reinforce any form of bias. He also works closely and continuously with us to strengthen our expertise and capacity.
- DEI Team Trainings: We hold subject-specific sessions 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.
- 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 to, or watch, and those who can join come together to reflect, discuss, and grow.
- Inclusive Methodologies: Mission Minded continually refines our internal processes to ensure that our services and deliverables are truly inclusive by speaking with experts, implementing best practices, and generating new ideas for improvement.
- 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 rooted in sexist, racist, classist, colonialist, ableist or other offensive assumptions that we shouldn’t use.
Each of these initiatives moves our company in the right direction, and we are invested in learning more ways to 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.