When I was instated as Executive Director of Tilth Alliance in 2018, staff and I committed to acknowledging our role in upholding unjust systems and investing in the work necessary to become a more antiracist, diverse and inclusive organization. Following various internal initiatives, in 2023, we began working with AV Consulting to facilitate the design of a racial equity framework that would continue to move this work forward.
Over the past several months, the consulting team has:
- Collected staff feedback through an organizational survey,
- Conducted interviews with community partners and volunteers, and
- Facilitated sessions with a small team of staff and board to inform the framework’s language.
The framework, called the Racial Equity Values Assessment Tool (REVAT), is grounded in a set of values which function as the lens for ensuring our future decision-making as well as our collective and individual growth fully accounts for the lived experience of Black Indigenous People of Color. This includes communities who have traditionally been overlooked and underserved by our organization.
As the journey toward antiracism is ongoing, we’re excited to continue building on the work from last year as we practice applying our newly developed framework. We will be assessing how Tilth Alliance’s culture and actions have contributed to and prevented us from becoming more diverse and representative of the communities we serve.
The REVAT is still in draft form. As we work to operationalize it, there may be a need for edits to ensure it is responsive to our unique staff and community needs. However, we wish to embody our value of transparency and share it with you.
If you have questions and/or wish to share your perspective, please feel free to contact me or Alma Villegas (AV Consulting).
Melissa Spear
Executive Director
Tilth Alliance
melissaspear@tilthalliance.org
