A message to our clients and community

To our clients, partners, and communities:

Black lives matter.

Police brutality is systemic and unjustifiable.  

All people deserve basic human rights and must be treated with dignity and humanity.

Statements such as these should not have to be made. They should not be considered political. And yet they do, and they are. They are also wholly inadequate as a response to George Floyd’s brutal murder and the resulting protests calling for reform. As a majority white organization, and one committed to accelerating positive social change, it is our moral imperative to acknowledge our culpability and accountability, to take a more active stance in the fight for equality, and to commit to concrete and observable actions that support dismantling the systems of racism and oppression.

This week our executive team identified seven specific steps we will implement and invest in to align OMNI Institute in the fight against systemic racism and oppression in America. 

• Speak Up: We will not stay silent. We commit to taking public stances on issues of basic human rights and issues of right and wrong. We will take responsibility and opportunity to highlight relevant research and data that helps to educate others and documents the realities of societal inequities and oppression.     

• Look Inward: Acknowledging the considerable work we have to do to improve ourselves, we will continue our investments in our internal diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and building the capacity of ourselves and our staff.  Earlier this year, we engaged external consultants to help us with this work and we will continue to press forward in those efforts. We will also continue our efforts to diversify our hiring and seek better understanding of ways to improve our other internal policies and practices.

• Spend Intentionally: We will begin directing our own spending toward supporting minority-owned businesses and vendors that support anti-racism causes.

• Hone our Focus: As we enter our strategic planning process this month, we commit to building anti-racism, anti-oppression, and social justice language into our strategic documents and principles, such as our core values, purpose, and long-term vision.

• Work Purposefully: We will institutionalize and share the criteria and processes for guiding the projects we pursue to ensure our partners and services are aligned in advancing equity. We will ensure the ways we promote and market our services make clear our organizational commitment to addressing racial injustice and what our clients and partners can demand and expect of us. 

• Put to Practice: We will continue building our team’s equitable research and evaluation practices with additional investments in tools, resources, and strategies so that these are consistently infused into all our work and deliverables. We will work in partnership with our clients to ensure project scopes, processes, timelines, and budgets are adequately resourced to support work that is inclusive and accountable to the communities we serve.    

• Give Back: We will build and expand on our nonprofit business model to increase investment in pro-bono and discounted services for organizations with explicit missions to end systemic racism and support communities of color.

We know how much work there is ahead for ourselves and society. However, in this moment in time, our only next step is one of action.  We are encouraging our staff to take their own individual steps and are committing ourselves to lead this organization into this societal fight against oppression and injustice. 

To our clients and community partners, we encourage you to reach out to discuss our efforts and engage in dialogue on how we can best support your efforts and those of your community members and stakeholders.

Sincerely,

Jean Denious (CEO) + Aaron Smith (COO)

OMNI Institute