EQUITY STATEMENT

At Dallas Afterschool, we strive each day to live our values. We are committed to a work environment where our employees to feel valued, appreciated, and free to be who they are at work.

We are an equal opportunity employer.

All personnel processes are merit-based and applied without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, disability, national or ethnic origin, military service status, citizenship, or other protected characteristic.

We spend time and money for professional development to support, inspire and respect all our employees.

When we fall short, we re-commit ourselves to fighting for equity for our employees, partners, and the children we serve.

OUR RACIAL EQUITY WORK

  • Six years ago Dallas Afterschool made racial equity a central part of our decision-making process.

  • In 2015, our Board adopted a policy to run all salaries, promotions, and merit increases through an equity review with our HR Committee to prevent discrepancies in compensation. We also adopted a policy to ensure at least one person of color is considered in the hiring process for any open position, while  widening the spheres where jobs are advertised and new staff are recruited.

  • We launched a Board diversification effort that has resulted in Board diversity rising from 7% people of color in 2016 to 45% today, while our leadership team is now 60% people of color.

  • In 2018 we added “race” as explicit language in our agency’s mission statement.

  • In our most recent strategic plan, we made racial equity one of the four pillars of the plan.

BOARD AND STAFF TRAINING

Over the last three years, our leadership has implemented a series of trainings for all staff. During the trainings, the lived experiences of so many African American and Hispanic/Latinx staff members also emerged as key learning points that helped shape internal policies and protocols. In 2018, all staff participated in two Border Crossers training programs: Talking about Race and Racial Justice in Education. The next year, all staff attended four day-long sessions on Brave/r Conversations facilitated by outside consultants. The leadership team also received individual coaching sessions during this period. Last summer, staff launched voluntary Racial Affinity Groups with monthly meetings using the Racial Healing Handbook to guide discussion. In the fall of 2020, staff and Board members completed a Groundwater Training with the Racial Equity Institute on the causes and impact of systemic racism.

This year, Dallas Afterschool launched a Racial Reconciliation Cohort for Out-of-School Time (OST), with our staff facilitating monthly discussions and reading groups with staff from partner agencies. Dallas Afterschool also received funding from Dallas Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation to review its Afterschool Quality Advancement (AQuA) assessment tool through a racial equity lens, while we are also inaugural participants in the Dallas Foundation’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion cohort for nonprofits. Finally, our development team hosts monthly review meetings to allow staff from other departments to review all marketing and communication materials from a racial equity standpoint.

Finally, through our ECOST Workforce Development Program, we have placed over 300 employees in the OST and ECE workforce, 92% of whom have been people of color (compared to 55% in the industry overall).