We Want to be About Equity this Year
While some of the names of staff have changed, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity at The Chamber has continued to thrive. We have continued to foster a business community that prioritizes DEI in our workforce, workspaces, and overall communities. We've done this in a variety of ways: Through our partnerships forged in The Chamber and our community of over 60 Triangle DEI Alliance Members. With your partnership - The Chamber's leadership in the DEI space is demonstrated in our ability to educate, advocate, and empower.
This past fiscal year - We served over 100 businesses, business owners, and entrepreneurs with our Black Business Momentum series. We have connected with almost 200 people with our we connect events. We have had Courageous Conversations about racist violence, Black hair politics, and creating accessible workplaces with over 750 people. Also - we discussed how a better you becomes a better us with our 5th Annual DEI Conference - which had over 1300 registrants.
We not only served our community with programming and education, but we united a business community around a common goal - a goal to dismantle systemic racism. We took our leadership to the next level and this past February we published our Blueprint to Dismantle Systemic Racism - A document which, through qualitative and quantitative data collection, lays out a vision of a better Wake County. As we move forward - we are working behind the scenes to turn that Blueprint into an action plan that all of us can make a dedication to. We want this Blueprint to evolve into an action-plan that every business in Wake County has to dismantle systemic racism. We want to create a culture around understanding how racism impacts our community and giving our time, resources, and dedication to becoming people who believe it can be eradicated person by person, policy by policy. The Blueprint and its inception are continuing the legacy of leadership that The Chamber has offered in its 150 year history… but with a twist.
As we plan programs for 2023, we want to be even more intentional about bringing relevant, timely, and transformative information to the business community. We want our conversations to become even more courageous – as we are witnessing a great shift in our definition of the term “normal” in the context of an ongoing pandemic, major technological advancements, and a workforce that is welcoming a new generation of employees and entrepreneurs. We want to connect more than we ever have before – making sure that we are not only sharing our names, titles, and companies, but we are also sharing those phenomenal business practices that keep our companies and organizations competitive, significant, and thriving.
We want to advocate for all of our Wake County businesses- especially our small businesses which are the lifeblood of our great county. While The Chamber has done wonderful work with small businesses, as the majority of our members are small businesses, we want to continue to elevate them in our community. We want to expand their networks, use our platform to uplift their services, bring light to specific hardships that small businesses face, and finally ensure their perpetuity in Wake County.
We also want to remember equity. I’ve always believed that it is much easier to be diverse and inclusive than it is to be equitable. Equity gets to the core – the system – the heart. Equity is not just about having the cultural event, but changing policies and procedures so the cultural event can evolve into a shift in culture. These are the uncomfortable conversations because equity requires an investment that might not always return to you the way you gave it. But the key to creating buy-in around equity-focused business practices is redefining success. Is success more income or is success less wasteful spending where we can maximize our income? Its both. You may not bring in more revenue with equity-focused practices – but you may make an investment that might result in greater retention, greater employee satisfaction, and greater work output.
As we move forward, we know the work we have ahead of us will not be easy – but it takes all of us to move forward. We are better as a community. This work is so important – and it is my honor to do it. May we all keep having those tough conversations, may we all keep listening with the intent to understand, may we all keep doing our best to be better, and may we always keep hope alive.
Torri A. Staton Ph.D.