Sova raises its voice in solidarity with the Black community, non-Black people of color, and white allies who are peacefully protesting the direct actions and underlying systemic injustices that led to the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Oscar Grant, Akai Gurley, Philando Castile, and countless other unarmed black men, women, and youth. We are inspired by the overwhelming, united national and international calls for justice and long overdue change to break down the systems of oppression against Black Americans.
At Sova, we are committed to continuously deepening our understanding of the racial injustices weaved into the fabric of our society and standing in partnership with Black people, non-Black people of color, and white allies in all of our work.
As an organization, Sova is committed to taking ongoing actions to advance racial justice.
- We are interrogating our own business practices to ensure they are aligned to our values and critically evaluating our portfolio of work to ensure that all of our efforts build our and our clients’ capacities to name and pursue racial justice in all of our projects.
- When we are presented with opportunities to host meetings, summits, or conferences we will commit to partnering with Black/African American, Native and Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Latinx and women-owned businesses. We will encourage our partners and clients to also consider such measures.
- We will continue to dialogue and educate our team on equity work and deepen our own equity-consciousness through trainings, readings, and other materials.
- We will take active steps to ensure Black and Brown voices are at the center of our working groups, panels, summits and other platforms where solutions, policies, and practices are discussed and or recommended.
- We will interrogate our materials and publications to ensure we are using appropriate and uplifting language to reference communities, particularly communities of color and Black/African Americans. We will avoid derogatory and offense labeling such as non-traditional and minority status.
- We will require all candidates who apply for positions with Sova to demonstrate a commitment to, and engagement and service with diverse communities, with a focus on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status. Equity, Diversity, and Belonging will be key values outlined in all employee contracts.
- We will actively seek partnership opportunities to support and amplify work being done by organizations and institutions led by Black and non-Black people of color and those who predominantly serve students of color, first-generation, and low-socioeconomic communities.
What we strive for and work to realize is lasting progress through reformed policy and practice, as well as through purposeful expansion of national equity consciousness in the pursuit of racial justice.
Credit for feature image to Black Lives Matter
