Disrupting Structural Racism in LGBTQ+ Health Organizations Through Equity Committee Work

Abstract

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and facilitation have historically been focused on bias awareness, training on microaggressions, individual awareness, and affinity groups. This approach is often devoid of systems-level analysis and more profound work toward the cultural transformation of spaces, organizations, and agencies. To explore adding depth to the work of dismantling white hegemonic culture, we designed an equity committee process at the intersection of public health and social justice. The resulting tool, the Designing Equity Continuum, includes four phases (identity, formation, priorities and strategies, and implementation and evaluation) with two particles each. It was presented at four meetings of 90 staff at 50 nonprofit organizations in New York State. All participants evaluated the presentations as “very satisfied” with content. Six implications for practice are given, including varied organizational readiness, inadequate organizational structures, need for advanced capacity building, additional time needed to understand the tool, support for additional racial identity-based affinity groups, and ensuring equity committees operate separately from employee resource groups.