Delta Institute can only be successful in its mission if we direct our capacities, power, and collaborations toward creating greater equity and reversing institutional racism. We regard environmental challenges as intersectional issues that reveal disparities in how we allocate resources and value communities. We envision a region where ALL communities and landscapes thrive. This has not been the case since the forced removal of Kickapoo, Kaskaskia, Potawatomi, Peoria, Wyandotte, Delaware, and many other tribes from their ancestral lands. We recognize that racial animus, segregation, and institutional inequities have shaped our region and robbed us all of our potential.

At our core, we are an organization that is defined by its people and communities accelerating change, it is written into our very name. We do not minimize the challenges inherent to creating change, and believe it is part of our mission to interrogate ugly histories and current realities, and constantly learn, test, and collaborate until a new, better way of doing things is the standard. We believe that the solutions to our most difficult equity and environmental challenges are already being articulated in the communities that are impacted, and we seek to be a strong partner in securing resources, technical assistance, and government capacity to amplify and accelerate these remedies. To that end, we commit to building and sustaining an organization that represents all communities, to creating an atmosphere where we can bring our full selves to our work, and to directing our energy, diverse perspectives, and broad capacities to the task of renewing our region.

We have formally engaged in Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work since 2016 and created an ad hoc DEI committee including our staff, board, and auxiliary board in April 2019. We approached this as a process of continuous improvement, reflection and learning with the goal of integrating DEI into our programs and operations. This process includes the following ongoing activities:

• Expand representation of BIPOCs at all levels of the organization, including senior leadership.
• Assess our performance on DEI parameters through internal surveys and review processes across stakeholder groups.
• Acknowledge and create processes to reduce implicit bias in our hiring processes.
• Collaborate more equitably with our partners by uncovering hidden power dynamics, recognizing that community partners are best positioned to lead, and working proactively with partners to determine the best role Delta can take in collaborations.
• Communicating with funders about DEI dynamics in their grantmaking.
• Utilize our communications and fundraising channels to amplify partner community organizations and groups led by BIPOCs.
• Curate resources to help build our organizational capacity around intersectional DEI concepts.
• Ensure communications tools, particularly our website, are inclusive to those with disabilities and incorporate ADA Website Compliance 2.0 Guidelines.

We at Delta are using this Statement of Commitment to DEI to sizably inform our next iteration of a new Strategic Plan. Our current Strategic Plan goes through the end of our FY22 (June 30, 2022), but we realized that our current Plan is not reflective of who we are, or who we want to be. We will share more online as more progress is made. We are committed to implementing DEI recommendations identified by the DEI Committee organization-wide, with much of the work currently being organized by Delta’s Governance & Nominating Committee of the Board. For questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us.