Our collaborative took the time to collectively craft shared definitions of the key concepts we use in our work together.
Language is always evolving and we are always learning, so these are working definitions that change over time.
Community Engagement
- We believe community engagement is both a tool and a philosophy
- Community engagement is essential for creating healthier, strong, equitable, just communities and transformative change
- We believe about community:
- Everyone has the capacity to contribute and be a leader
- Those directly impacted have the solutions
- People have authorship over their lives, are the experts on their own experience
- Authentic community engagement requires:
- Centering relationships
- Long-term relationships
- Co-creation
- Multiple voices and perspectives
- Trust
- Reciprocity
- Building shared power
- Culture, spirituality, healing, history and identity
Racial Equity
- When life outcomes can no longer be predicted by race
- Achieving this requires those with power and privilege to follow the lead of those most impacted through:
- Self-determination and full participation of those most impacted by structural inequities
- Disciplined attention to actively building shared power and equitable opportunities and outcomes for all
- Building a world that works for everyone
Structural Racism
- The historical, cultural, systemic and interpersonal privileging of white people at the expense of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
- Structural racism has had a cumulative, pervasive and harmful impact on BIPOC communities.
- All racial inequities emerge from structural racism, e.g., health inequities, educational inequities, income inequities.
- Anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity are the blueprints for all forms of structural racism in the United States.
System
Recognizing that there are many kinds of systems, this definition focuses on human-centered systems:
- An often-unseen way of organizing how life operates. A system is made up of interdependent people, or groups of people, working to accomplish a goal by following a set of rules, behaviors and beliefs. Systems have the ability to affect actions or shift things, they often organize resources to make or block change.
When asked how to describe a system to a child, these are some of the ways people described human-centered systems:
- A system is a like a family. There are different people that make up the family, but they work together too and if one person does something, it might affect the other people in the family.
- Imagine your body as a system: you have all kinds of different parts working together for one job. If each part isn’t working properly, then the system isn’t well and you get sick or maybe cry. When all parts are cared for, you feel good and are full of energy and laughter!
Equitable Systems Change
Systems change occurs within an ecosystem of community centered organizations that are at a level of readiness to create fundamental, enduring change in policies, processes and relationships and to dismantling power structures – it cannot occur in isolation.
Patterns
Patterns are observable characteristics, actions or behaviors that repeat in a predictable way in order to serve a purpose. Often patterns serve as a guide, influence design and are arranged according to rules.