Navigating the Road toward Equity in Your Organization (RECORDED)

There are many approaches to raising diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and justice within your organization. As The Community Foundation launches dedicated Consultant Support Program funding for your work in DE&I, a panel of local consultants will share their thoughts and help you frame the questions you need to answer within your organization to find the best pathway toward equity. The panel will also help you determine the style of the consultant that would best help you on your journey.

Moderator: Valerie Knight-DiGangi, Program Officer, Valley Community Foundation
Panelists (bios below): Abby Anderson, The Justice Walk; Jenora Ledbetter, The Self Care Network; Denise Manning Keyes, Ubuntu Storytellers

Questions? Please contact Stephanie Chung.

About the Panelists

Abby supports nonprofit leaders at all levels who want to reckon with toxic whiteness and evolve their policies and practices towards creating a truly equitable organizational culture. Using primarily 1:1 coaching, Abby meets individuals and organizations where they are and co-creates goals for their time together. Leadership is hard; equity work is hard. Both are easier when we have a trusted sounding board, supporter, and accountability partner. Abby started The Justice Walk in 2021 after she led a statewide nonprofit focused on criminal legal reform for over a decade. As an executive director, Abby experienced the disappointment of realizing she and her organization were acting "on behalf of" rather than "alongside" directly impacted people. Abby addressed that failure head-on, working with the team to co-create a transformed youth/adult partnership that centers directly impacted people and creates opportunities for their leadership and employment. By early 2021, staff members were primarily people of color and those directly impacted. Their inherent leadership abilities and skill sets made it clear that it was time for Abby to step aside. She now uses her personal and professional growth experiences - they happen together - to walk with white people who need a peer-to-peer viewpoint on the challenges of undoing whiteness and people of color who appreciate navigating leadership with a coach who approaches the work through a racial equity lens.

Jenora created The Self Care Network with the vision and drive to improve businesses and organizations focused on developing their leadership and diversity skills with experience and integrity. With a Master’s in Child Advocacy and Policy and Bachelor’s in psychology, Jenora is a Career and Workforce Inclusion Strategist with 11 years of experience enabling organizations and individuals to learn and grow to their fullest potential by recognizing representation gaps in their workforce and identifying fragmented leadership. Certified as an Organizational Goal Success Coach, Jenora has taught courses on Organizational Behavior, Leadership Management, Cross-Diversity & Inclusion, and Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity. She specializes in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Leadership Team Development, and Executive Coaching. Her passion is creating environments where individuals, teams and organizations can transform and break through to unparalleled performance. Through experiential coaching and training models, Jenora facilitates the individual awareness and skill development necessary for effective leadership in today’s diverse world. Jenora’s passion is supporting people in marginalized groups find their true voices and achieve greater balance, fulfillment and effectiveness in their lives and work. In her work with leaders, Jenora authentically shares her personal challenges of navigating the corporate world while holding onto her authentic leadership style as a Woman of Color.

Denise Manning Keyes, is a writer, speaker and facilitator in the field of social justice, diversity and inclusion and dismantling racism. In 1997 she founded DreamCatchers, a Training and Consulting Firm and with her nationally recognized team, provided workplace training for corporate, nonprofit, academic, civic, community, healthcare, judicial and law enforcement environments. More than a decade ago Ms. Keyes took a course at Southern Connecticut State University with Donald Davis, Master Storyteller. She began telling stories publicly in 2019. Immediately, she saw the fit between storytelling and her method of leading workshops. As cries for social justice, racial equity and examination of traditionally held practices grew louder, Denise was moved to blend her long -time commitment to social justice with her new found passion for storytelling. A Connecticut native, many of her stories stem from her experience of being a multi -generational African American New Englander. Denise believes that sharing and listening to the stories of others has the capacity to normalize the inevitable challenges of life and deepen understanding of others. Currently she serves as a Director on the Board for Connecticut Storytelling Center. She believes as she paraphrases here . . . “In order to serve the people, you have to respect the people; in order to respect the people, you have to know the people; in order to know the people, you have to be open to the discomfort of learning their stories, ” and she adds “as well as your own.”