Get to know the people and the purpose behind EWB-USA's DEI initiatives.

Get to know the people and the purpose behind EWB-USA’s DEI initiatives.

We asked the members of our DEI committee to share a few thoughts with us about the work they do and the responsibility of the organization to promote DEI in the workplace.

What does Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mean and why is it important for an organization to have a policy or committee?

Defining diversity, equity, and inclusion will look different for each of us. Here’s our take on defining these words: Diversity is a wide array of lived experiences. Equity is that all people have access. Inclusion is when people in diverse groups feel heard, valued, and can show up as their full, authentic selves.

How does DEI directly correlate to nonprofit work in general, and the mission of EWB-USA specifically?

DEI should have a place in every workplace as it benefits all stakeholders and supports a healthy workplace culture. Specifically, with non-profit work, we often have missions of “helping” people. While that word can be problematic and perpetuate power dynamics, this type of work requires awareness and accountability of how we partner with underserved communities.

As for EWB-USA’s mission, we work towards engineering for a better world with projects in 36 countries and throughout the USA. In order to continue doing good work that has benefited over a million people in the last 20 years we must also strive to educate ourselves on the lived realities of people that may differ from our own. Cultural competency is important but also just the tip of the iceberg. As an organization, we must work to embed DEI initiatives into every aspect of our work in order to counteract the systems of oppression that exist in the USA. While DEI initiatives have existed at EWB-USA for several years, our passion and momentum are at an all-time high thanks to a group of passionate staff members and volunteers as well as leadership team support. Some of our goals include creating policies, ongoing DEI training, and actions that will increase staff and volunteer awareness, and retention, and positively impact the communities we partner with.

How do we create a culture of belonging?

We begin by educating ourselves on best practices to create and curate a culture of belonging. Feeling as though you belong is an individual experience so we need to capture a baseline of where we are now and continue to monitor and adjust our practices as needed. Currently, EWB-USA staff complete a monthly pulse survey to gauge staff engagement and fulfillment.

We asked Katie Pribyl, DEI Committee Lead and EWB-USA’s Volunteer Engagement Manager, what drives her personally to promote DEI in the workplace and within the organization.

Anti-Oppression work is a personal and professional passion of mine. In 2012, I began working at Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence (SPAN)- They are an amazing Boulder County non-profit that serves survivors of Domestic Violence with an Anti-Oppression framework. It was with that organization that I began my journey of understanding and embracing the importance of DEI initiatives. Systemic inequity is all around us and I truly believe that it is my responsibility to work toward dismantling systems of oppression, both personally and professionally. Through listening, self-education, awareness of my identities (where I hold privilege and where I don’t), and constant/continuing self-reflection, I strive to show up as my best self in the world filled with challenges and opportunities around access and obstacles that each of us faces from institutional oppression to interpersonal oppression.