Diversity, Equity + Inclusion Recommendations for Mile in My Shoes
Overview
The following recommendations were produced over the course of four months of direct conversations with MiMS participants, reviews of survey data, reviews of data across three years, and an analysis of MiMS’ materials, such as training materials, the website, and more. The recommendations aim to grow and enhance equity and inclusion in the organization with two grounding concerns: a lack of visible diversity in the leadership of the organization and a question about MiMS’ accessibility to all members of the facilities they operate in.
These recommendations are flawed as they cannot account for every intricacy of MiMS’ operations nor does equity operate that way. Additionally, there is key data that is missing, especially from fallen-off or uninterested participants, members, and facility partners. Data is also complicated by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. There would still be benefits to more conversations with stakeholders over the next year or two.
Exploring these recommendations as part of a 2-3 year campaign would best set them up for success. None of these recommendations can succeed in their intended purpose without the compensated labor capacity to execute them. As such, a component of the recommendations focuses on MiMS expanding its capacity in order to grow capacity.
These recommendations absolutely can, and should, evolve based on feedback. It’s perfectly understandable if some of them end up not working out or being tweaked based on the data and feedback.
Key Themes & Findings
1. The organization is experiencing some of the natural growing pains of being a young nonprofit with the same founders and leadership as inception. This includes things like a working board with an evolving structure, a network that’s relatively the same as the people involved since inception, operating norms and culture stemming from the original team, a strong reliance on the Executive Director, and more. Moving the organization towards greater inclusion and equity will also include moving the organization towards other forms of growth, such as growth in infrastructure, fundraising, etc.
2. The organization’s budget and labor capacity restrict the ability to build out initiatives and programming necessary for growth in equity, inclusion, and access.
3. The social benefits of running are almost as critical as, if not more critical than, the personal health benefits for residents in facilities. Running can provide a stable habit and stable set of relationships for people navigating an unstable situation.
4. Choosing to run with MiMS can be a major time commitment for facility residents who have many time restrictions they are working within.
5. The organization retains predominantly white members from facilities. Some facilities may be predominantly-white, some are not.
6. The alumni program can be measured in its need and success by the support and relationships it continues to provide both mentors and former members, who seek out retaining these relationships after their initial season is complete.
7. Both mentors and members of color have noted the inherently isolating nature of a predominantly-white, predominantly-fit/athletic group of mentors who are often outside of the neighborhoods and upbringings of members..
8. Facility residents who have run with MiMS/alumni are star recruiters within the facilities but only a small handful remain that engaged with the organization as their lives move on. Existing residents are often the key pull for new members.
9. Each facility type has different populations with different needs, rules, and upcoming life steps. This makes relationships and success in the program vary by facility as well. Some facilities are less set-up for MiMS to sustain long-term relationships.
10. Across the board, there are complicated feelings about the terms “mentors,” “members,” and “alumni.”
11. There is a need for a more representative decision-making model, either through the representation on the board and staff or through a model that brings decisions to the membership. But that model cannot assume former members/alumni have the same capacity/resources as the current leadership of the organization.
12. There is an interest in growing the ability to compensate all forms of labor, a necessary step for class equity.
13. There is an assumption, based on historic trends, that mentors are middle to upper class white people with college educations and that translated into how the mentors are trained for, and experience, MiMS.
14. There is an interest in exploring what social advocacy can look like for the organization moving forward.
15. Generally, mentors who want more from MiMS are seeking more training and education.
16. Some of the facilities being operated in have practices or origins that are not always agreeable. MiMS presence in those spaces can be comforting and bring new perspectives to their residents.
17. The board and staff would benefit from growing some operating procedures and governing documents to prepare for the coming years.
18. The organization has a strong mission and its power is best displayed through real stories. Capturing that for donors, grantees, and partners will be important.
19. There is a need for broader establishment of the organization’s values, philosophies, and norms and those then need to be integrated into multiple levels of programming.
20. Members have a variety of factors impacting their lives. Those more marginalized have more compounding factors that can impact their initial involvement or capacity to stick with running.
Guiding Philosophies
1. Mile in My Shoes is exiting an infancy stage and entering adolescence as an organization. Recommendations should be grounded in that growth stage and consider how to build the organization’s capacity and sustainability for that stage and beyond.
2. An organization’s decisions should be centered in its mission, vision, and the guiding values and philosophies. If those values do not foster diversity, inclusion, or access, then there’s no going forward.
3. Diversification is a slow process that necessitates many investments, especially financial, due to the intersection of race and class/wealth/resources.
4. Mile in My Shoes cannot control the circumstances within the facilities they are operating in, including the race/gender/class dynamics of the facilities.
5. People build relationships most naturally with those they see themselves in and share commonalities with. If relationships are foundational to MiMS’ impact, then diverse mentors are necessary for recruiting/retaining diverse members.
6. Diverse recruitment will fail without the programming and operations necessary to retain diverse people.
7. All things inefficient or unsustainable disproportionately harm those already-marginalized.
8. No recommendations can be successfully implemented without the labor capacity to do so.
9. Whiteness in Minnesota is historically notorious for passivity, conflict-aversion, and resistance to relationship-building with strangers. 10. Those most-vulnerable should be the most centered in the effort to increase inclusion.
11. MiMS recognizes the humanity and commonality in people who are, broadly, treated as charity cases or nuisances. Members and mentors alike use words like “judgement-free” and “normal/real person.” All those who don’t experience these margins of society have an allyship responsibility to share that humanity with others.
12. Non-profits have a responsibility to their mission and should remain grounded in their core membership.
Long Term Recommendations (2-4 years to fully complete)
1 - Name MiMS’ Social & Organizational Values
Identify what MiMS’ mission, guiding philosophies, and social values are; integrate those clear principles into every component of the organization as well as guidance for planning the next few years; utilize those social and organizational values to orient people into the organization and to assist them in guiding themselves through MiMS’ work.
Explanation:
A question that must be resolved for the success of the rest of these recommendations is what philosophies guide the work of Mile in My Shoes? While ambiguity and flexibility must be embraced overall, clarity about the organization’s internal and external values and guiding philosophies can assist with a few things. The first is setting the tone with the MiMS community about conduct and what is considered absolutely unacceptable, what’s a learning opportunity, and what is appropriate to let go. The second is attracting the right people to the organization and keeping them engaged, especially as it relates to mentors. The third is giving the entire organization a road map for how to engage broadly with issues and advocacy surrounding incarceration, homelessness, addiction, etc. And finally, this would provide the organization with guiding clarity in strategic planning, their program growth, and their vision moving forward.
Conversations and data illuminated that there are varying interpretations about the specifics of MiMS’ mission, guiding values, and social positions. For example, the work of the Advocacy Committee—intended to engage the broader MiMS community in social advocacy around the issues impacting members—can’t guide itself in its work if it doesn’t know the specifics of MiMS social positions. Similarly, there remains a lack of clarity about what “changing perceptions” means for members and mentors.
Suggested Steps:
● Develop a process to name MiMS’ guiding values, philosophies, and the specifics of the mission, possibly as part of strategic planning. It’s suggested that all stakeholders, including members and mentors, be involved.
● This may come as a series of conversations with key people across the organization. Take those conversations and develop language like an equity statement, an updated conduct code, etc. and then distribute that language into all of MiMS core materials, including orientation materials, training materials, hiring materials, recruitment materials, etc.
○ Some values to clarify:
■ What values does MiMS aim for? Does MiMS aim to be inclusive and welcoming to all? Does MiMS aim to be a space for growth, learning, and transformation?
Social positions Mile in My Shoes espouses, such as beliefs about incarceration, homelessness, etc.
■ Does Mile in My Shoes do a criminal background check on potential employees? Can someone’s record be grounds for non-employment?
● Suggestion: “People of color, women, LGBTQIA people, and people with criminal records are strongly encouraged to apply. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify a candidate.”
■ What is the purpose of MiMS in the lives of members in homeless shelters? Members in reentry facilities? Members in other forms of facilities?
■ What are the mentors’ true guiding philosophies and values? Why are mentors there? What purpose do they serve?
■ Identify if “changing perceptions” is or is not core to MiMS’ mission and whose perceptions need to be changed/what is the perception we want? Whose perceptions need changing and to what?
■ What is MiMS’ conduct agreement and participation contract and does it fully match the desired values of the organization?
● Update or clarify MiMS’ purpose/mission/vision to match the answers to the above posed questions.
● Develop an equity, inclusion, and access commitment statement based on those values. Include this commitment in the bylaws, orientation materials for mentors and members, and have it public on the website. Develop a commitment that is based on values and the culture and experience the organization strives towards. ○ The equity commitment, the legally-required non-discrimination and sexual harrassment policy, and a broader conduct code can all be put together in the organization’s bylaws and orientation materials.
● Maintain the commitment to advocacy and encourage annual engagement of MiMS’ network in advocacy efforts, guided by the values.
● Build MiMS’ values into the conduct code and other onboarding materials, ensuring that these values are discussed as part of orientation and training of mentors, members, board members, and employees.
● Update the conduct code based on the values discussion to ensure conduct expectations match espoused values.
○ Consider a conduct code that names the organization’s values around learning, reconciling with harm, and allowing space to grow.
2 - Expand & Diversify the MiMS Network
Expand the relationships Mile in My Shoes has across the community to naturally diversify and grow the pipeline of engaged people in the organization, job applicants, donors/sponsors, and key partners and influential people. “Base-building.”
Explanation:
Mile in My Shoes cannot diversify its team without a longer term, intentional strategy to diversify who knows about MiMS and believes in the mission. A larger effort to expand the network will also reap other benefits, including: diversifying the reach of the organization’s donation requests, event engagement, mentor pipeline, job postings, and more. Diversification will not be achieved overnight but, through a series of conversations called “base-building,” MiMS can make strong moves.
Suggested Steps:
Base-building involves a series of one-on-one meetings with people who you believe are important to MiMS mission and needs. The aim of the conversation is to build a personal relationship with the other person and get to know who they are as people, what drives them, and introduce them to yourself and your organization. There is no ulterior motive, no request for a donation, nothing that isn’t natural. Your only aim is to build trust with someone who would mutually benefit from a relationship with you. You may ask if they would consent to receiving emails from you or the organization periodically.
These one-on-ones should be initiated by both staff members, board members, and engaged mentors and members.
After the one-on-one, that person should be added to a personal emailing list that you can periodically use to recruit, invite to events, or engage in other ways. Beyond base-building, Mile in My Shoes should continue to expand strategic partnerships and recruitment.
3- Clarify/Update the Skills & Traits Sought in Mentors
Identify key traits, attributes, and social values needed from a mentor or cohorts of mentors on varying teams. Actively recruit, diversify, and expand the pipeline of mentors to allow MiMS to be more selective about who enters the mentor role and what they commit themselves to.
Explanation:
As MiMS’ name gets out there, the mentor waitlist grows, and the values of the organization are further clarified, MiMS may identify key skills, traits, and values needed in mentors and afford to be choosy in the selection of them. Currently, testimony shows there would not only be a benefit in the identity-based diversification of the mentors but, additionally, having mentors who have experiences or skills in what members go through can provide helpful safety and education for both mentors and members, including the core teams. Additionally, while not all mentors will always take time to fully assess their preparedness for this opportunity, more directly addressing expectations up front when recruiting and connecting with potential mentors may filter out those who won’t be a strong fit for this experience. Updating and advertising those skills upfront will ensure experienced runners with the right skills, traits, and values seek out the organization.
Suggested Steps:
After the social and organizational values are established, update the Mentor Waitlist Signup form to set the expectations that align with those values. Publish a small mentor “position overview” on the website that names a handful of traits and experiences ideally sought.
Example: “An ideal mentor would be someone who can devote ____ time in a week for ___ months to show up to their facility and support members in their journey. Mentors should be prepared to run, or not run, depending on what the members need that day. Mentors are intended to be a stable presence and health motivator in members’ lives. Mentors from BIPOC communities; people who have personal or professional experiences with homelessness, incarceration, and addiction; people with skills in trauma-informed work strongly wanted!”
This position overview can also translate into a question on the form that helps the organization identify diverse and experienced talent. There may be value in explicitly seeking out particular needs for core teams. This can also serve as a spot to ask optional demographic questions to begin growing data.
Consider placing mentors onto teams based on specific skills and traits they have that match specific facilities’ needs and separating the mentor roles based on those facilities/teams.
4 - Develop a Targeted, Strategic Recruitment Plan to Diversify Team Build a process to actively recruit new mentors, staff, board members, and partners; prepare the organization to attract this talent and retain it.
Explanation:
Diversification is a multipronged process. Diverse talent needs to hear they can trust an organization, be actively sought out, and have good first experiences in order to stick around. A process that tackles all those needs can yield results over multiple years. MiMS mission is self-fulfilling in its attraction of talented people with some free time to sp are. That is an advantage in this journey.
Suggested Steps:
In general, a strategic recruitment plan should have the following, in chronological order:
1. An audit of the position being sought after and preparing it for a diverse talent pool.
2. A period of active, targeted recruitment of individuals and organizations. 3. A welcoming/onboarding procedure to set them up for success.
Mentors: (can also apply to Board of Directors)
● Ensure mentor position overviews are in line with the needs of the organization and the needs at the various sites/facilities.
● Ground prospective mentors in the impact of mentorship on the lives of facility residents. Ensure prospective mentors understand the fundamental impact they have in the lives of members in facilities, especially the humanization, stability, and kindness.
● Update the Mentor Waitlist Signup to include an open-ended question asking for mentors’ valuable identities, skills, values, and experiences. Examples may include:
○ MiMS is seeking mentors from communities of color, people who have personal or professional experience with ____ populations, and mentors with experience in education, social services, and trauma-informed work. To your comfort level, if any of these needs can be fulfilled by you, please share your experience.
● Recruit new groups of mentors at the same time so new mentors arrive together and can bond over that shared experience. This is called “cluster hiring.” Ensuring diverse new mentors are on teams with others like them (new and from similar communities) will ensure they’re able to build the bonds necessary for retention.
● Utilize the growing MiMS base to actively seek out mentors from key needed communities (BIPOC, body diverse, people with personal and/or professional experiences with the communities in the
facilities) and request people send the contacts of anyone they believe would be a strong mentor. Asking organizations to share MiMS information with their members/staff is an easy starting point.
● Identify organizations, spaces, and individuals of interest and directly ask them to consider being a mentor. Make the ask as present as possible, such as in person or via phone call. Offer to meet with the individual to ask them questions and be prepared to explain the resources and tools provided by MiMS and an overview of the commitment.
● Consider ending or reducing the practice of offering past mentors “first-dibs” for the new teams every season.
Staff: (can also apply to Board of Directors)
● Update the Equal Employment Opportunity clause to include MiMS values around hiring those with a criminal background.
● Evaluate the staff positions to ensure the position descriptions match the full depth of the position’s actual responsibilities and labor.
● Ensure positions in the organization are compensated for their labor if diversity is sought in that role.
● Develop a hiring process that aims to be transparent about what is needed and sought. This looks like ensuring the position description is as accurate as possible, as forthcoming about salary/benefits as possible, and has a hiring process as straightforward as possible.
● Ensure a salary range is public.
● Consider a hiring process that’s less traditional than “cover letter, resume, series of interviews.” For example, if you know what experiences/skills/traits you seek in the role, create a form that acts as an application and replaces a cover letter/resume.
● Distribute job postings, including board positions, to the base and request their assistance in distributing the position far and wide. ● If more than one hire is expected to happen in a similar timespan, hire them as close together as possible to build bonds between them over shared experience. Hiring multiple people of diverse backgrounds at the same time is called “cluster hiring.” It helps build the trusting relationships necessary to retain diverse talent.
● Utilize the growing MiMS base to actively seek out potential candidates from key needed communities and request people send the contacts of anyone they believe would be a strong mentor.
● Identify websites, social media spaces, and individuals of interest and directly ask them to consider applying. Seek out people from LinkedIn, from your network, and on social media. Offer to meet with the individual to answer their questions and provide insight.
● Ensure the onboarding of new staff is strong, with lots of support and guidance. Consider offering new hires clear points of contact for their questions, information about how they will be supported, and total clarity about “unspoken” norms: the way things are done that won’t be in a handbook.
5 - Separate & Upgrade the Programming by Facility Type
More intentionally separate the program by the type of facility being operated in with orientation of mentors and members, program goals and outcomes, education/training, and program philosophies tailored to the facility type.
Explanation:
The facilities MiMS is operating in can vary drastically in type, need, and populations served. And facility staff can be a variable in conveying MiMS’ impact. As a consequence what is needed of the mentors and members varies and MiMS’ value in those spaces can vary along with it. While some customization already happens in terms of preparation of mentors and members, further intentional separation of the programs could be valuable to maximize MiMS’ impact.
Suggested Steps:
This may look like initial conversations to really understand what MiMS’ impact in a specific facility could be, updating the mentor waitlist form to seek different needs for different teams, updating orientation materials to be more specific to the facility and its population, changing run times/schedules and programming schedules based on the facility’s schedule or the diverse needs of the residents, marketing MiMS’ value based on the facility (example: MiMS is a way to get outside of re-entry facilities), offering different trainings and spaces to mentors, core teams, and members based on their sites, and more.
One notable separation is mentors working with the first floor of Higher Ground and other shelters with people in the midst of crisis may need to be prepared to not run with their members sometimes, but simply walk or pace. Those mentors and core teams should be grounded in the importance of being a stable, kind, judgement-free presence in those residents’ lives. In the beginning, some of the facilities may benefit from visibly seeing mentors and members walk together, not just run, as this is less intimidating and more approachable, especially for people insecure about their athleticism or for whom running may appear to be a waste of precious energy and time. Mentors who want their MiMS commitment to also knock off their weekly runs are not a strong fit for Higher Ground. This may be less true for places like the VOA, where residents’ life circumstances have some more stability and MiMS’ impact can also include advancing residents’ running goals.
6 - Build the Alumni Program
While there are challenges to tackle, the Alumni Program has a lot of potential to serve multiple purposes to the organization and support additional goals such as keeping alumni engaged, moving long-term mentors away from facilities to open up spots, and more.
Explanation:
As a new program, and as a program with most of its infrastructure built during the pandemic, it’s difficult to fully assess the value and needs of the alumni program. However, the alumni program could grow to potentially serve multiple needs for the organization.
The first is to create space for non-facility-based teams, an endeavor that multiple people seem interested in but is difficult to execute. Having alumni teams separated by regions (broader boundaries across the cities and suburbs,) having a predetermined meeting location for in-person runs, and allowing any MiMS alumni—both previous members and mentors—to join in could provide that service. The second is to create space for new mentors on facility teams. If the pipeline of mentors is successfully diversified, there is going to need to be a way to place them on teams without directly asking existing mentors to leave. Transitioning certain mentors onto alumni teams will free up space at the facilities for a new cohort of mentors.
Suggested Steps:
1. Complete an evaluation of the successes and areas for growth from the existing alumni teams.
2. Consider calling them the MiMS Alumni Running Groups or some other term that creates a sense that the whole team, including former members, are all in the same boat once they transition to these alumni teams. This allows the organization to build teams within communities people are already connected to.
3. Offer slots on the alumni running groups to interested mentors and members who ran together the previous season and have a good relationship. Find ways to keep relationships intact, as that seems to be the key pull for everyone.
4. Have alumni group team leaders pre-determine a consistent meeting location that is transit accessible/on a bus line.
5. Offer alumni independent running groups as one-off opportunities accessible to past participants to start up on their own. Offer the option of alumni running groups as opportunities to alumni, mentors, and other past participants in MiMS who ask for/seek running groups outside of the facilities. This could be hands-off, if desired, so MiMS connects interested people to each other and provides tools for setting up teams, and then allows participants to do the remaining recruiting/logistics on their own.
7 - Clarify the Authority & Decision-Making of the Board & Staff Updating the board structure to clarify authority, grow processes and procedures, and identify key decision-making; bringing the decision-making directly to the membership.
Explanation:
There’s some outstanding questions about the authorities of the Board of Directors that can be clarified to answer the broader question of what decisions is MiMS leadership making that warrants input, or direct decisions, from members. Diversity on the board is important, as is the ability for those served by MiMS’ mission to participate in the decision-making process. That can best be achieved by having total clarity about the responsibilities of the board and the staff, so ways to participate can be built.
Suggested Steps:
● Gather feedback from the board and staff about their perceptions of the board’s purpose, responsibility, and role. Utilize this information to confirm what authority should lie with the board and what with the staff, keeping governance vs. management principles in mind. Especially explore major programmatic decisions, like what sites to open up at. Who has the final authority or who participates in the process, and how? Can there be more collaboration or discussion on these decisions?
● Explore what it might look like to take board and staff decisions to members and mentors. This is called “democratized decision-making.” Can members and mentors cast a popular vote for key decisions that the board and staff are making, and the board/staff abide by it? If the board and staff are making key program decisions, what structure is in place to ensure members and mentors give feedback?
● Update the bylaws to include any new information about board versus staff authority and decision-making.
● Develop a small series of board policies, a document that expands upon the bylaws with specifics and procedures as related to the board. Some things to consider adding:
○ Board member position descriptions
■ What are board members required to participate in?
■ Are there at-large board members and what are their responsibilities?
■ Do board members have fundraising targets?
○ Officer position descriptions
■ Updated to ensure officers’ labor is not excessive without pay ■ Updated to include the proposed co-chairs model
○ The conduct code and the board’s commitment to equity/inclusion values and its social values/philosophies.
○ Some basic board member onboarding and offboarding procedures ○ Some language about the board’s commitment to democratized decision-making.
○ An article that states the board policies can be amended by the board at any time and changes go into effect immediately.
8 - Build Labor Capacity
Expand the organization’s labor capacity through fundraising, reorganization, strategic hiring, and compensation.
Explanation:
Recommendations designed for the organization’s growth cannot succeed without labor capacity that can meet that growth. Current capacity, between the board, staff, and volunteer core teams, is generally maxed out. While some capacity is freed up in the off-season weeks of early winter, growth that will involve efforts across multiple years will benefit from more available hands on deck. Labor capacity that is also diverse necessitates strategic recruitment, good compensation, an enjoyable work environment, and support systems.
Suggested Steps:
1. Develop a fundraising plan that considers the individual donation potential of annual local media coverage of MiMS; shows just how directly donated dollars go to the programs; and utilizes MiMS’ base building to expand donors. MiMS could, easily, have double the budget it currently has due to its exposure in local news and relationships to running spaces/businesses.
2. Consider paid internships and fellowships to provide temporary labor support, expand the MiMS network, and diversify the team. Paid internships/fellowships are important both for class equity/access—ensuring inclusion and diversity—as well as for meeting the expectations of young people and students who increasingly reject unpaid labor expectations. Unpaid labor will attract predominantly wealthy people, more likely to be white. Paid internships and fellowships will provide access to the increasingly diverse talent pool of college students and young professionals while allowing MiMS access to additional labor only during peak need.
3. Ask alumni to recruit in the facilities and compensate alumni for recruitment efforts in the facilities. Help alumni speak to their experience in MiMS and the stories that brought them into their facilities so they can encourage new people to join, push them gently, and more.
4. Consider creative models for distributing labor across the team, freeing up capacity. Examples include:
a. Asking mentors to assist in connecting MiMS to organizations and people desirable for “base-building.”
b. Consider staffing capacity for a development/fundraising/partnerships leader. This could be a Director of Development or the suggested co-Executive Director. A co-Executive Director could take on equal labor for fundraising, building relationships/base-building, and more.
c. Shifting all board officers to co-Chairs.
d. Updating the standing board member responsibilities to include some smaller needed labor, such as asking board members to assist in base-building, having board members meet a fundraising goal, and more.
9 - Democratize Decision-Making
Bring the organization’s decision-making to the people; don’t rely on the people being at the decision-making table.
Explanation
MiMS has correctly already explored what it looks like to ensure the organization’s hierarchy does not neglect its membership, especially in relation to the disparity between who makes up the board and staff and who make up the members and facility residents. A model that brings members/alumni to the board, while right in intention, may not be sustainable as the structure of a nonprofit board is historically designed through structures exclusive to white, upper-middle class men. This results in everything from the time and length of board meetings to the actual substance of board meetings being more inaccessible to certain people and populations. While individuals may be interested in learning that board structure anyway, if the aim is to bring the voices of members into decision-making, there may be more efficient paths to accomplish that.
Suggested Steps:
● Identify a few key decisions the board and/or staff make annually and consider options for how those decisions can be brought to members, and mentors, directly.
○ Can they vote, give feedback on weekly runs, complete a survey? ● Continue to explore the at-large board member position as well as the alumni spots on the board, and if those can provide access to people with less represented experiences.
● Continue exploring the committees of the board as a model for deeper engagement with the organization’s decisions. If committees don’t yield the attendance desired, try bringing the discussions and decisions of the committees directly to members and mentors.
● Explore developing an “advisors group” with stipended/compensated member/alumni, mentor, and facility partners’ participation who can be reached out to for advice, input, and guidance on decisions without having to join the board or consistently meet. If this model doesn’t work, continue to explore what compensated member time may look like.
10 - Pilot Options to Invest Back Into the Communities Served and Operated In
Try out various options to invest into the marginalized communities primarily served by MiMS.
Explanation:
A key component of equity is putting in the work to repair historic legacies of oppression that create unfairly unequal outcomes for different groups of people. As more nonprofits consider the ethics of their work, and as MiMS thinks through the broader contexts in which its operating, trying out different ways to invest back into the marginalized communities being served by MiMS--housing insecure
folks, people exiting incarceration and with records, people in other crisis situations on the margins of society--is a great way to practice equity and find out which efforts can fit best into the capacity of the organization.
Suggested Steps:
1. Explore community-centric fundraising, a model for soliciting financial contributions that simultaneously uplifts other organizations and people. Money is not a finite resource and uplifting multiple financial asks will not take away from your own. This could look:
a. With the consent of a partner (or even the facilities whose work is ethical) share a partner’s information in your donation solicitations as another organization or individual worth giving to. This may be, for example, a link to their information on your own website, a suggestion that donors also consider donating to them, etc.
b. With the consent of members directly, post the venmo/cashapp/paypal information of resident members who need direct financial assistance on social media and other places. The most critical way to assist someone in a basic needs crisis is through direct financial giving. This is not only the data that supports policy proposals like universal basic income, but also the single most cited need identified by mutual aid networks. Giving the MiMS network the option to directly support members is high impact. This does not have to be “open season” where everyone in need is asking MiMS to share their information. This could, and maybe should, be a resource offered as part of an ongoing relationship with a member. For example, if you publish a blog about a member or if a member/alum is featured in the press, include information about how a reader can give them money (again, exclusively with a member’s consent.)
i. If members are hesitant to consent due to stigma, offering to publish a whole list of participant members’ venmos/cashapps/paypals could create some comfort.
c. Consider periodically offering members/alumni fundraising support in their own needs, such as boosting GoFundMes or other donation requests. Keep the boundaries tight so not to offer running/facilitating these donations yourselves, but boosting them. 2. Continue to build on the advocacy efforts of the organization. Especially as MiMS clarifies its social values, having a push that MiMS participants, especially staff/board and mentors, partake in social and political advocacy around issues like incarceration and homelessness is an important way to engage in “the work” of equity. An annual advocacy opportunity is also a great way to build on, and expand, strategic partnerships. Many advocacy nonprofits are in policy coalitions who, collectively, put together protests, lobbying events, and more. The Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless has their many member organizations partake in lobby days at the state Capitol.
3. Encourage team social events that are rooted in giving back to the community. This could be a park clean-up, hosting a food drive, participating in a community advocacy event, or something else.
4. Consider sponsoring, or having MiMS partake in, seasonal races that are rooted in social advocacy and giving back, such as the annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Race.
11 - Continue Developing the Education & Training Curriculum of the MiMS Community
Continuing to offer and expand educational opportunities and trainings for the MiMS community, providing the tools necessary to appropriately navigate the space and communities.
Explanation:
Mile in My Shoes has offered strong trainings, facilitated discussions, panels, and educational opportunities to people in the network, especially mentors. Developing a long-term plan for how to institute some trainings regularly, build a general roster of education opportunities, and expanding relationships to provide those opportunities will be a good step to match the growth of the organization. Opportunities like the Homelessness 101 panel, the book club, and more should stick around.
Learning opportunities free to members and mentors are also a great way to give back to the community.
Suggested Steps:
1. Keep the Homelessness 101 panel/training and institute it as an annual training for all mentors serving homeless shelters or related facilities. 2. Consider creating an FAQ on the issues, common questions, and things worth knowing for mentors.
3. Add an Incarceration/Re-Entry 101 panel/training and institute it as an annual training for all mentors serving re-entry facilities. Consider creating an FAQ on the issues, common questions, and things worth knowing for mentors.
4. Ensure education is offered if a facility is being operated in that serves a different community, such as addiction, domestic violence, etc. This may also look like ensuring the MiMS team receives education on an issue prior to determining if MiMS will open a team there.
5. Offer periodic learning spaces, such as optional panels, webinars, and trainings; these could be role-specific or for everyone in the organization. An annual advocacy event coupled with some learning could be a strong, approachable start. For example, once a year, all MiMS participants are invited to a day at the capitol with a coalition of organizations fighting the homelessness crisis. This invite includes a morning or afternoon briefing on homelessness and housing security issues in the state.
Short Term Actions (1-2 years to fully complete)
1. Shift all Board of Directors’ Officers to Co-Chairs
An easy way to de-hierarchize the officers of the board (and remove the gendered stigma around the role of the “secretary”) is to make all three officers co-chairs of the board, with responsibilities relatively evenly divided based on strengths and interests. For IRS and Minnesota 501c3 compliance purposes, you would still name someone as acting Chair and acting Treasurer in your tax reporting, bylaws, and in their position responsibilities. But in the day to day, refer to them as co-Chairs and allow them to share responsibilities evenly.
Example: There are three co-chairs of the Board of Directors. All three review financial statements, take turns taking minutes, take turns chairing meetings, and are collectively involved in board governance and leadership. In the Bylaws, it’s clearly indicated that all three officers perform the assigned duties of the Chair and Treasurer. If the Treasurer role is too specialized, the “co-chairs” can be split between what is now the Secretary and the Chair.
2. Increase Education Around, and Normalization of, Sharing Pronouns with Names
Both as a tool for establishing the morals/values of the organization immediately as well as a tool for inclusion and access, encouraging the sharing of pronouns whenever someone shares their names will ensure people, especially those with gender marginalized experiences, feel included and wanted. Refer to them simply as pronouns, not “preferred pronouns,” as they’re not a preference.
Example: “Everyone please share your name and your pronouns. In case you don’t know, pronouns like she or he or they are how you refer to someone when you’re not using their name.” “Hi, my name is Mara and my pronouns are she/her. You can address me like ‘this is Mara, she likes apples.’”
3. Implement Actions Honoring Running/Operating on Stolen Indigenous Land
Minnesota is a state founded upon land stolen primarily from the Dakhota people and this region, more broadly, has been occupied by the Oceti Sakowin for thousands of years, along with the Anishinaabe people (Ojibwe.) Minnesota was illegally and dishonestly settled upon. Every day we run on
these lands, we run on a legacy of genocide, displacement, and colonial violence. Choosing to acknowledge that legacy is an opportunity to memorialize and recognize history and simultaneously invite us to engage in decolonization and antiracist behavior. A draft of this acknowledgement was created by the Diversity committee.
A strong action associated with a land acknowledgement is the ask that people leave the land better than they found it and refrain from waste. This looks like a garbage clean up, recycling, reducing food waste, using sustainable materials, and more.
4. Establish Norm-Setting & Mutual Agreements Among Teams
At the commencement of every cycle and season, core teams would benefit from an internal conversation to set some operating norms, establish shared values, and identify their needs. These conversations seem to have existed but may need to be re-centered in 2021, as the community comes out of the pandemic. It could be helpful to have people talk about what kind of situations they need active intervention or support in so teams are prepared to be allies to each other. This conversation should then be extended to the whole team as early on as possible to ensure each team has some team agreements, providing mentors and members with a tool for managing disagreements, conduct issues, and conflicts. With more diverse cohorts, it will be important for teams to have explicit conversations about allyship and their willingness to step in and support someone when they’re confronted with a situation that can be discriminatory or problematic. This also ensures that a more diverse cohort of mentors and members knows exactly who to go to for support and they know they have support from their team if they are faced with a difficult situation.
5. Input MiMS’ Values Around Equity/Inclusion Into Team Responsibilities & Requirements
Once MiMS is able to develop some guiding language around its equity/inclusion values, and broader guiding values and philosophies, implementing the expectation that people (staff, board members, mentors, members, etc.,) uphold these values provides an avenue for
learning/training when someone joins MiMS, ensures tough conversations about things that contradict those values can happen with a clear documented commitment to reference back to, and attracts people committed to those values to the organization.
6. Update the Downtown Runaround, and other MiMS-Sponsored Events, Sign Ups
See: discussion with the Equity/Inclusion committee. The DRA sign up can be updated to allow people to opt-in to specific competition categories to prevent the expectation that prizes are based on gender. Allowing people to click for which categories they want to compete in will allow non-binary people to partake without being lumped into a prize category. Categories could be based on height, age, experience level, and more.
7. Encourage More Spaces for Mentors & Members to Connect, Debrief, & Learn.
Testimony and survey information showed a need for mentors, especially, to connect outside of spaces with the members to swap notes, debrief, and connect over their experiences with the ability to be frank. Members may also benefit from member-only spaces to connect, debrief, and share information, especially as members have the highest level of trust with other members than anyone else, including facility staff. Creating more designated space for people within MiMS to connect based on their role in the organization will provide opportunities for comradery, the ability to debrief and swap notes about important MiMS experiences, and provide core teams and staff an opportunity to informally direct people to resources and guidance as needed. This would be particularly useful for mentors, members, core team leaders, and staff/board.
This can also look like connecting participants to other organizations and spaces that would be valuable to them, including community running groups, external training and dialogues, etc.
8. Swap Data with Facilities as Possible
Potentially as part of the annual conversation with facilities, or as part of the MOUs, build in some requests for key information about the facilities, including residents’ demographic information, the facilities’ schedules and requirements of their residents, the facility’s commitment to including MiMS in the materials new residents receive/inclusion of MiMS in any orientations or advertising of opportunities, and what form of recruitment presence MiMS is allowed to have.
One Offs
Ideas to keep in the books for possible exploration.
● Co-Executive Directors as a model for sharing major responsibilities, building some staff capacity, bringing in someone with more comfort in direct fundraising asks, preparing the organization for more shared workload, etc.
● Explore identity-based spaces & events, such as a social event or opportunity for women, people of color, LGBTQIA folks, etc. ● Have some financial transparency on the website so donors, especially small donors, can see that program costs are directly supported by donations.
● Explore keeping the Downtown Runaround free to Black and Indigenous runners, and runners exiting incarceration and homelessness. Consider if this needs to be expanded as the facilities extend beyond homelessness and re-entry.