by Anthony Hernandez, Board member
Willy Street Co-op continues to work with Step Up: Equity Matters, a consulting firm hired to take on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) opportunities for our co-op. Currently, I am the Board representative on the team of the Willy Street Co-op leaders meeting with Step Up bi-weekly. The team of Co-op leaders meeting with Step Up includes Alysa Hartman, Director of People & Culture, Anya Firszt, General Manager, Paige Wickline, Director of Finance, Brendon Smith, Marketing & Communications Director, and Elizabeth Muñoz, Director of Product. Amy Kesling, Co-founder of Step Up, serves as the lead consultant. The collection of Willy Street Co-op stakeholders involved in this work represents diverse experiences and perspectives from throughout the organization that enrich and inform our journey to realizing greater diversity, inclusion, and equity at Willy Street Co-op.
DEI is Hard Work
Willy Street Co-op General Manager Anya Firszt has given a great overview of the important DEI work in the recent Message from the General Manager. I will echo that the partnership with Step Up marks an important strategic development in the history of our work at Willy Street Co-op. While the aims of this important work are multidimensional, they have called for an evolving conceptual framework that moves the progress of challenging DEI work forward while also staying anchored with our longstanding cooperative principles and practices.
In concert with the Step Up team, a comprehensive DEI plan has been developed to examine and better understand the culture of our organization including:
- Working to create policy and regulations that address equity and mediate systemic racism.
- Assessing DEI matters around hiring, retention of employees, and other important aspects of our operations.
Evaluative efforts have spanned the many orbits of the organization including employees to supply chain partnerships, and to Owners and customers to community partners.
To maintain transparency around this good work, an important feedback loop has been established to measure the progress of this undertaking. Importantly, a dashboard that reports on a variety of important metrics related to DEI has been shared with the Willy Street Co-op community.
DEI is “Heart Work”
I have suggested that we are taking on DEI efforts in a systematic and professional way at Willy Street Co-op. However, it is important to underscore that DEI work has human dimensions to it. Many of us have commitments and values that make this work feel so very necessary. We understand, for instance, that all people deserve to be respected, welcomed, and seen. In working towards greater DEI at Willy Street Co-op, we are taking on societal ills like racism, sexism, abelism, sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, and other forms of injustice.
Working towards greater diversity enriches our organizational culture and workplaces while helping us avoid the costly pitfalls of exclusion. When we strive for equity, we are living out a commitment for greater fairness and justice. Creating a culture that is inclusive means that more people will feel comfortable and confident to be a part of the Willy Street Co-op community.
Willy Street Co-op has a long record of prioritizing important issues that impact the community. However, many of our successes over the years were not easily won. They required dedication, hard work, and a community effort. We at Willy Street Co-op are doing this work for its transformational—not transactional—impact. We engage in this “heart work” because we have hope and a vision for a better society.