Vermont Youth Conservation Corps
In working towards environmental justice in Vermont it is important to look at the historical context of who has led the environmental and conservation movement, who has benefitted, and who has been and continues to be harmed. The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps provides land conservation and organic farming work, education, and community building to young people that addresses climate change, food insecurity, and improving water quality, forest health, and recreational access to public lands. To unpack their role serving the environmental justice movement, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps board and staff worked with The Creative Discourse Group throughout 2021 to understand impacts of racism, power, privilege, and equity in the nonprofit organization.
The Creative Discourse Group Associates Dr. Nadia DuBose, Kesha Ram Hinsdale, and Susan McCormack initially began the scope of work with an emphasis on external audiences. An organization-wide data collection process informed an equity audit that identified cultural and structural practices, norms, and challenges that contribute to inequity within the organization. The audit revealed economic and cultural barriers to becoming an employee or Corps Member of VYCC, as well as lack of alignment between the staff and board of directors, which is common in many nonprofit organizations working to unpack cultural and structural inequities. The staff were at a more evolved stage of understanding equity issues from the board. This contributed to a culture of separation which prompted Associates to pivot towards an internal focus in order for the organization to begin to make progress towards addressing the equity audit recommendations.
A series of workshops were designed and facilitated to create space for staff and board to learn together and be in conversation about how white supremacy culture shows up and impacts the organization. Outcomes included the creation of a deeper understanding of the difference in dominant identities and power dynamics between the board, staff, and communities in which VYCC works. During the equity summit, TCDG led the board and staff through a series of recommendations from the equity audit that include shifting retention and recruitment processes, improving educational opportunities, making changes to internal culture and norms, addressing housing needs and compensation, and building external partnerships with reciprocity in the relationships. During this time, the organization also evolved organizational leadership into a co-director model. This shift is a big step toward deconstructing power hierarchy among a multiracial, multi gender leadership team.
The Creative Discourse Group routinely experiences very similar organizational challenges by the very nature of how the nonprofit industrial complex is designed with leadership roles not being filled by the people who fully understand and are served by the organization. Our Associates learn from each experience navigating systemic inequities and how these inequities influence organizational culture and structure. We continue to learn how to best work with executive directors and leadership teams to understand the relationships and dynamics and to find common ground so clients can move forward.
“Our work with The Creative Discourse Group helped our team to look more closely at our organization using a series of conversations, workshops, breakout groups, and interviews. Nadia and Sue brought a clear plan to VYCC and were flexible in working together to modify the approach to fit the needs of our staff and board. The most powerful aspect of our work together was the way in which they engaged all staff and board members with several facilitation techniques to bring multiple perspectives together to highlight key priority areas of focus in our equity and inclusion approaches.”
- Leah Mital, Executive Director
