Like all of you, the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce team has been processing the horrific murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor and other acts of well-publicized racially biased actions.
This has happened in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic which is disproportionately killing African Americans. The acts are unforgivable, as are the public health conditions that have led to so many African Americans dying. These are the latest examples in a 400-year saga of how African Americans have been treated inhumanely by whites in the United States. Black Lives Matter.
We see the acute and chronic pain being felt by our African American colleagues and friends as a result, as well as the pain being felt by people of color in communities in which we work across the country. These are highly visible examples of burdens they live with every day, not just when it makes the headlines.
As a white CEO, I recognize that I am a beneficiary of white privilege that has contributed to our collective failure to dismantle a culture and set of policies, practices and institutions that have left people of color marginalized on many fronts: safety, housing, income, and more. I am angry that we haven’t made more progress to date. I am personally committed to listening to people of color and to contribute to systems changes that tackle long unresolved causes of those disadvantages.
During the past several months, CSW’s board and staff have been rethinking who we are and what contribution we seek to make through our work. During the next two months, we’ll be finalizing our strategy and sharing it broadly. Here are a few points I can share now:
- We’ve partnered with Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW) to engage in racial, equity and inclusion (REI) learning and knowledge building. We have further to go and will stay the course on our journey to embed REI in our culture and operations, and as the lens through which we view our work in communities.
- The biggest set of issues within workforce development center on equity, particularly for people of color – and CSW will center our work on strategies that increase equity.
- Current workforce development policy and practice contribute to the challenges more than they solve them. CSW will join colleagues with a similar viewpoint to focus our work on transforming and building new structures, systems and policies that will increase the economic mobility, income and wealth of people of color.
At some point, the tragic deaths we are collectively mourning will leave the evening news. CSW understands that doesn’t mean the underlying issues have been solved. We commit to staying focused on increasing racial equity every day as we move forward and collaborate with others who share that commitment.
Larry A. Good
President & CEO
Corporation for a Skilled Workforce
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