Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work at Prouty

By Chloe Learey, Executive Director

We continue to focus on embedding equity, social justice and diversity practices into our everyday work and conversations. These are small actions right now, such as having group discussions during staff meeting where we reflect on questions like “When was the first time you became aware of race?” The goal is to create brave spaces where we can become more practiced at talking about topics like race, knowing we may not always say the ‘right’ thing, and knowing that, if we don’t try, we will not have a chance to make things better.

We are excited about an upcoming project to share children’s books that explore race in a variety of ways, from celebration to representation to inclusion to education. There is now a display in the lobby that kids, families, and staff can access. This was put together by our Prouty Tackling White Supremacy (PTWS) group, which includes me, Sueño LeBlond, Mary Coogan, Honor Woodrow and Willie Gussin. We currently meet every 2 weeks with the goal of identifying ways we can continue to keep issues of diversity, equity and inclusion present and relevant at Prouty.

We do this work grounded in one of the core values of Winston Prouty, inclusion:

We believe children, families and staff benefit from participating in an environment where everyone feels they belong, where every effort is made to accommodate differences and individual needs, and where everyone’s uniqueness is celebrated.

We strive to live this value in all aspects of what we do and feel strongly that it is foundational to a thriving community. We will not always get it right, and that is part of the journey, too. We welcome feedback and ideas! Please feel free to be in touch.

Resources

Talking with Young Children (0-5) about Race

Association to Library Services to Children