Resources
We believe that resources should be open-access and easy to navigate, so we have curated a working archive of some of our favorite readings, activities, media and tips & tools. As we learn about and gather more resources, we will upload them here. Click on the type of resource below (activities, media, readings, tips & tools), then filter by subject on the left.
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This document is a resource for groups holding large gatherings who hope to make them more inclusive. It offers numerous considerations to make the event inclusive for the attendees regardless of race, ability, gender, class, stage of career, religious beliefs and more. For more see attached document.
This is a Zine put together that can be used as a tool to begin the work of changing and decolonizing the field of environmental education. The Zine shares personal experiences of POC and Indigenous environmental educators and activists, provides links to numerous articles and resources and offers tools on how to call for systemic environmental justice. For more read here.
This resource from Equity Matters provides a framework for how to create a equitable community norms in a meeting space. They argue that standard “safe space” norms for meeting spaces end up maintaining existing norms making white participants too comfortable, rather than challenging them to create an equitable environment. For more read here.
This report, compiled by the consulting group J.E.D.I. Heart, explores how funders and organizations can contribute to and more effectively engage in DEI efforts within the environmental movement. The report draws on research conducted with funders, DEI point people and staff of color at environmental organizations to analyze the limitations of ongoing DEI work and provide concrete suggestions for how to improve. Their findings suggest that environmental organizations view the act of beginning DEI efforts as a success in itself, rather than critically exploring the effectiveness of the work. For more read here.
This article provides an introduction to a curriculum on public land in the United States created by The Wilderness Society and The Avarna Group. The curriculum teaches a holistic view of the history of public lands, which includes the displacement of Indigenous people and exclusionary conservation practices. For more read here.
This is a resource designed for journalists that covers offers suggestions around the use of over 200 words and terms used to describe people living with different types disabilities. This resource is also available to Spanish. For more read here.
This is a tool put together by Race Forward, a racial justice advocacy organization, for the field of Workplace Development. It offers a toolkit to assess organizational approaches to racial equity on a number of levels and resources for how to improve racial equity within the organization. For more read here
This is a brief guide for Resource Generation members and other folks with access to land to support in education and resource sharing around land reparations. This is a great guide for conservation organizations, agencies, and land trusts interested in learning about land repatriation. For more click here.
Chicago Beyond created this guidebook to help shift the power dynamic and the way community organizations, researchers, and funders uncover knowledge together. It is an equity-based approach to research that offers one way in which we can restore communities as authors and owners. It is based on the steps and missteps of Chicago Beyond’s own experience funding community organizations and research, and the courageous and patient efforts of our partners, the youth they serve, and others with whom we have learned. Visit the web page here.
Deepa Iyer demonstrates the ecosystem of social change, i.e. how we all show up in different yet essential ways to make positive social change and provides guiding questions for us as individuals and organizations to identify our role in this collective work. See her Medium post here.
This chart, created by Tobin Miller Shearer, provides a context for how to respond to questions often asked by white liberal communities regarding system-wide white supremacy: http://tobinmillershearer.blogspot.com/2017/11/charting-responses-to-white-supremacy.html
Vu Le, of Nonprofit AF, addresses the reality of anti-Blackness in non-Black communities of color and why dismantling it is necessary for true racial justice: https://nonprofitaf.com/2019/03/%EF%BB%BFpeople-of-color-we-need-to-address-our-own-anti-blackness-and-how-we-may-be-perpetuating-injustice/?fbclid=IwAR0UUawsE07SXcIBR3x8CdP9ebde111UE38grLxffYyuMaEKaaLJi1KqAMY
This blog series by Justice Funders examines problematic aspects of philanthropy and discusses practices to better serve movements we support: http://justicefunders.org/category/breaking-bad-philanthropic-habits/
Territorial acknowledgments have become fairly common in urban, progressive spaces in Canada. This article is about fully recognizing Indigenous homelands and is from the blog âpihtawikosisân.com – Law, language, life: A Plains Cree speaking Metis woman in Montreal.
https://apihtawikosisan.com/2016/09/beyond-territorial-acknowledgments/
From the website: “Created in partnership with Native allies and organizations, the Guide offers context about the practice of acknowledgment, gives step-by-step instructions for how to begin wherever you are, and provides tips for moving beyond acknowledgment into action.” Visit the US Department of Arts and Culture’s website to download the guide and take steps towards equitable reconciliation.
From the website: “Bias interrupters are tweaks to basic business systems (hiring, performance evaluations, assignments, promotions, and compensation) that interrupt implicit bias in the workplace, often without ever talking about bias. We offer menus of bias interrupters that organizations can implement into their business systems, as well as steps that individuals can take to help level the playing field in their workplace.” Check out the toolkits here.
This toolkit, developed by Learning for Action, is useful for any environmental, outdoor, or place-based education organization seeking to evaluate its programs and build tools to measure impact. Though the toolkit doesn’t have a DEI lens, coupled with DEI practices such as our 3R framework for building culturally relevant, responsible, and responsive curriculum, this toolkit can really support showing positive impacts of DEI work in program/curriculum design.
This website has multiple toolkits, codeveloped by the Advancement Project and Healthy City, on topics such as Community Research, Participatory Asset Mapping, and a Short Guide to CBPAR.
Drafted in 1991, the Principles of Environmental Justice establish guidance for all what environmental justice truly means. Read the preamble and principles here.
Drafted in 1996 during a meeting hosted by Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ), Jemez, New Mexico, Dec. 1996, the Jemez Principles provide 6 guiding principles for democratic organizing. Read more here.
18 JanToolkit on Implementing the President’s Memo on Diversity & Inclusion in Public Lands & Waters
We built this toolkit to help you implement the Presidential Memorandum issued on January 12th, 2017. The memo is available online here. The toolkit is attached.
For those looking for a toolkit or checklist on indigenous appropriation, this guide published by Creative Commons will be useful. This is particularly useful for camps and outdoor education organizations who have historically or contemporarily utilized indigenous culture, iconography, rituals, costumes, and other cultural resources.
This is one of many comprehensive toolkits that lays out concrete actions white folks can take in the fight for racial justice. We like it because it makes a great distinction between actor, ally, and accomplice, which is increasingly important in an era where the word “ally” seems to be overused and diluted. It also has 12 categories that folks can focus on in their journey from actor to ally to accomplice. Easy to navigate and very useful. Read more here.
In its most recent report (October 2016), Green 2.0 researches executive search firms and their approach to supporting the green sector with hiring. The upshot is that search firms—upon whom big green organizations are increasingly relying to fill leadership positions—have neither valued nor integrated diversity into their hiring priorities. Though this study is on search firms, the full report and the checklist contain some useful recruiting and hiring tips for all organizations in the conservation and environmental sector. Read more here.
The Green Leadership Trust is a network of people of color and indigenous people who serve on environmental boards. We work to build the environmental movement’s power by diversifying its leadership through promotion of best practices and other resources and by driving the leadership pipeline. In December of 2014, the Green Leadership Trust launched the “Board-Led Best Practices on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.” Find their resources here.
The folks over at Raising Race Conscious Children put together a list of 100 examples of how to engage children in conversation around racial justice (and some ideas around sex and gender). A great resource for parents as well as educators. Read more here.
john a. powell discusses the role of implicit bias in philanthropy and grant-making, and how implicit bias can negatively impact the equity efforts behind philanthropy. Read more here.
Chandra Smith, Marcelo Bonta, and Tony DeFalco compiled a comprehensive report on the conservation movement in respect to diversity and inclusion. They provide an overview of the challenges, suggest best practices, and provide case studies for successful efforts. Read here.
The people at the Icarus Project put together this mapping tool for anyone to map out how oppression impacts their health.
In the words of the authors, “Mad Maps are documents that we create for ourselves as reminders of our goals, what is important to us, our personal signs of struggle, and our strategies for self-determined well-being.”
You an access the book for free here or, please consider, paying $8 for this resource here.
CivilSchools is another organization we are really excited about; they offer comprehensive bullying prevention curriculum through the lens of anti-oppression work. You can get a free toolkit from them here and purchase the rest of the curriculum, if you’re so inclined. Access here.
The National Association of Diversity Officers in High Education has created this useful guide that covers everything from the need for a Chief Diversity Officer position to the scope of that person’s responsibilities and areas of competency. Though geared toward institutions of higher education, this guide is useful for any organization seeking to hire a Chief Diversity Officer. Read more here.
Test your own hidden bias with this free online test sponsored by Harvard University and taken by millions of people in the past 15 years. The Implicit Association Test is a time-tested method for testing hidden bias. Enter with an open mind. Access here.
In a case study of outdoor adventure athletes, this dissertation finds that women athletes navigate fear, lack of confidence, and gender relations issues using social support, resiliency strategies, and focusing on their unwavering passion for the outdoors. If you don’t want to read the entire 200+ pages, focus on the takeaways. The author recommends outdoor programs focus on specific skill-building among women participants surrounding confidence, self-awareness, and fear/risk management, providing social networking opportunities for women with like-minded colleagues, providing more exposure to the outdoors beyond just technical skill building, and to consider single-gender environments (which can be more supportive for some women).
Read here.
A growing body of research shows that women are less “confident” than men: they are less likely to apply for jobs for which they are qualified, they are less likely to negotiate salaries, and they are less likely to seek promotions (among other things). The article concludes with some recommendations to close what the authors have coined “the confidence gap.”
Read here.
These “best practices” were developed by the Consortium of Higher Education’s Trans* Policy Working Group, in consultation with various relevant national student affairs associations, to assist colleges and universities in providing services and support to trans* students. Though they are aimed at institutions of higher education, the records and housing policies are a particularly useful guideline for experiential education institutions.