Welcome to the 21-Day Equity Challenge
Welcome to the 21-Day Equity Challenge! We are delighted to join with you for our collective community journey toward social justice for these 21 days and beyond.
United Way for Southeastern Michigan launched our first Equity Challenge in 2021. More than 5,000 community members joined us in our commitment to deconstructing systemic racism while advancing diversity, equity and inclusion for all. We all came together to learn, engage, reflect, celebrate and put action behind our learning to lead to a more equitable community.
As you join us for the 2022 challenge, we hope you bring a sense of excitement and feel encouraged to use this special time of community learning and growth to further your own equity journey. Our entire United Way team is humbled to share this space with each of you.
So, what can you expect? Over the next 21 days, we will examine topical issues related to systemic racism, inequity and injustice. Each day, you will receive an introduction to a topic along with a few challenge options, like reading an article, watching a video, or reviewing infographics. We encourage you to set aside at least 15 minutes each day to dig into the resources and reflect on what you have learned using the reflection questions included in that day’s email.
If you joined us in 2021, you’ll find that we’ve provided more history and context this year, based on your feedback. We hope that you’ll devote time to discovering something new every day during our 2022 event — challenging biases or learning about a topic that is new to you.
We will host weekly roundtables on Fridays where folks can engage in a facilitated discussion with other challenge participants. It is our hope that through enriching dialogue, we can apply our learning and engagement to our communities to facilitate lasting and sustainable change.
This pre-challenge email is designed to help you develop a better understanding of United Way’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work, review foundational materials like common DEI terms and to begin stretching your capacity to learn and reflect. Equity is a muscle that we must all work to build. We encourage you to review the materials and reflection questions before the challenge starts. We look forward to embarking on this journey with you and hope to see you at the kickoff event. Together, we can Stand United for Justice, Unity, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE
Review
- Check out the 21-Day Equity Challenge Kickoff video from 2021 (40 minutes).
- Engage with the entire catalog of 2021 challenge emails on our website.
Read
- Did you know United Way launched a Racial Equity Fund? This fund endeavors to provide flexible, unrestricted and general operating grants directly for organizations with Black, Indigenous and people of color in executive leadership.
- Learn about the Racial Equity Fund Recipients
- Learn about United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. (2 minutes).
- Check out the Equity Challenge Shared Definitions As you look through the definitions, take note of which terms are new to you and which ones you need to learn more about. Consider saving the list to use as a helpful reference throughout the challenge (4 minutes).
Engage
- Join United Way as we kick off the Equity Challenge at noon on Friday! The kickoff will give an overview of the challenge and include special guests and performances, including the return of the amazing Detroit Youth Choir!
- Initiate a conversation about the Equity Challenge with a friend, family member or colleague. Discuss the reflection questions or something you learned from today’s terms list. Encourage others to sign up at UnitedWaySEM.org/EquityChallenge!
Reflect And Share
- Why are you taking part in the Equity Challenge? If you took part in the challenge or one like it before, what are you hoping to gain from this challenge? What brings you back to community-centered educational equity opportunities?
- How are you feeling as you begin the Equity Challenge?
- What do you hope to learn over the course of the Equity Challenge?
- How will you keep yourself accountable to finish the Equity Challenge?
- What do you anticipate doing after the challenge to influence your circle of family/friends/colleagues to center equity?
TALK TO YOUR SOCIAL CIRCLE.
Start the conversation. Send the tweet. Share your story. Make the Facebook post. Sharing what you learn and experience with your family, friends, and co-workers is the first step toward allyship.
