These Times Call For Us To Be Courageous
by Shereá Burnett, Executive Director, Partners Ending Homelessness
In the changing environment around the language of DEI, we are trying to remain informed without becoming overwhelmed. Starting out, there was a lot of conversation around what the problematic buzzwords are, and the initial lists were astronomical. It was the early days of this administration, and chaos was at an all-time high. I had to decide whether to take action right away or wait it out and see what happened. I started trying to determine the words that were actually an issue, and figured out that there were some surface level changes we could make by taking the buzz words off our website without changing the core of who we are. But when I saw another list that included the word advocate, that blew my mind. Our tag line is Connect.Support.Advocate and I had to consider the impact of changing it. Are we changing just the words or are we changing the work that we do? I made the decision to keep the tag line.
There have been more than 100 executive actions and more than 200 legal actions challenging them. We’re trying to stay just even enough that it doesn’t affect our funding. So much is dealing with these moving goalposts. We’re expected to lead and communicate these concepts, but so much of it doesn’t speak to who we are and the work we’ve chosen to do. And it’s difficult to explain to staff because it’s not who they and what they’ve chosen to do either. For some of my folks this is their first job out of college, and they made a very specific decision to enter the nonprofit world. Seeing how nonprofits can be impacted by government has been a real wake-up call for them.
We’ve tried to be intentional about the changes we’re making. A lot of people jumped the gun – they went ahead and took all the language out and changed their operations. There is a balance to strike when making these decisions. You can’t just change who you are, how you serve, and what you do out of fear. These times call for us to be courageous. I recently heard Marcia Fudge (former HUD secretary) say that when you don’t experience quality leadership at the top, it requires courage to lead from the bottom. And that’s what we’re seeing. If we panic, we have to consider how it harms those we serve and what it communicates to those who serve alongside us. It doesn’t help anyone to panic.
In practice, we’re not changing who we are and what we do. It’s just the words. But for clients experiencing homelessness who have never worked with us, if they first go to our website, they may not feel reassured that they will be safe and accepted. That has nothing to do with us as an agency and everything to do with what we’re able to display. We do our best to create a safe environment and partner with others that are willing to create a safe environment so that if someone gets to our door, we can serve them. But now there are so many roadblocks to getting to the door that we can’t always control.
I would tell other leaders, don’t try to do this by yourself. Ask questions. Find support from similarly situated leaders, look for guidance from places like the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits, and look for opportunities to educate yourself so you can talk to others about it. Use the tools you have but look for other tools.
Put your fear to the side to lead. Arm yourself with the support and the information, but then you have to lead – in a way that is strategic, that makes sense, and that will do more good than harm. We have enough harm right now. And relax. Wearing your shoulders up at your ears is not going to get us through this. If you’re operating in panic and fear and frustration, you are not making your best decisions.
We will continue to advocate for people experiencing homelessness. We didn’t come this far to give up the fight. Just because these changes have happened doesn’t mean the people we serve no longer need us. How we show up is important. When we’re past all of this, who you will be, and who will people say you were in these trying times? Interrogate who you are. Pay attention to how you feel in this moment – that is likely how those we serve have felt for a long time. If we are not mindful of that, if we come out of this the same as we went in, if we’re still doing business the same way, then we didn’t learn what we were supposed to. And if we give up in times of difficulty, then what was the work for?