Two Years Later: Diversité d’Abord and the Work Ahead
Two years ago, COCo published Diversité d’Abord: Racism in the Nonprofit Sector in Quebec.
The report represented years of research, learning, conversations, and collaboration. Through surveys with over 250 nonprofit workers and focus groups with racialized community workers, Diversité d’Abord documented something many people in our sector already knew from lived experience: racism is not an individual problem: it is embedded in the systems, cultures, and practices of our organizations.
Since its publication, Diversité d’Abord has become more than a research report.
It has informed workshops, Leadership discussions, HR policies, facilitation practices, and conversations across Quebec’s nonprofit sector.
But anniversaries are not only a time to look back. They are an opportunity to ask ourselves:
- What conversations has our organization had since reading the report?
- What practices have we changed?
- What still feels difficult?
- Where are marginalized staff experiencing the same barriers today?
The work of anti-oppression is ongoing. And it is not only about race. We need to be intersectional in our approach and see beyond race to other areas of marginalization our team may be facing.
At COCo, we continue to support organizations in building healthier workplaces through organizational development, facilitation, governance support, policy development, anti-oppression workshops, and leadership accompaniment.
If your organization hasn’t revisited Diversité d’Abord recently, this anniversary is a great opportunity to do so. Read or revisit the report and share it with your Board and colleagues. This can become a catalyst for organizational change!
Because research only creates impact when it leads to action.
Explore Diversité d’Abord here.
