Whiteboard is seeking to become an anti-racist organization in the next three years. Read the whole plan here.
July 7, 2022
Hi! Welcome to an update from Whiteboard’s Change Committee. We’re an internal team committed to activating on our Anti-Racism Plan. At the end of every quarter, we take a moment to reflect on our progress as a company. We review what we've done well and what we need to do better, and we think it’s important to do this work in the open. So—let’s review!
At the beginning of Quarter 2, we welcomed new team members! We had a lot of new members onboard into the Change Committee, and a couple of team members bow out for this quarter. We always want to ensure that those who serve on the committee have the availability to properly dedicate the time that’s needed to progress on our goals. At the end of Quarter 3, we’ll have the chance to have to others join or current members take a step back.
Upon review and comparing to Quarter 1, it’s clear the team is coming off a highly productive quarter and making steady progress on ongoing goals. Let’s jump in.
Goal 2: Offer and require staff participation in at least one anti-racist education or training opportunity per year.
Goal 2 is in full swing! We have already had our workshop with ARCC for the second year and we’re planning the engagement for the additional training set for October.
In alignment with our education goal, we have wrapped up on the second season of book club. This season, the group read Black Magic by Chad Sanders and overall the group really loved it. We’re planning for next book club for Q4!
Goal 7: Hold regular Whiteboard-wide team hangouts.
Goal 8: Hold quarterly lunch and learns.
Goals 7 & 8 are in motion with some awesome presentations from the team in the lunch & learns and some really fun hangs this quarter. Our team was able to get together for a cookout in Chattanooga for a staff hang and also virtually learned all about one of our team member’s favorite hobbies: aquariums.
Goal 4: Provide subsidized support to two Black or Latinx-led organizations per year.
Goal 4 is in progress! Whiteboard’s Identity Studio is leading a project with a Black-led organization that is set to finish in the next month. The committee is looking forward to finding another opportunity to fulfill this goal.
Goal 5: Develop a protégé program.
Goal 12: Launch one community impact project.
Goal 5 and Goal 12 are making some progress! As we mentioned last quarter, Goal 5 is being led Whiteboard co-founder and CEO, Taylor Jones. We’re excited about his partnership with another agency leader. For Goal 12, we’re so thrilled to be developing a school program in connection with a Chattanooga school. We’ll continue to have more updates there once school starts.
Goal 9: Develop an industry directed initiative focused on advancing anti-racism within the digital design industry.
Goal 9 could use some extra support. We had some awesome internal movement around it in Quarter 1, but the next steps have not been taken yet. We hope to make it a priority this next quarter.
Goal 11: Launch virtual coffee listening tour with community leaders to assess needs and opportunities.
Goal 1: Achieve Racial Parity by EOY 2023
Additionally, Goal 1 and Goal 11 are stalled. This committee will need to make this goal a top item to review and activate on in this quarter.
Goal 3: Provide pro bono support to Black or Latinx-led organizations.
Goal 6: Secure a person of color to serve as an informal advisor or mentor.
Goal 10: Include an anti-racism pledge in all Whiteboard branding and collateral by the end of 2020.
Goal 3, 6 and 10 have been completed. See previous blogs for more information.
We started the year off strong, but as we wrap up this quarter, there are a couple of goals that could use extra attention. The Change Committee is looking forward to continuing our work and realigning for Quarter 3, so stay tuned!
