RACIAL JUSTICE & EQUITY
Our Commitment to Racial Justice & Equity
Glean Network’s Racial Justice & Equity statement exists to explicitly name our network’s belonging in the movement for Black lives, our steadfast commitment to putting equity into action in all areas of our programs and activities, and that the work we will do alongside our program participants and partners will have the capacity to move towards a more just and loving world for all.
“What time is it on the clock of the world?” – Grace Lee Boggs
As a national network focused on building and strengthening the field of spiritual entrepreneurship, with a bold vision to reimagine the role of faith and spirituality in America, the Glean Network is committed to advancing racial justice and equity, and embodying this critical healing in our every day work.
This sacred commitment will be intentionally demonstrated: across the ventures we nurture in our programs, within the community of spiritual entrepreneurs we serve, and through our own internal practices as accountable, active members of a multi-faith, multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy.
"Treating different things the same can generate as much inequality as treating the same things differently." – Kimberlé Crenshaw
Glean Network envisions a world where human dignity, joy, healing, safety, and well-being are accessible and available for each and every person, with explicit and direct attention to the communities who have been historically undermined, excluded, and erased. We are actively building a network at the intersections of faith, justice, and innovation to design whole new systems, norms, and cultures where Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, women, queer, transgender and gender nonconforming people, people living with chronic illnesses and disabilities, and our most vulnerable communities are therefore centered, prioritized, and lifted up to thrive and lead.
“The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations that we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us.” – Audre Lorde
Glean Network commits to advancing racial justice and equity starting with our own internal organizational policies, practices, and programmatic activities.
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We will refine our training curriculum to explicitly include racial justice & equity as a core component to launching a spiritual venture, project, and/or enterprise.
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We will host more cultural and identity-specific spaces to support our core multi-racial programming for spiritual entrepreneurs and to create more opportunities for accessing community and belonging.
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We will refresh our network’s guiding principles and internal operating values to reflect cultures, practices, and norms grounded in racial justice, equity, relationality and interdependence.
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We will continue to enhance and enact team policies and group practices that center human dignity and prioritize all our people’s well-being above productivity.
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We will engage and encourage spiritual entrepreneurs in our network to initiate Racial Justice & Equity processes to address the unique challenges, barriers, and opportunities in their respective communities.
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We will increase accessibility to our programs for different abilities and learning styles across our growing network
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As we move forward with these efforts, we will listen to, and invite the voices and leadership of our most marginalized communities through explicit feedback, co-creation, and advisory guidance. For when we center the needs, dreams, and desires of those most impacted, we infinitely expand our horizons for what we imagine is possible and attainable for us all.
“To sing about freedom and to pray for its coming is not enough. Freedom must be actualized in history by oppressed peoples who accept the intellectual challenge to analyze the world for the purpose of changing it.” – Dr. James H. Cone
With gratitude and acknowledgement:
This version of our racial justice and equity statement was created with the input and wisdom from our alumni community and refined through internal discussions with Glean Network's core team and faculty.
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We wish to express our deepest gratitude and respect for the activists, scholars, theologians, and visionary leaders, known and unknown, who continue to inspire, shape, and move this work forward. Included in this statement are just some of the powerful voices that helped to guide us in our process.