Following up on last year’s commitment to intensify Nature Sacred’s efforts around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), we are announcing the formation of our DEI Advisory Committee.
The committee is comprised of:
- Yinka N. Bode George, Environmental Health Manager at National Caucus of Environmental Legislators
- David Greenberg, President & CEO, The League for People with Disabilities
- Lauren Marshall, Nature Sacred Board representative
- Michelle Shin, Marketing Coordinator, Envision Health
- Naomi Sachs, PhD, ASLA, EDAC, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland
- Eugenia South, MD, MSHP, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
- Alex Smith, Founder, Division Street Landscaping
“This is such important work,” said Alden Stoner, Nature Sacred CEO. “Last year’s protests and the continued movement toward racial justice moved us as an organization to look inward. We have spent months in intense conversations discussing what more we can do to deepen the work that we’ve been committed to on diversity, equity and inclusion since our inception.”
“We are incredibly honored and humbled by this group, and their willingness to share their insights, perspectives and support to deepen the impact of our work.”
The purpose of the committee is to advise Nature Sacred in ways we can best uphold and realize our founding principles of having our practices, processes and Sacred Place creation be truly open and welcoming to all — embracing and inviting all races, creeds, background abilities or beliefs.
They will:
- Advise on policies and practices to support the Nature Sacred DEI Approach framework for internal and external operations and programs
- Review and advise on creating anti-racist policies and procedures
- Advise on best practices on engaging collaboratively with individuals, leaders and communities in the Nature Sacred design process and Sacred Place Network who have been subjected to interlocking systems of injustice.
- Advise on ways to utilize Nature Sacred’s platform and position to amplify often unheard individual and community voices
To aid with the implementation of key recommendations from the committee and to provide sensitivity training for our full organization and Firesoul Network, Nature Sacred has engaged S. Rasheem, a DEI consultant.
Once our DEI Approach is finalized later this year, we will publish it here at naturesacred.org.
More background:
Visit the DEI committee’s bio page.
Read Nature Sacred’s June 2020 post on our response to renewed calls for racial justice in the US.
