Launching a Racial Equity Task Force at the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention
CASE STUDY
From October 2020 to March 2021, Dan Egol (Project Lead) and Desi Carson (Consultant and Facilitator) from IDEAS Generation (IG) partnered with the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) to launch an interdisciplinary taskforce inclusive of HAVI staff, board members, and partner organizations, to advance racial equity in all aspects of the HAVI’s work.
The HAVI builds and connects violence intervention programs and promotes equity for victims of violence globally by promoting a model of hospital-based violence intervention programs. They are a leading voice in framing violence as a public health issue, and working at the intersection of violence intervention and racial justice.They are a leading voice at the intersection of violence intervention and racial justice.
Background
Challenge
Intersectionality centering race has always played a central role in their mission and work. To further elevate racial equity across the HAVI’s network, the organization convened stakeholders, including staff, board members, and community partners to form a racial equity taskforce that would steward the organization’s efforts.
To support HAVI, Dan and Desi facilitated a series of virtual working sessions to ground the task force’s efforts in a grounded and shared sense of community and relationship as well as to develop a charter that would guide how the task force worked to achieve its goals. Sessions included level setting around IDEAS terminology as well as building belonging and identifying racial equity models around which to structure task force efforts. Upon completion of the project charter and team-building sessions, the IG Team facilitated the first few task force meetings, including agenda design in partnership with the HAVI Executive Director and Director of Organizational Growth and Equity.
Approach & Solutions
Outcome
IDEAS Generation’s partnership with the HAVI culminated in the successful launch of the organization’s racial equity taskforce, which continues doing both organizational and systems-level work to this day. After IG’s engagement with the HAVI, the organization’s staff were able to carry forth the work and sustain this community of practice advancing racial equity and violence intervention at scale.
“IDEAS Generation is a valued partner to our organization. Dan and Desi helped us launch a racial equity task force with multiple stakeholders. Their IDEAS framework is bold and grounded. At every planning session and task force meeting, Dan and Desi brought their deep knowledge and highly-skilled facilitation to create meaningful spaces. They were wonderful to work with –insightful, engaging, flexible and responsive to our needs.” - Fatimah Loren Dreier, Executive Director, The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention