Eva’s has gone through many changes during our long history as we adjust to our environment and the needs of the young people we support. We are on a path to honour the legacy of our founder, Black community activist Eva Smith, and the lived experiences of Black youth experiencing homelessness in all we do.
Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are core pillars of our organization. As part of our commitment to EDI, we prioritized funding the development of our equity department, which is now in place.
This investment is critical as we continue to build out culturally responsive programming that intentionally supports the specific needs of Black youth experiencing homelessness.
These supports will include programs and services that centre the identities and cultures of young people and affirm their holistic identity, taking into consideration the barriers they navigate in their daily lives. This approach ensures we are responding to the specific needs of youth instead of compounding the barriers they are already facing.
Celebrating Eva’s Equity Journey
We began to gradually and intentionally diversify our Board of Directors with the recruitment of new members.
We developed a Board equity committee to centre equity in the governance, operations, and strategic priorities at Eva’s.
We launched an organizational equity audit. This holistic process focused on reviewing all aspects of our organization using an anti-Black racism lens.
We increased senior leadership capacity on equity and anti-Black racism, with the development of our equity department.
We shared the equity audit report with staff. Our Board and Senior Management Team accepted all the findings and recommendations outlined in this report and began developing a work plan to act on the recommendations.
We began holding affinity groups, sharing circles, and other healing and employee engagement sessions with staff to unpack the equity audit report.
The Board completed a governance review led by a consultant with expertise in anti-Black racism and anti-oppression.
We launched our internal equity committee.
Values and principles informing our equity work
√ Critical race theory and analysis
√ Africentric values and modalities
√ Decolonization practices and processes
√ Anti-oppression and anti-racism frameworks
√ Unpacking interlocking systems of oppression
√ Harm reduction