A memorial in Couch Park across the street from William Temple House.
The time is now—we need to speak up, and speak clearly:
We believe that Black lives matter.
We support the protests happening in Portland and around the country which demand justice for George Floyd—a Black man who should be alive today—and justice for all Black people whose lives have been cut short by racialized violence.
We join the call for accountability and concrete change to end racial injustice and the brutality that it gives rise to.
We support the movement to dismantle systemic racism—from housing discrimination to mass incarceration to food deserts. We know that systemic racism contributes to economic, social, and health disparities that directly impact our clients. If we say that we are here to assist our community, we cannot ignore the effects that systemic racism has on our community.
We must, therefore, become an active part of the remedy.
We know that issues of racism, mental illness, food insecurity, and income inequality are interconnected, just as the wellbeing of every person in our community is interconnected. We are proud of the work we do at William Temple House with our counseling and social services programs, but we know we need to do more to fully support the people we serve.
As leaders in this agency, we acknowledge that William Temple House is and has historically been a white-led organization, and that our staff and board of directors do not reflect the racial diversity of the people we serve today. We know that this makes us a part of the problem, and we know we must change that.
We were already working to address inequities in our own organization so that we could better serve our diverse community, but it is clear that we must redouble those efforts and accelerate the pace of change.
Through our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiative, we created a strategic framework to begin that journey in 2019. The goals of our DEI work include the following:
- Prioritize services to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse community.
- Grow the diversity of our organizational staff and board to better serve our customers.
Our strategies include involving our clients in organizational decision-making, re-examining policies which may have unintended detrimental effects on diverse communities, and growing meaningful partnerships with culturally-specific organizations that we can both actively support and learn from.
We believe that addressing racial inequity at William Temple House and in our broader community is essential to improve the wellbeing of the families who access our services and all people who share our city, state, country, and world.
Going forward, we commit to speaking out against racial injustice and urge you to do the same—especially when it is uncomfortable. As an organization we are learning new ways to advocate for our community, including active support for public policies that advance our mission. If you want to get involved with this effort or have questions, we want to hear from you. We invite you to accompany us on this journey.
In faith that we can change the world together,
Carrie Hoops, Executive Director
Nathan Graves, Board President