IN SOLIDARITY

June 18, 2020

Dear NEDRA Community,

We in NEDRA leadership are horrified and heartbroken by the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others before (and since) them. We join those that oppose hatred and inequality in all its forms. Likewise, we believe we have a moral and civic responsibility to work toward addressing it to the best of our ability.

NEDRA continues its commitment to diversity and inclusion by committing to offer resources and programs related to our Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) mission of making sure that all members feel safe, empowered, respected, and valued in our growing prospect development community.

Today we introduce our Diversity & Inclusion Resource Guide to help empower our community. Please reach out to anyone on the board with suggestions or additions to this important document.

We also commit to providing more D&I related programming in the upcoming year and beyond.

For those interested in non-NEDRA programming related to D&I here are a couple of upcoming webinars that you may find of interest:

• The African American Development Officers (AADO) Network will be hosting an online event tomorrow, June 19 from 2-4 pm entitled “Our Collective Courage,” where eight women of color in the development industry will share their personal stories of the injustice and racism they have faced during their professional careers. This two-hour event is online and free of charge. For more information visit the AADO website.
• A free webinar from Women in Development of Greater Boston (WID) “Building Inclusion of People with Disabilities into Your Organization’s Mindset” is offered on June 22 from 9-10 am. For more details visit the WID website.

For those that want to get more involved directly here is a link to organizations that are doing the work on the ground: https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2019/02/racial-justice-organizations.

NEDRA stands in solidarity with all who are speaking out against racial injustice. Let us pledge to make a difference, and not, consciously or unconsciously, contribute to “dreams deferred.”

Susan Grivno

NEDRA President