As an organisation committed to systems change, we have always been clear that we have to change ourselves in order to help change systems. This year has surfaced more evidence of the degree to which we are part of the systems we are trying to change.
Questions about power, equity and justice have surfaced strongly, within our work, in the team and through our governance work. It has become increasingly obvious that Lankelly Chase has a lot of work to do to become an effective anti-racist, anti-oppression organisation. This work includes (but isn’t limited to): the structure and culture of our team, the way we frame and understand harm, disadvantage and marginalisation, our understanding of the power, position and privilege that comes with our endowment, the impact of our investment decisions on the system of colonialized exploitation, the voices that we are and aren’t able or willing to hear, and the degree to which we can be challenged and held to account.
Most urgently, we have sought to resource more networks and organisations led by people of colour, but we have also committed to working on our own mindsets, culture and practices. This began this year with anti-racism training, which has revealed that we have a lot of work to do. We hope that by committing to this work, we will become more effective at centring equity and justice in our systems approach.