One-Year Commitment Update Towards Racial Justice, Equity, and Inclusion
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One year after committing to becoming a more inclusive, diverse, equitable, and transparent organization, the Poetry Foundation is writing to share that its commitment remains strong, its progress is notable, and its journey is ongoing. On June 12, 2020, the Foundation made a commitment to listen, act, and do better for its communities. Specifically, the Foundation pledged to listen, act, do more, and do better for its community of contributors, subscribers, partners, visitors, and employees, including but not limited to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Middle Eastern, Asian, trans, non-binary, and queer people, undocumented and other immigrants, people with disabilities, and those struggling financially by naming immediate actions to take.
Although the journey of transformation is far from over, the Foundation now shares its progress to date in several key areas as it works toward becoming a more transparent and an antiracist institution with equity embedded across all of its programs. The Foundation recognizes that its communities of poets and artists are central to its work, and embraces the opportunity to engage more deeply and directly with these communities in the spirit of partnership.
Key Updates Include:
- The Foundation doubled its initial grants commitment in half of the time, awarding $2 million in emergency grants to poetry and affiliated art organizations, and to organizations that distributed to individual poets and writers
- Staff and trustees participated in antiracism workshops and caucusing, and are committed to ongoing training
- Several positions were filled by people of color, including a new president and three Poetry guest editors, among other staff and freelancers; in addition, three new BIPOC trustees were appointed
- An equity audit, led by Ethos, was completed
- Poetry magazine submission guidelines were updated
- Other significant adjustments shared in November 2020, and April 2021
Awarding Emergency Grants and Changes in Foundation Grantmaking
The Poetry Foundation opened emergency grant applications to support poetry and affiliated art organizations struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, as an extension of the Commitment to our Community. In total, $2 million in emergency grants have been distributed since June 2020, doubling the initial commitment of $1 million over two years; read more about the grantees.
This emergency funding was available to poetry organizations and organizations that use poetry as an expression of their missions, located in the United States, including organizations fighting for social justice and working to advance racial equity in poetry and affiliated art. One-time emergency grants were awarded in the range of $5,000–$20,000, determined by organizations’ annual budgets and requested funds.
While the Foundation is still working to define how its grantmaking can best identify and meet the needs of its stakeholders in the long-term, this emergency funding is aimed to provide support for urgent needs due to immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Foundation will embark on a strategic planning process to set the future direction of the organization, and to determine how it can serve the poetry ecosystem in sustainable ways, including through grantmaking. Grants are a small part of the Foundation’s work, particularly as it relates to its structure as a private operating foundation with no emphasis on fundraising; even so, the Foundation recognizes the importance of grants, and this commitment is one of many steps it is taking to better serve poets and audiences in a more equitable manner. The Foundation plans to announce the new grants and sponsorship strategy by year’s end.
Equity Audit & Board of Trustees Equity Oversight Committee
To follow through on the Foundation’s commitment to conducting an equity audit of all Foundation policies, practices, and structures and developing strategic recommendations on how to improve, the Board formed an Equity Oversight Committee as a permanent committee. The Board also partnered with Ethos, a full-service diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging firm that advocates for opportunity for underrepresented and underserved groups in companies.
Ethos completed their data collection and analysis in December of 2020, after which time the Board and staff processed the findings. The Board and Foundation leadership also began taking on the work of enacting the recommendations that emerged from the research.
The Equity Oversight Committee promised community members that the audit would be comprehensive and transparent and recognized that it would take the time to reshape the Foundation’s structure and culture to create a broadly welcoming environment through its findings.
The Board set out to be intentional, measured, and thoughtful in clarifying and confirming data, presenting the information as clearly as possible without compromising the anonymity of those who so generously participated in surveys and research interviews and collecting additional data. The Board and Foundation undertook this Equity Audit to have a baseline understanding of where the Foundation is starting from on the journey towards a more socially just organization and in keeping with the community commitments.
Equity Audit Materials
Staff Training
As the learning journey continues, as will staff development and training. To start, antiracism training was completed for all staff at all levels and Board of Trustees with ongoing curriculum planned, as well as the development of a long-term antiracism, racial justice strategic plan in the Foundation’s partnership, and ongoing membership, with Enrich Chicago.
Manager training for staff is also underway led by Ethos. The six-month management program focuses on the intersection of management fundamentals and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Among key program topics include responsible use of power, hiring and onboarding best practices, how to be an antiracist manager, and fundamentals such as giving and receiving feedback.
In addition, staff participated in disability justice training led by Jennifer Bartlett, co-founder of Zoeglossia, on the principles of disability justice, best practices around disability language, and ways to highlight disabled poets.
Poetry Submission Guidelines
In reviewing the Poetry magazine submission guidelines using an inclusive lens, the editorial team revised how poets, writers, and artists can submit their work for consideration. This new process offers more accessible ways to submit, encourages new voices, and expands on the types of work the magazine publishes. Additional information can be found on Submittable and the FAQ page.
Commitment to Literature by Black Poets and Black Presses
The Foundation remains committed to seeking an individual or team of Black historian(s) to research, document, and publish an assessment, and also to help preserve literature by Black poets and published by Black presses while also facilitating the work of future artists. This is a long-term project and the goals, scope and partner has not yet been identified, but will share details once available.
Welcoming New Personnel
The Foundation also committed to conducting job searches that are rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion. In partnership with Ethos, the Foundation rebuilt the interviewing and hiring process to minimize bias, expand sourcing, and create more opportunities for candidates in underrepresented and underserved groups.
The Journey Continues
Although there has been significant progress, there is much more work ahead. As the Foundation moves forward, its work will be in service to poets, to poetry, and to the people who read, write, and engage with poetry every day.
Key priorities include:
- Create a strategic planning process to set the future direction of the Foundation in collaboration with its communities
- Articulate a clear grantmaking strategy and process that is accessible and transparent
- Hire a new Poetry editor or editors
- Re-open the building with poets and the Foundation’s communities at the center
- Study and implement learnings from resources related to accessibility, antiracism, and best practices in editorial, digital, and programmatic spaces
- Continue providing ongoing updates on organizational progress throughout this process on a biannual basis
- Identify new, meaningful, and impactful ways for poets to have a stronger voice and role at the Foundation
This work and Equity Audit research would not have been possible without valuable input from the Foundation’s community. The Foundation and Board want to express their deepest gratitude to the various individuals who helped support collective learning and improvement by participating in research interviews, responding to survey questions, asking questions, and providing feedback, guidance, and necessary critiques through open and private channels.
To receive ongoing updates on the Foundation’s commitments, and new opportunities to partner with or work with us, sign up for the Foundation Updates newsletter or contact us at [email protected].