There have been a lot of conversations inside and outside of the tech industry about how companies can authentically show up for racial justice and advance equity in their companies and the broader community. PDXWIT Board Treasurer Rihana Mungin and Executive Director Elizabeth Stock recently co-authored a piece for CIO magazine emphasizing the importance of companies actually showing their work when it comes to equity, rather than just releasing branded graphics or statements about their commitments to diversity and racial justice.

While our organization has been committed from the start to seeing a more diverse tech workforce, our initial work fell into a common pattern within the context of feminism: it unintentionally served mostly white women. Only over the last 18 months has PDXWIT been engaging in deep internal work around race and equity. As we have continued on this journey, our leadership team chose not to share much about our efforts externally because we believed highlighting our anti-racism equity work might come off as performative, like we were patting ourselves on the back or doing it so we could say we were doing it. But, we also know how important it is for an organization like PDXWIT — one that exists to see a more inclusive and equitable tech industry — to share its own progress, and stumbles.

It's time for us to show our own work, including the many changes we have made since we began sharpening our focus on equity, as well as acknowledging the work ahead.

Team Representation

PDXWIT’s team also has intersectional identities, including members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as individuals just beginning their career and on the verge of retirement.

A note on volunteers

Volunteers are also a huge part of our team and provide key support to PDXWIT. We have not historically collected demographic information on our volunteer team but have begun doing so and will plan to report out on that information as we have the data.

PDXWIT Community Fund

PDXWIT sets aside money annually to donate to community organizations whose work aligns with our values. Since establishing this fund, we have donated thousands of dollars to the Portland community and beyond. We have never talked about this externally.

See below for a full list of donations over the last year (June 2019-August 2020)

June 2019 $150 Juneteenth Oregon
June 2019 $1000 NAYA
June 2019 $500 The Center for Women's Leadership
July 2019 $407 Basic Rights Oregon
July 2019 $1250 The Fab Lab
August 2019 $500 Black Women in STEM
December 2019 $1000 Girls Build
December 2019 $1000 NAYA
February 2020 $500 iUrban Teen
February 2020 $500 Constructing Hope
February 2020 $1000 Juneteenth Oregon
June 2020 $500 NAACP
June 2020 $500 Color of Change
June 2020 $500 TransTech

Programmatic Changes

Naming Conventions

The name of our organization doesn’t reflect the continuum of people we aim to serve and we are exploring what needs to change to ensure that we are not excluding or erasing any members of the community. The same is true for our mission statement. We know it's incomplete, and the board is working on revising it. We look forward to sharing what we come up with and engaging our community in the process.

We renamed one of our quarterly events from Women of Color in Tech to BIPOC in Tech as we learned the importance of leading with and centering the experiences of Black and Indigenous people, giving clear visibility to those who have, particularly in this country, been systematically abused and oppressed.

We also have ensured that we are going to name identities when we are talking about specific groups. For example, if we are talking about Latinx people, we say “Latinx,” instead of People of Color or BIPOC. Grouping all races that aren’t white into one term is a form of white supremacy and erasure, and our organization is aiming to avoid that by being specific whenever possible.

Creating Dedicated Spaces

We have implemented the use of exclusive dedicated spaces for BIPOC for in-person and virtual events. This article by Kelsey Blackwell highlights the importance of creating dedicated spaces.

Confronting Implicit Bias and Incorporating Community Feedback

In 2019, we overhauled the scholarship application and selection process to include anti-bias training for all reviewers.

In 2020, we drastically changed the State of the Community Survey creation process. This involved paid focus groups with BIPOC, Gender Non-Conforming and individuals across the LGBTQ+ continuum.

We also implemented a new hiring process to counteract implicit bias during the recruitment and hiring of staff and board members.

Event Changes/Accessibility Improvements

We implemented land acknowledgement at events and associated actions to support decolonization of the tech industry.

We introduced child care at monthly Happy Hours.

We now include ASL interpretation during Happy Hours.

We have incorporated a thorough screening process of all event venues to ensure ADA compliance, comfort and safety for folks with varying physical abilities.

Recruitment/Team Structure

We overhauled our hiring, recruitment and onboarding process for employees and board members.

We moved from a traditional hierarchical majority leadership structure of the board to a shared, consensus-based leadership model which includes co-chairs and consensus-based decision-making.

Internal Equity Audit

In March of 2019 we began engaging with a firm called (re)solution Lab in an effort to work towards becoming an equitable anti-racist organization.

(re)solution Lab has combed through our internal processes, policies, our external communications, and programming to identify what changes need to be made to ensure equity.

This work has included paid focus groups with BIPOC and other underrepresented groups in tech to gather feedback, 1:1 interviews with everyone on PDXWIT’s staff team and board, and a deep dive into all of our history as an organization.

Our team has also engaged in Equity Literacy training with (re)solution lab and awaits further programmatic recommendations from the firm.

Reflections and Lessons Learned

PDXWIT never intended to operate in a way which was inequitable or racist, but we know that our organization doesn’t exist in a vacuum and harm can be done even when the best of intentions are present.

It’s very easy for a nonprofit to perpetuate the structural racism and inequity that poisons our systems, especially in a state like Oregon that is deeply flawed and has a disgraceful history of racism.

Looking Ahead

Be on the lookout in the coming months for a new addition to our website. We will be showing our work related to becoming a more equitable organization on a regular basis. This will include sharing our stumbles, as we know we will stumble.

Thank you for trusting us to lead this organization forward. We take this responsibility seriously. As we go forward, we want to hear from our community. If you have feedback or suggestions that could make the organization more available and supportive to you, please let us know.

Elizabeth Stock (she/her) leads PDXWIT in partnership with the PDXWIT Board of Directors. To learn more about Elizabeth and the Board click here.

Advancing Social Justice Means Showing Our Work