This guide was created after we identified that many organizations we have participated in lack equitable and accessible procedural design and community training around handling grievance reports, such as community safe space violations. We also have personally experienced and/or observed how a lack of avenues for making confidential reports, and having reports equitably evaluated, disproportionately impacts women and multiply-marginalized people. Vulnerable populations are more likely to experience additional labor and personal and professional repercussions. Without clear procedures for reporting misconduct, community members may develop a lack of trust in the organization and its ability to align its mission with its internal governance. Clear, structured processes allow members to hold the community accountable to ethical action and to protect vulnerable populations.
We encourage organizations to be proactive as developing procedures after a report is made will not provide accessibility, equity, and fairness. Retroactively creating policies may lead to haphazard results, breakdowns in labor processes, and sow distrust in process, etc.
We recognize a tension between the adoption of words from different and multiple frameworks of justice that have abolitionist, managerial, and legal contexts. Terms such as "enforcement", "violations", "community", "safe space", "grievance" and others are wrapped in particular cultural, historical, and social contexts that change how they are received by different people. We have done our best to situate the terms and intellectual frameworks guiding this project. We encourage organizations to have conversations about terms they adopt and to change our discussion questions and survey as necessary to utilize language that suits their communities and philosophies.
Dorothy Howard, <dhowar32@pratt.edu>
David Isaac Hecht, <dahecht@gmail.com>
This project was supported by a 2024 Processing Foundation Fellowship for the priority area, "Open Source Governance". The Processing Foundation Fellowships provides grants and mentorship for projects relating to art, technology, software, and community. We are particularly grateful for the support of our Fellowship mentor Nat Decker, who provided critical guidance and feedback.