Last year (2021) Our Revolution Somerville (ORS) committed to conduct a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) assessment of the organization, which included surveying the ORS Steering Committee, membership, community partners, and candidates who have sought ORS’s endorsement in the past.

To those who completed our survey, thank you for taking the time to help Our Revolution Somerville gather data on its current diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. As we strategize collaboratively to improve ORS’s DEI practices and organizational culture, we continue to welcome your feedback. If you missed completing our DEI assessment, you are welcome to complete our DEI assessment here if you are an ORS member, here if you are a community partner, and here if you are a candidate who has sought ORS's endorsement in the past. If you would like to provide feedback on ORS's DEI strategy given the results from this initial assessment, we invite you to provide feedback here.

The initial results of the assessment can be found below.

1. Data Collected

• Forty-two (42) members, many of whom are also members of community partner groups. Met target of 15% of active membership.

• Ten (10) electoral candidates who have sought O R S endorsement in the past; did not meet target response rate of twenty-five (25) percent out of the fifty-nine (59) candidates who have sought O R S endorsement since 2017.

• Three (3) members of community partner organizations, representing Somerville Stands Together, Just Us Somerville, Defund S P D, Union United, and Climate Coalition Somerville.

• Surveys are still open and we welcome continued feedback.

• All data were viewed as summary results to maintain anonymity and only viewed by Hang Ngo; quantitative and qualitative data were collected

2. How D E I practices are benchmarked:

• What is D E I?

• What are the goals of D E I?

1. Creating a better, equitable world for everyone: Eliminate injustice and oppression to create a world where everyone can enjoy peace and prosperity; social justice underpins D E I.

2. Advancing an inclusive culture: an inclusive culture results in an organization where respect, equity, and positive recognition of differences are cultivated, diverse voices are heard, and everyone feels valued

3. Improving organizational effectiveness: How do we effectively translate our value of social justice into how we work as an organization?

• Use of the Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Benchmarks (G D E I B), available for free online: https://centreforglobalinclusion.org/

• There are 275 total benchmarks in 15 categories of D E I; I only chose the most relevant benchmarks and categories to include in this survey for the sake of time and labor

• Each category is graded by level of achievement based on which benchmarks are hit:

  • • Level 5: Best Practice: Demonstrating current best practices in D E I; exemplary for other organizations globally

    • Level 4: Progressive: Implementing D E I systemically; showing improved results and outcomes

    • Level 3: Proactive: A clear awareness of the value of D E I; starting to implement D E I systemically

    • Level 2: Reactive: A compliance mindset; actions are taken primarily to comply with relevant laws and social pressures

    • Level 1: Inactive: No D E I work has begun; D E I are not a part of organizational goals

3. Summary Results:

• Almost all (98%) O R S members, 100% of past candidates, and 100% of community partner respondents “agree” or “strongly agree” that “A healthy and vibrant progressive political organization includes people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds, gender identities, sexual orientations, religions, socioeconomic status, and class.”

• Where O R S is doing well:

  • Community and Government Relations (Proactive-Progressive): “O R S takes bold stands in word and action on societal issues related to achieving equity and justice for marginalized people, such as #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, etc.” “O R S helps its community by promoting economic growth, addressing income inequality and groups that have been historically disadvantaged.” O R S partners with other organizations that work to advance the rights of underrepresented groups in the community.

  • Communications and Content Development (Proactive): “O R S contributes to equity by creating and sharing content that advances social and economic progress.”

• Where O R S needs to grow (Inactive):

  • 1. Membership Recruitment: O R S needs to diversify its membership to include more people of color, women, L G B T Q I A-identified folks, and people from different class and ability backgrounds (survey results reflect a membership that is 81% White, 57% men, 83% non-L G B T Q I A, 93% who are college or graduate school degree holders, and 76% who don’t have a disability)

    2. D E I structure, accountability, and learning

       • There is no clear D E I structure, implementation plan, accountability, or learning opportunities

       • Experiences of feeling disrespected by O R S members or microaggressions perpetrated by O R S were reported:

         • Seventy-five percent (75%) of members “always” or “very often” feel valued and respected in O R S

         • Twenty-two percent (22%) of members “sometimes,” “rarely,” or “never” feel comfortable being themselves in O R S

         • Thirty-eight percent (38%) of members have witnessed microaggressions/bias/discrimination in O R S (31% were “unsure”)

         • Fourteen percent (14%) experienced microaggression or discrimination in O R S (10% were unsure)

         • Forty percent (40%) of electoral candidates “sometimes” or “rarely” feel comfortable being themselves when interacting with the O R S community

         • Forty percent (40%) of electoral candidates had witnessed microaggressions/bias/discrimination committed by members of O R S or by O R S as an organization (40% were “unsure”)

         • Sixty percent (60%) of electoral candidates “sometimes,” “rarely” or “never” feel valued and respected by O R S

         • Twenty percent (20%) of electoral candidates reported having experienced microaggressions or discrimination in their interactions with O R S

4. Strategizing D E I Efforts

• There was a range of qualitative feedback: from O R S is doing very well given that we’re an all-volunteer organization to O R S not listening to unheard voices. There was some specific feedback on how to improve our D E I efforts, especially relating to the electoral endorsement process, some of which the electoral working group has been working on integrating for future election cycles. There was also very helpful feedback to make future D E I assessment processes more inclusive and less laborious.

• We want to hear from as many people as possible for their ideas given these results: drop reactions and ideas in the chat today to me directly or the group if you’d like and I will gather everything in one document; we will also make the results and a feedback channel available on the O R S website so keep an eye out for a future email about this. The D E I surveys are still up and accepting responses, so please feel free to submit your feedback there as well.

• The newly elected steering committee will also review all the feedback and propose D E I strategy ideas moving forward.