Our Commitments

Commitment 1: ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’

What does this statement mean to us? It’s simple. Our work is successful when it is driven by the insights, experiences, and priorities of people who have been directly impacted by the systems we are seeking to improve. Our work cannot be fully informed without including the perspectives of people who have direct knowledge as users of the services. People’s time is valuable and we work to employ or fund people who access services as project team staff, advisors, or partners.

Commitment 2: Advancing racial equity

Our Racial Equity Team and Equity Review Board work together to ensure HSRI advances racial equity in all its programs, products, and practices.

Established in 2020, The Racial Equity Team guides HSRI’s work to advance racial equity through identifying and prioritizing action steps for HSRI and providing leadership in implementing action steps. It is a leading force in HSRI’s equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts, bringing diversity of thought and a racial equity lens to decisions and actions taken within HSRI.

Our goals

  1. Integrate equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist principles and practices into HSRI’s projects.
  2. Establish an inclusive and equitable workplace.
  3. Communicate HSRI’s efforts to advance racial equity to our partners.

Our Equity Review Board reviews existing and new/proposed projects with an equity lens, ensuring an equity focus across HSRI’s projects and proposals. While the Equity Review Board was born from the Racial Equity Team at HSRI, its mission and tasks focus more broadly on all forms of equity in the work we do.

Our goals

  1. Improve projects by identifying and rectifying ways we contribute to or reinforce inequities.
  2. Identify opportunities to incorporate equity-promoting methods and approaches.
  3. Establish an organizational understanding of equity-promoting methods and approaches and awareness of how HSRI’s projects may contribute to or reinforce inequities.

Our deep commitment to racial equity ensures we underscore the systemic and structural barriers that affect the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

David Hughes, President, HSRI

Commitment 3: Communicating inclusively

Words matter. That’s why communicating inclusively is a core tenet of HSRI’s equity goals. We make reports and presentations accessible, and we always strive to communicate openly and respectfully among our teams and with our partners. We use an equity lens when framing information, use person-first language, and give ourselves and each other grace. We dive deeply into the origins of words, use asset-framing, and use preferred terms for population groups.