Constituted by leaders from 10 member organizations, HPN’s Racial Equity Steering Committee met for two years to discuss a network approach to commitments around racial equity. The group completed its work in the summer of 2022 with four concrete recommendations for HPN to move the work forward:
- Continue offering peer exchange opportunities for members to support each other and share best practices for advancing their racial equity efforts;
- Create a standing board committee on racial equity (created in June);
- Launch and support a BIPOC CEO affinity group (also launched in June); and
- Establish a framework for member commitment to advance racial equity as a network that includes an equity statement and a construct for an equity pledge for members to sign onto to signal their support for the work.
We understand that members are at different points in this journey, but also believe that you are all committed to this critical work and recognize the need to be intentional. We also acknowledge the role and power of the collective network to make meaningful advances in addressing racial equity, diversity and inclusion in our sector. The pledge may contain both language and items that differ from what you have already adopted for your organization. Our goal here is twofold: that the pledge be broad, and that your company’s policies and practices address the elements identified in the pledge.