Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The path to equity is long and steep. It requires a deep understanding of root causes, intentional disruption of behaviors that sustain systems of power, and an unrelenting commitment to continuous learning.

LEE is committed to challenging and supporting our members and staff in a continuous learning process to develop the competence and resilience to address individual and collective racism that contributes to inequity.

We believe that to achieve educational equity, we must equip all of our leaders and staff with tools and mindsets to advance equity and dismantle systemic oppression. 

We engage staff in a liberatory consciousness continuum that mirrors the leadership development of our members: 

Awareness & Engaging Self
Experiences lead individuals through a process of critical self-reflection of their social identities, exploring the role of self, and drawing attention to the attitudes, beliefs, or stereotypes that each of us carry.

Engaging Prejudice, Bias, Discrimination
Building and deepening the self-awareness development begun in the previous stage, individuals explore their own relationships with prejudice, bias, and discrimination, and consider the intersections with their identity and leadership.

Engaging Power, Privilege, & Oppression
Individuals identify the areas where and how power, privilege, and oppression show up, and how they impact capacity to build, establish, and maintain healthy interpersonal relationships.

Engaging Individual, Group, Systems
Individuals deepen their understanding of simultaneous individual and group identities that interact with systems.

Engaging Commitment to Action & Change
Individuals delve into individual and collective action; new and alternate possibilities; reclaiming power; and committing to using power to reshape, rethink, and create social transformation.

We realize that the path toward equity is a journey. We may stumble as we climb, but we are committed to doing the work together.