Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Anti-Racism
Everytown for Gun Safety is a stronger organization due to the growing diversity of its volunteers and staff. Our namesake recognizes that gun violence impacts a wide landscape of people, communities, and experiences that we know intersect with structures of oppression. Therefore, our understanding of and solutions to the gun violence that occurs in every part of the country must fully embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). So that when we say Everytown, we mean it.
Diversity is a concept including but not limited to gender, gender identity, race, ethnic origin, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, and disability. While diversity makes us unique, equity in our commitment to combating gun violence—particularly in underrepresented communities and protected classes that are disproportionately impacted by gun violence—is key to furthering our mission of reducing gun violence in America.
Our DEI work is done through an anti-racist lens. This means that we work to deconstruct traditional systems and structures of oppression and engage in sustainable and intentional cross-cultural community and movement building, while also prioritizing the creation of opportunities for representation, participation, and inclusion among staff and volunteers.
Everytown for Gun Safety is committed to:
- Holding ourselves accountable by confronting our biases and assumptions while implementing and continuously striving to improve DEI efforts and applying a racial equity lens to assess proposed policies, practices, and programs to mitigate unintended outcomes and longstanding systemic inequities.
- Advancing gun violence prevention solutions by acknowledging the root causes and contributing factors of gun violence and building the partnerships necessary to support those advocating in parallel movements where our missions align.
- Institutionalizing equity and inclusion lenses to improve our internal policies, communication, culture, staff and volunteer development, benefits, recruitment, and retention practices to strengthen our movement while also recognizing systemic barriers that impact traditionally marginalized groups. We also utilize trauma-informed practices to build resilience and wellness among our staff and volunteers while also reducing further harm.