Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at GRCB

July 2021

Girls Rock Campaign Boston has offered transformational music education and mentoring programs since 2010. After a decade, we have turned a corner as an organization. GRCB is doing deep reflective work around our organization’s history, the impact of our work, and our progress toward achieving our mission.

We set out to create opportunities for girls and women to amplify their voices and build community. Our understanding of gender has expanded, and we recognize the liberation of girls and women is inextricably linked with the broader fight for gender justice. We support the liberation of all who experience gender-based oppression.

This fight for gender justice must recognize the experiences of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and Queer, Trans, People of Color (QTPOC). GRCB must work toward equity across intersecting identities. As our understanding of intersectional social justice has evolved, so too must our resolve and urgency to support BIPOC & QTPOC in our organization’s mission and remove barriers within our community.

Knowing that these goals are important to our community as a whole, we have engaged a local organizational consulting group, VISIONS, Inc., specializing in diversity, equity and inclusion assessment, training, and support.
VISIONS has been active in this work since 1984, with a mission to empower the creation of environments where differences are recognized, understood, appreciated, and utilized for the benefit of all through both time-tested and innovative training and tools, public advocacy, and consulting models addressing the personal, interpersonal, cultural, and institutional levels.

The GRCB Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Working Group currently includes board members Chris Pienta, Brooke Feinberg, and Mayté Antelo-Ovando. Future work will be community guided and inclusive. The Working Group, with the support of staff members Nora Allen-Wiles and Megan Sutton, are excited to be working with a dynamic VISIONS consulting team, Dr. Deborah Walker and Ellen Tuzzolo.

Update: In 2022, Soerny Cruz joined our consulting team.

Dr. Deborah Walker (she/her) has worked as a multicultural and organizational development consultant for over 25 years. She is skilled in the areas of assessment, strategic planning and change, process facilitation, community engagement, cooperative problem solving, and coaching. She has a keen interest in policy and systems change related to disparities. Her focus is on supporting organizations to increase their internal capacity to achieve their equity and inclusion goals. She received her Doctorate in Administration in Higher Education from the University of Alabama.

Ellen Tuzzolo (she/they) has been fighting for racial, social, and environmental justice as an educator, organizer, campaign director, policy analyst, and strategist for over 20 years. As a queer, white person, Ellen has committed to the work of institutionalizing equity and interrupting inequity in various ways–through fighting mass incarceration, addressing racial inequity in education, participating in local environmental justice organizing, and working within largely white environmental movements to promote a focus on racial equity. Ellen has developed equity assessment processes and facilitated workshops for kindergarten to college educators, community racial justice organizations, and a wide variety of non-profit organizations. 

Soerny Cruz (so-AIR-NEE) has been working with VISIONS since 2011. She is a Community Health Educator for the Cambridge Health Alliance. She works in the Sexual and Reproductive Health program providing evidence-based curriculum focused on pregnancy prevention, gender and sexuality, adulthood preparation, and racial justice to all middle schools in the city of Somerville. She was formerly the Racial Reconciliation and Healing Program Coordinator at the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center. It is a program for high school youth of color and White youth that focuses on discussing, addressing, and exposing structural racism. She studied Community Health and American Studies at Tufts University. Soerny was born and raised in Boston, MA.

The scope of our work with VISIONS will include two phases in 2021:

For the first phase, we want to hear from YOU! We will be sending out a survey to past and current youth, families, adult participants, and volunteers to gain a deeper understanding of your experiences within the organization and programs, directly related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This assessment tool will be followed by holding focus groups to further lift the voices of youth and those who have been historically underrepresented or harmed within GRCB.

Based on insights gained from the survey and focus groups, the second phase will center around training staff and volunteers and providing opportunities for increasing cultural awareness (of self and others) as tools for building and sustaining stronger relationships and community.

The consulting team will support GRCB to prioritize and amplify this work throughout our strategic plan as we identify goals, areas of opportunity, and measurable action plans that will serve as a roadmap to transformational change in support of the members of the GRCB community.

Next Steps:

Our work with VISIONS will help GRCB set the direction and strategic goals of the DEI Working Group. We aim to expand this group to include Board, staff, and youth and adult community members. Would you or someone you know like to have an active role in the DEI work at GRCB? Please fill out this form and we will connect as the working group evolves: DEI Working Group Interest Form

Thank you for always pushing us and being part of the change we are creating.