Lessons from 2020: What Now?
“All of the big things we are longing for are only made up of a lot of small, personal, radical choices.”
— adrienne maree brown
What might our world look like if we learn from what’s happening right now to create a more equitable future?
Over the past months, we’ve shared six emerging shifts that point to opportunities for change at the intersection of COVID and racial equity. Through this work, we hope to invite dialogue, introspection, and action; to build a bridge from our current reality to a visionary yet possible future; to hasten change through personal, radical choices.
We Are the Work
At Design Impact, we believe that social change starts within each of us—that we are the work. Because we have to start with ourselves, we have begun to respond to some of these shifts individually and organizationally. We’ve taken steps to reduce funding disparity among Black grassroots leaders through Black-Led Social Change. We’ve explored our role in facilitating community power-building through community-based resident advocacy. We’re working with residents to make room for healing as we co-create a more inclusive neighborhood. And we’ve built our organization differently to model the kind of workplace we want to see in the world—one that honors wholeness, trust, rest, and shared power.
Moving to Action
What radical, personal actions can you take to hasten change? Here are some immediate actions you can take in pursuit of a more equitable future:
- Download and share the full Pathways to the Future report on opportunities for change at the intersection of COVID and racial justice.
- Use our Pathways brainstorm prompts to incorporate one or more shifts into a current project or initiative.
- Engage your colleague, leaders, and friends in dialogue and action planning around these shifts.
- Use the shifts as a lens or checklist to inform planned actions. Use the vision to inspire more transformative actions.
- Take time to heal, restore, and repair. Create this time for Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
- Do the internal work of anti-racism (Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist, Anti-racism resources for white people, Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources, and Anti-Racism Daily offer abundant ways to get started).
- Immerse yourself in the literature around implicit bias, equity, and intersectionality.
- Support organizations and leaders committed to racial justice and social change (VOTE!).
- Design with, not for: engage people who are traditionally excluded from resources or decision-making and be willing to share power.
From Moment to Movement
The call to create equity is an urgent one, and we can’t do this work alone. It’s going to take all of us to shift this moment into a movement. Indeed, we are indebted to the community members, partners, and Breakfast Club participants who have already contributed to this work. We invite you to push and challenge these shifts, share them, and put them into action. Stay in touch as we host workshops and produce materials for reflection, discussion, and application. We believe that a better world is possible, and it’s up to us to create it. Let’s get started.
Tell us: How will you apply these learnings in your life and your work? What radical, personal choices can you make to hasten equitable change? Share your thoughts in the comments or email us at hello@d-impact.org.
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This post concludes our series about emerging shifts that can lead us to a more equitable future. These posts are adapted from our 2020 report, Pathways to the Future. You can find the complete report and supporting tools on our website. Visit our Medium home page to view all of the posts in this series.
