Inclusive Practice

Our Commitment

The Alliance is committed to enhancing the well-being of children and families through the providing of high-quality professional development and support that promotes cultural humility and diversity, participatory inclusion of constituent communities, and racial equity and justice.

We value and prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion in all we act upon in our organization. 

We actively engage in collaborative, respectful, positive communication and decision-making across all programs and staff. Our thoughts, feelings and actions as individual staff and as an organization are guided by values, beliefs and principles that hold up innovation, quality service and organizational assessment as foundations of our daily functioning.

While we work to end systemic oppression, prejudice and discrimination as they impact all social identities and groups, the Alliance highlights the disparate impact of racism as historically and structurally embedded in U.S. culture as a cornerstone of our work. We place racism among the most significant factors that disproportionately affect the well-being of families and children served by DCYF and reaffirm the Alliance as a key partner in building the knowledge and skills to best serve these communities.

Our Commitment to Racial Justice:
Values & Beliefs

1

We hold racial diversity, difference, and cultures in high regard and importance. We honor and respect the inherent and lived truths of the histories, experiences, and resilience of indigenous and Native peoples, African Americans, and other people and communities of color.

2

We understand that white supremacy and white privilege in the context of U.S. history is at the root of contemporary beliefs, attitudes, and practices that perpetuate societal racism. Anti-racism can only be addressed through education about structures and traditions that have maintained white supremacy in the United States.

3

We value, believe in, and celebrate all of the ways people/places/traditions differ. Diversity creates richness in our lived experiences, relationships, and ways of life. We actively work for diversity because it builds more just and equitable societies.

4

We value, believe in, and actively work for all people/beings/places to have high quality opportunities and resources that contribute to and secure their individual, family and community well-being, safety, health, spirituality and sustainability.

5

We acknowledge and assume that due to historical and structural racism, people/beings/places have disproportionate resources, statuses and experiences that affect their access to opportunities for freedom, safety and well-being.

6

We believe that all people/beings/places that have disparate starting points and life experiences across time, place and history will be treated differently and often inequitably in the world. We proactively account for and actively work to heal these disparities for ourselves, our families and our communities.

7

We believe that people are responsible to care for and protect Earth’s biodiversity, all living things, and all objects and places that feed and nurture us in this generation and into the future. Racial, environmental, economic, and social justice are integrally linked in all we do.

8

Racial justice is not just the absence of racial prejudice/bias, racist acts and structurally based racial inequality, but “the presence of deliberate systems and supports to achieve and sustain racial equity through proactive and preventative measures.”

9

We value respect, integrity, honesty, authenticity, humility, kindness and grace in our communication and interactions with others. We believe that everyone is working to the best of their ability, and that learning is a lifelong process of vulnerability and openness to change.

10

We believe social transformation is possible, and that each of us is responsible for doing our part proactively and conscientiously to be part of that change in ourselves and in society.

Our Commitment to Racial Justice:
Guiding Principles

1

We shall establish guidelines about how to act in accordance with our values and beliefs to end racism in our lives, relationships and structures.

2

We are committed to actively changing faulty and inaccurate beliefs based in historical systems of racism and white privilege/power.

3

We will not only respond to racism when it occurs, but will proactively and intentionally work to create policies, procedures and ways of being that demonstrate our commitment to racial justice and equity in all we do.

4

We will stand and be accountable individually and collectively to end racism; we believe in and will work every day for a world of racial justice for ourselves and the generations ahead.

5

We will view our racial and social justice work from an intersectional standpoint. We will structure and assess our policies, procedures, products and processes with complexity, not simplicity. We will hold a critical perspective about our work that includes the many identities, histories, experiences of our staff, constituencies and partners, as well as our connection to the earth, space, all living things and objects that nurture us.

6

We shall work every day from a place of respect, integrity, and kindness, grounded in strengths and resiliency, not in deficits.

Culturally Relevant Courses

These values, and our role as the provider of professional development and capacity building trainings, show up in the breadth of our course offerings. Every new course in development goes through a review to look for our principles of using an anti-racism and anti-oppression lens. We consider how to integrate important issues of cultural difference and cultural humility into our trainings across topics.

Diversity

Indigenous Communities​

Persons with Disabilities

Learning Resources

Native American Tribes of Washington

Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgements

Native Wellness Institute

The National Indian Child Welfare Association: Redesign Listening Session Summary: This report summarizes responses from the Oct. 8, 2021, listening session. This data will help NICWA strategize on how best to engage Indian Country, policymakers, and funders regarding child welfare redesign efforts.

“Puyallup Tribal Language Lushootseed Land Acknowledgement”: This video was created in response to the numerous requests we receive for land acknowledgements. It was filmed on the ancestral lands of the Puyallup People in Tacoma. Puyallup Tribal members include: Charlotte Basch, Chris Briden, Chris Duenas and Amber Hayward. Twulshootseed translation by: Zalmai Zahir.

“NorthWest Indian News”: Learn about current events via this informative news series.

“We Are Muckleshoot”: Get to know the people and lands of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.