Addressing inequities in our communities takes place in the classroom, in our family advocates’ sessions with parents, in our administrative offices, in our board meetings and beyond. Leaders of Horizons for Homeless Children recognize the responsibility to serve Horizons’ families, employees, and the broader community by listening to impacts and challenges, amplifying voices, and actively seeking guidance of experts and internal members to create actionable change.
At Horizons we have always had a commitment to DEI, and it remains a critical part of our culture. Horizons’ leadership recognizes there is a strong rationale for doing this well. It:
It starts with our own team, who is at the heart of our service delivery. Creating an environment that acknowledges and prioritizes their needs and experiences guides our management approach. We embrace this work at both the senior leadership and Board level.
The senior team has established and is working toward six key initiatives:
“We have taken some steps in the last several years but there is more ahead. We’ve built an exceptional group of HR professionals to help drive our DEI work and foster a healthy and equitable work environment for all. Our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) leadership and members are building a deeper sense of community and are sharing aspects of their cultures, identities, and human experience to support our becoming a more inclusive environment. And we’re following the leadership of our Board of Directors as they formalized their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at a deeper level.” –Kate Barrand, President & CEO of Horizons
In 2021, the DEI committee of the Board of Directors was formed to add an additional lens for decision making and strategy development. Co-chaired by Maïta Vert Crocker and Rahim Rajpar, the committee keeps the organization accountable for moving ahead.
“I am proud of the engagement and collaborative effort of our Board’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, fellow Board members and Horizons’ staff who helped to devise this aspiring roadmap. Our collective DEI commitment statement will serve as the cornerstone of our evolving journey as champions and allies of change. I look forward to seeing our progress as we strive to create positive outcomes and long-term impact for Horizons and the community we serve.” – Maïta Vert Crocker, Member of Horizons’ Board of Directors and Managing Director, Global Head of Client Centricity, State Street Corporation.
“While Horizons has long been a part of the solution to systemic oppression, we’re at a place where we’re raising the bar and need to look more closely at not only what we do but how we do it. I’m proud to be associated with an organization that is making strides to ensure that we’re not addressing homelessness on the surface, but truly looking deeper to address the root causes.” – Rahim Rajpar, Member of Horizons’ Board of Directors, CMO & Co-Founder, Plum Life