An Update on Avid Core’s Commitment to Racial Justice and Ending Systemic Racism

This time last year, outrage and calls-to-action against racial injustice, violence, and hatred spread across the globe after the tragic murder of George Floyd – among countless other victims of systematic racism and hatred. Simultaneously, the deadliest pandemic of our lifetime brought to light how inequities within our health care system impact historically underserved and marginalized communities.  We witnessed violence and saw an alarming surge of hate crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders. And, while we recognize that much of what we saw sparked a “reckoning” of some sorts, we acknowledge that these injustices are not isolated incidents, and that we have seen similar calls to action throughout history. The important work that goes into ending systemic racism is critical and long overdue.  

At Avid Core, we take our corporate responsibility seriously. We made a commitment to advancing the cause of racial and social justice and doing our part towards eradicating systemic racism by identifying opportunities for growth and working to improve our hiring and workplace practices, support our team, and advocate for change in our community.  

We made it clear that we wouldn’t stop at just promising to be better—we’re reaffirming that commitment today, recognizing that there are gaps within our company that still need to be addressed, and providing an update on our progress.

Here are some ways we’ve upheld and expanded on our promises from one year ago:

#1 Implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace

We’ve developed and implemented a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) plan that is shaped by feedback from our whole team and will be routinely reviewed by a third-party expert to ensure our plan is practical and executed. We intend for the DE&I plan to serve as a living document that provides guidance and ways to measure our progress toward building a workplace that works for all. Some of the goals and metrics included in our plan are:

  • Creating an inclusive environment where all staff members are provided equal weight into management decisions
  • Providing for staff members to celebrate additional holidays, including a paid day off on June 11 to celebrate Pride Month and an additional paid day off for staff to observe a non-federally recognized holiday. We also welcome feedback from staff to recommend other holidays that should be celebrated and recognized and are committed to re-evaluating other holidays as our staff grows.
  • Providing meaningful unconscious bias and inclusive language training for leadership and staff
  • Integrating DE&I into the work we do for our clients

#2 Evaluating our Hiring and Pay Practices

As part of Avid Core’s DE&I plan, we are taking steps to fulfill our commitment to evaluating and improving our recruitment, hiring, and pay practices with the goal of building a diverse workforce across all levels of the company.

  • Working with a consultant to develop a recruitment and hiring strategy and plan with a focus on diversity and inclusion
  • Including a salary range for all new positions
  • Establishing a $15 per hour minimum wage for all employees, contractors, and interns

#3 Supporting our Team

We pledged to support each other and prioritize the wellbeing and mental health of our employees, and we’ve kept up by checking in on each other during our staff meetings—providing a safe place for our team to share their concerns.

#4 Supporting our Community

We promised to provide a charitable fund for employees to draw from to support the causes and organizations they care about deeply. Through the past year, we’ve kept up our giving to organizations advancing the cause of racial justice and other areas that we care about, including:

We’re also working to implement practices to ensure historically underrepresented communities have a voice in the projects we manage, and educating others on how they can build inclusive virtual public involvement programs.

More about ways we’ve contributed to our community—and information about future efforts—can be found on our blog At Our Core.