Diversity and inclusion - a response

The December issue of our Community M@tters e-zine highlights a recent event tied to our organization’s diversity and inclusion work. The team leading that mission organized the session to provide staff an opportunity to learn more about the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender -- or LGBT -- community.

Leslie Ann Thompson, executive director at Affirmations Gay and Lesbian Community Center, and Charles Pugh, FOX2 News anchor and reporter were the featured speakers.

During her presentation, Leslie mentioned the fact that project management and capital support provided through United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s Community Capital Resources department helped make Affirmations’ new 17,000 square-foot headquarters in Ferndale a reality.

At least one reader took issue with our support of the Affirmations project.

“With issues like homeless, rampant poverty, and crime--which erode basic and essential quality of life--why is the United Way funding projects such as the LGBT issues project? Discrimination against any group is an issue that deserves attention if it is seriously impacting the basic quality of life of a significant part of the population. However, considering the sheer number of issues, why is LGBT ‘inclusion’ a priority for UWSEM?” the post reads, in part.

Community Capital Resources helps nonprofits plan and manage facility projects that will enable them to better serve the community, and Affirmations provides much-needed services to individuals and families in Oakland County.

In addition, it is important to United Way that we understand the LGBT community to strengthen our diversity work. We have spent considerable time over the past year developing a strategic plan and participating in cultural awareness activities as a staff. When complete, the plan will help United Way ensure diversity is a prominent component of internal and external operations, and that we are inclusive of everyone, regardless of race, culture, religion, age, sexual orientation, physical ability or other characteristics.

Embracing diversity is about understanding the ways we are all alike and respecting the many ways that we are different. To be inclusive is to make a concerted effort to involve all people in what we do. This is what we believe, and how we aspire to better serve everyone in the tri-county area.

United Way will always be in the business of supporting basic needs in our region, so that people who need help have a place to turn. This diversity and inclusion work will ultimately allow us to serve more people in need of assistance.

The LGBT discussion and other diversity activities that inform our thinking are vital to the process.

"Meet Me Half Way"

  

I have been taking an afternoon each month to learn more about the issue  of homelessness in the region.   I do this by walking and driving neighborhoods with two of our 211 associates as they link resources to individuals through our 211 on the Go initiative.   Every time I go out, I learn.   I learn about the steep climb in front of us in this region.  I learn about the condition of our neighbors.   I learn about someone's story. 

The other day we came upon a couple of individuals waiting for the bus not too far from the Eastern Market.   One young man from Roseville was interested in learning more about job networks, housing possibilities and transportation.   The other individual had made his way--in part-- by making and selling beautiful walking sticks.   He sold them for $65.    During the conversation with our 211 associate John,  the craftsman began to talk about a friend of his who created The Heidelberg Project.

As fate would have it, we turned down a neighborhood street and came upon the project created by Tyree Guyton.   When you come upon The Heidelberg Project you see someone telling a story.  The street he grew up on has become one of pallets he paints on to tell a very personal story.  

Tyree Guyton has exhibits in museums and galleries --- and recently had the New York Times describe his work: "Mr. Guyton is a civic treasure as an artist and as the creative force behind the extraordinary “Heidelberg Project,” a grand communal act of urban reclamation that has, for 20 years, been turning blocks of condemned houses in a black neighborhood into giant sculptural assemblages incorporating cast-off materials and found objects."

 

There has been much written and debated about The Heidelberg Project.   I was curious what the story is behind the artist.   Here is what I found:

"I strive to be a part of the solution. I see and understand how order is needed in the world and in our individual lives. My experiences have granted me knowledge of how to create art and how to see beauty in everything that exists."

"My work talks about what I see but it helps others to see what they see. My job is to help people to see. What they take away from my work is their own personal testimony. "

"I like to take that which is dead (cast aside, thrown away) and put life back in it by adding colors and shapes and making it speak back to the world."

The Heidelberg Project over the past 20 year's has gone onto be recognized as one of the most influential art environments in the world.  One person telling his story.   

The point is, everyone has a story to tell.  Tyree Guyton tells his in a dramatic fashion on some streets on the East Side of Detroit.    

Yet for many in our community, his or her story is just invisible.   No one hears it,  sees it or visits it.  

Part of our work at United Way is to put a light on many invisible stories in our community.    And each day, we work to create pathways of understanding and avenues to help.   Mr. Guyton suggests in his art (see above) to "meet me half way."  To me, that isn't a bad way to approach our day --- striving to meet each other half way.

To learn more, go to uwsem.org.

Thanks for reading.  Pass it on.