Family Eldercare staff and leadership composed a public statement in support of #BlackLivesMatter.
As experts on the journey of aging, we are not only on the frontlines of aging, poverty, disability, homelessness, and racism, we are leaders in setting an industry standard. Our mission is to ensure that those whom we serve and represent have the ability to thrive with independence and dignity. Combating racial and systemic injustice is at the forefront of that endeavor. Our agency is committed to the issues of older adults and adults with disabilities, and we must vocally acknowledge that racial and systemic injustice are leading issues for the people we serve. Although we are late in articulating this publicly, we as an agency believe we must be unequivocal in our support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Family Eldercare’s commitment to honor Black Lives Matter is a specific yet inclusive effort to uproot white supremacy, and we support actions to end violence against and the systematic targeting of Black lives and communities.
Our commitment to action includes:
- Investing in regular, on-going, highly skilled trainings and additional relevant resources, particularly those led by Black presenters, which address bias, racism, and systemic discrimination for all staff, leadership, and board members
- Diversifying our Leadership Team, Board of Directors, and staff to be representative of and include the lived experience of the communities we serve
- Utilizing the City of Austin Equity Office’s Equity Assessment Tool to baseline our organization and annually measure our progress
- Forming a Diversity Council to make on-going recommendations and explore solutions to the racial and economic injustices our staff and clients face
We also acknowledge that these actions are neither radical nor enough. To be effective in our anti-racism, we must evaluate our behaviors, actions, and policies on an individual and organizational level with urgency and perseverance. This is not an issue of the week, month, or year, and it must include and amplify the diverse voices of those we serve. Family Eldercare is committed to a unified and collective effort to end systemic oppression.
