JCCA’s Race Equity Statement

All children and families deserve to lead safe, healthy, and productive lives. However, the history of institutionalized racism in the United States has denied this opportunity to millions. Implicit and explicit policies have created segregated communities, built substandard housing, and underfunded health care, education, and social services that overwhelmingly impact families of color. Biased practices, policies, and decision-making processes have embroiled a disproportionately high number of children and families of color within the child welfare system. This framework perpetuates racial inequities for the clients and staff of institutions like JCCA, and we cannot fulfill our mission to repair the world, child by child, if we do not address the role our organization has played within it.

We must take deliberate, conscious, and collective action to address and rectify the racial inequities embedded throughout our work at JCCA. We commit to using our resources and leadership to promote racial equity across JCCA and advocate for it beyond our doors. We will consciously consider the racial effects of our decisions and strive to actively engage direct stakeholders in decision-making. We will work to ensure that people of color have voice and leadership within the organization. By examining and correcting our practice through the lens of racial equity, we can work to dismantle systemic and institutional barriers to the well-being, stability, and success of our clients, their families, our staff, and our community.