The Kalamazoo Nature Center honors and pays respect to the land on which we stand and its traditional stewards, the Anishinaabek, the Council of the Three Fires which include Odawa, Ojibwe, and Bodewadmi, also known as Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi tribes. As the current stewards of this land, KNC is committed to healing relationships between people and land in our work.
The Kalamazoo Nature Center is an equal opportunity organization that will not discriminate in its programs or hiring practices on the basis of race (including hairstyle/texture), color, religion or creed, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and pregnancy-related conditions), gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, service in the military, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ordinances.
In addition, we recognize that institutional bias (implicit and explicit) in our organization, in our society and throughout the nature center/outdoor industry results in inequitable access to employment, recreation, education and other activities in the pursuit of our mission.
Therefore, relying on current research and best-practices, we adopt the following goals to create an equitable an inclusive organization, and to further equity work in Kalamazoo:
Goals
• KNC will ensure that its board of directors, staff, volunteers, visitors, participants, membership and all others involved with the organization reflect the diversity of the community we serve.
• KNC will work consistently to create an inclusive culture & promote equitable access to our facilities, programs, jobs and other opportunities, by actively inviting, engaging and collaborating with people from all walks of life.
• KNC will ensure that our interpretive facilities and programs reflect the many different historical, cultural and spiritual stories that have influenced and will continue to shape our connection to the natural world, KNC will celebrate and recognize the unique contributions of all people, and provide opportunities for shared learning, growth and understanding, Our programmatic outcomes will reflect our commitment to justice and equity.
• KNC will protect and celebrate natural and cultural resources that tell our complex history and that help us learn from our past, honor our ancestors and promote a more sustainable future.
• KNC will establish measurable benchmarks that accurately reflect our commitment to equity and inclusion. We will provide our board of trustees, our members and our community with regular reports of our progress toward these goals.
This policy was drafted with help from three important sources:
The Green 2.0 report on The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations prepared by Dorceta Taylor, Ph.D. and published in July 2014. https://www.diversegreen.org/
The Next 100 Coalition of civil rights, environmental justice, conservation and community organizations advocating for greater inclusion of diverse communities in our country’s national parks and other public lands. http://next100coalition.org/
The Sierra Club’s Equity and Inclusion Plan adopted in 2015 by Sierra club president Aaron Mair Prepared by Sierra Club director of Equity and inclusion, Nellis Kennedy-Howard https://www.sierraclub.org/equity