The series of high profile incidents of police violence against Americans in 2020 including the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, sparked nationwide protests and renewed calls for an end to systematic racism in our society. In June, our organization made a commitment to not just speak out about the topic but to take action by forming the Racial Equality and Social Justice Coalition (The Coalition).
Oaks created The Coalition to identify and implement action steps to be part of the change we want to see in our organization and the greater communities we serve. The Coalition consists of diverse members from across the organization and also includes representatives from the Oaks Diversity Committee, Trauma Informed Care Committee and Ethics & Human Rights Committee. The group takes a lead role in answering the complex yet imperative question, “How can Oaks be part of the solution as it relates to Racial Equality and Social Justice?”
To lay the foundation, The Coalition identified three main goals to focus on: Training on diversity, inclusion and racial equality; improving health care disparities; and reducing police brutality and excessive force. In addition to creating goals, they also made keeping lines of communication open across the organization a priority. Providing employees with an emotionally safe space to share their experiences allows our team to better support the individuals we serve with compassion.
For the planned training initiative, all staff will participate in an organization-wide training and train new hires through our existing New Employee Orientation. All new employees joining the organization will be informed of Oaks’ philosophy regarding racial equality and social justice. Moving forward, Oaks will provide annual staff training to continue the Racial Equality and Social Justice efforts.
The second goal is to improve mental and physical health care disparities for individuals in Oaks Integrated Care programs. The Coalition has a Health Care Disparities subcommittee dedicated to looking at Oaks’ data, identifying opportunities and making recommendations to improve the healthcare of the individuals we serve.
Lastly, the Coalition looks to reduce police brutality and excessive force through training and building relationships with Community Law Enforcement Officers and their departments. Oaks currently works with several local Police Departments throughout New Jersey and we continue to form new relationships. Most recently, the Millville Police visited our Urgent Care Mental Health in Vineland to get a better understanding of the program services, the day to day operations and how we can be of service to the police department. As we continue to collaborate, this will make Oaks Integrated Care and Law Enforcement a stronger team to provide the highest quality of services to all individuals residing in our communities.
Moving forward in 2021, The Coalition remains dedicated to improving racial equality and social justice in our organization, local communities and society as a whole. Coalition Co-Chair, Brenda Brown-Goggins, explains it best, “The recent events can bring out so many feelings in each of us. The two things that keep me deeply committed are hope and change that I believe we have embraced at Oaks. Hope is a mindset and change only happens with the action steps we take.”
