Advancing Our Work through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

As LISC President Maurice Jones has observed, “There is almost no city where you can’t see how race was a part of how the city was designed. We have to be just as purposeful about addressing these issues as the country has been purposeful about creating them.” At LISC, we believe that promoting diverse, inclusive and equitable practices into our work in communities can serve as a powerful vehicle to achieve long-standing revitalization objectives. In 2018, LISC Greater Kansas City identified diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as a core priority in our current strategic plan and are working to better incorporate DEI into all aspects of our programs and investments. 

LISC Greater Kansas City has enlisted a consultant to work with us as we embark upon a journey to be more intentional in building and maintaining diversity, and to ensure that equitable policies and practices are embedded in our plans, culture, and work. This requires us to continually examine our awareness and commitment to DEI by assessing our policies and practices, communications, community outreach and participation as well as gathering and analyzing data, monitoring and assessing our progress. “We want to reach a place in our practice where neighborhoods thrive because we ask, listen, and provide what’s needed to achieve equitable development and economic inclusion”, says Ina Anderson, Deputy Director. “We get there by working with people to increase access to resources and to the levers of power that catalyze change.”

Some early steps have included partnering with the KCMO Parks and the Kansas City Museum to explore what equity and inclusion look like in the context of parks, public spaces, arts and culture. Through a grant with the Trust for Public Land and the City Parks Alliance, LISC helped host two working sessions on this topic.  Last August, a variety of individuals and organizations including artists, municipal entities, arts organizations and community based groups gathered at the Bruce R Watkins Cultural Heritage Center & Museum to hear guest speakers Kara Elliott-Ortega, Chief of Arts and Culture for the City of Boston, and Bryan Lee, national Design Justice Advocate from New Orleans, talk about specific projects they are currently working on that are relevant to Kansas City. The conversation (video available here) focused on the complex relationship between creative placemaking, development and gentrification. The audience addressed questions about how public spaces and cultural institutions can mitigate displacement and help to bolster community engagement, inclusion, and equity in the representation of cultural heritage and identities throughout Kansas City’s neighborhoods.

In October, LISC gathered with the UMKC Center for Neighborhoods to observe the 400th anniversary of the enslavement of the first Africans in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. The event was held in response to a call from Dr. Mindy Fullilove, Professor of Urban Policy and Health at The New School, who asked local communities to develop observances related to their own communities’ historical experiences of inequality. Central to the event was the display of a timeline created by Dr. Fullilove and her students that follows the history of African Americans, women, Native Americans and working people over the last 400 years.  A Kansas City Community Timeline, created by UMKC Director of Urban Studies’ Dr. Jacob Wagner and his students was also displayed, showcasing local events significant to the historical development of the Greater Kansas city region, including public policies and social changes that have contributed to the growth of our region. Participants were invited to add events to the timeline, particularly with an equity lens.  

Most recently, LISC staff joined with a diverse group of people from a multitude of disciplines for a local ‘Design As Protest Workshop’ sponsored by American Institute of Architects Kansas City (AIA KC). The workshop was a day-long interdisciplinary discussion around the concepts of Design Justice which seeks to understand how designers and planners can work along with activists and community organizers to contribute to social change through the built environment. Work will continue to form a ‘design justice platform’ that evolves into policies, procedures, programs, and projects that reflect social justice ideology.  

We understand that incorporating equity into our work is an on-going, long-term proposition that will include internal and external changes as well as continual learning. In 2020, we will be having conversations with our friends, partners, allies, and funders about how we can ensure we are fulfilling our mission in the design and execution of our projects and programs. And we would like to hear from you with opportunities to deepen the conversation. We will also be sharing our learnings and resources that frame our understanding and approach.

To start, here are a few relevant stories that have informed our analytical framework:

LISC Community Wise podcast with Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law and Maurice Jones that delves into the historical context for the work LISC does, through the prism of the book’s major theme: residential racial segregation. https://www.lisc.org/our-stories/story/maurice-jones-color-law

A conversation with Michael McAfee, president and CEO of PolicyLink where McAfee discusses the fundamental role race continues to play in structuring outcomes for communities of color. https://www.lisc.org/our-stories/story/maurice-jones-racial-equity

In response to a deeply-reported article about black land loss co-published by The New Yorker and ProPublica, LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones underscores how this ongoing and insidious form of displacement has widened the country’s racial wealth gap. https://www.lisc.org/our-stories/story/intention-created-racial-wealth-gap-will-take-intention-close-it