[Note: We wrote this statement with input from our SABES colleagues, the field, and ACLS, and are posting it here with the understanding that this may not be the final version. Please let us know what you think! We invite your input at info@sabes.org]

At SABES, we create and support educational learning experiences that welcome and celebrate a diversity of backgrounds, abilities, and perspectives, while recognizing the inequities that impact lived experiences. We believe our lives and our learning are enriched by our differences as well by our common humanity.

We advance equitable access to opportunity by grounding our professional development, resources, and partnerships in diversity, equity, and inclusion, as these terms are defined by Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS)*. 

To this end, we are committed to: 

  • Actively learning and reflecting on the systemic inequities and realities that inform our collective and individual experiences;
  • Evolving our professional development offerings and processes as we uncover new information and areas of individual and systemic  ignorance and biases;
  • Building our capacity to confront inequity in the systems we are part of, and to support adult education practitioners and programs to do the same.  

To see examples of how we are putting our values into action, see the links below: 

* Antiracism: Identifying and changing an organization’s structural and institutional role in the systemic advantage of white people over others based on persisting racist beliefs, with a sustained focus on racism that impacts BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color).

Diversity and inclusion - The representation of people from a wide range of races, identities, abilities, experiences, values, and perspectives, and the recognition of intersectionality.

Equity - A heightened focus on groups, particularly racial groups, experiencing disproportionate impact through the development of systems to remediate disparities in their experiences and outcomes.

*Source: UPD ADEI Glossary, UPD Consulting

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