Nor’wester’s Next Steps in Anti-Racism Work

Dear Camp Community,

The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and too many others have sparked a larger conversation touching on many topics, including institutionalized racism and the justice system. With the support of Board leadership, our Executive Director, Sheila Tallmon, released a public statement in support of Black Lives Matter in June 2020. Since then, Board and community members have held several conversations to brainstorm a list of immediate and future action items, and to continue to seek out camp community member feedback and involvement.

Over the last ten years, Nor’wester has built upon its strong foundation of values of inclusion.   We have augmented our efforts to address concerns related to diversity and equity by creating a more robust diversity committee, which then changed names to the C5 committee (Creating Cultural Competence in our Camp Community). Focused efforts from Camp leadership and the C5 committee have led to improvements in the camper and staff experiences at camp and have brought areas of improvement to light. As we look forward, we recognize there is much work to do.  This work is essential to our growth as an organization, as well as fulfilling our mission in service to our community.

Looking Ahead – Our Areas of Focus:

• Open and candid conversations around specific aspects of Nor’wester’s culture and processes that result in a less-inclusive space for individuals based on various identity factors, including race, class, gender identity, and more

• Thoughtful promotion and enrollment that invites campers/families of color into our community

• Looking at the Nor’wester experience and how we can be more conscious of race and how our practices and traditions promote/dissuade campers and staff of color

• Intentional approach for hiring staff of color

• Board commitment to DEI, which will include assessment of all committee work and organizational decisions moving forward

• Commitment to being open to suggestions and developing avenues for feedback/input from current community members and those not yet connected to Nor’wester

Above all, Camp Nor’wester stands firm in its commitment to building anti-racist practices amongst its community members and to developing a more anti-racist culture at Camp and beyond. Toward that end, we hereby would like to share the following pledge:

Nor’wester Anti-Racism Pledge: 

As an organization that serves a multi-generational community around the world, Camp Nor’wester is committed to the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.  Toward that end, we affirm our commitment to the practice of anti-racism, while recognizing that each of us connected to Nor’wester is at a different place along this path of awareness, education and engagement.  Camp Nor’wester seeks to be intentional in its pursuit of recognizing bias, as well as creating a courageous space for all to engage in the work of dismantling racism and ethnic oppression.

Thank you for going on this journey with us. It will take all of us doing this, and we will not necessarily ever “arrive” and do everything right, but we will grow stronger and better through this process of doing this imperative and necessary good work… together.

Camp Nor’wester C5 Committee

Creating Cultural Competence in our Camp Community