Kevin Matta is the senior director of people and culture for United Way of Rhode Island Inc. and the president of the Rhode Island-based nonprofit Diversity and Inclusion Professionals, which supports diversity, equity and inclusion efforts around the country.
Starting Wednesday, the United Way will hold a weeklong Equity Challenge, inviting local businesses, individuals and families to take part in learning about justice, diversity, equity and inclusion. Matta spoke with Providence Business News about the initiative and its goals.
PBN: What was the impetus for United Way to introduce this challenge?
MATTA: The Equity Challenge first emerged at United Way of Rhode Island during a time of growing social injustices in our country and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. This timing also coincided with the height of the pandemic.
At its core, our Equity Challenge provides opportunity for Rhode Islanders to learn and to unify. It provides businesses, individuals and organizations with a low-barrier entry to better understanding the equity-related topics that affect us all, while raising awareness of our collective goal to break down walls of racism and create social justice change.
The topics the challenge covers represent dedication to the values that foster a culture of belonging and the importance of making equitable progress every day for all members of our society.
PBN: What is the challenge’s overall goal?
MATTA: Our primary goal with the Equity Challenge is to provide individuals and organizations who traditionally do not have access to dollars or corporate funding for DEI training a way to engage in developing knowledge skills in the areas of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.
We realize a gap exists in building this awareness and gaining perspective that stems from people not knowing where to begin or where to go for an appropriately curated experience that truly enhances understanding of equity-related topics. So, we’re making that easy for everyone.
PBN: What does this challenge entail? What activities/topics will be part of the weeklong event?
MATTA: The seven-day challenge is made up of 30-minute prompts emailed daily to participants who have registered to embark on this journey. Each prompt will offer you the option to read, watch, or listen as a means to learn about that day’s specific topic, such as justice, advocacy, inclusion, equity, diversity, allyship and accomplice.
You can choose to do these independently, with colleagues, at home with family or friends, or on a walk. This all has been designed to broaden participants’ perspective and inspire meaningful conversations around critical topics and the need for action-oriented results.
PBN: What does United Way hope local businesses get out of participating in the challenge and how will their participation benefit the businesses?
MATTA: Businesses everywhere have faced challenges amidst growing public demand to demonstrate accountability around the many social injustices that, at times, have dominated national news headlines in recent years.
What we’re hoping for, locally, is for businesses that have made bold equity commitments or that might not know where to begin their DEI journey to join the challenge and offer it to employees and the community as a baseline for shared knowledge and language. Customers, employees and future talent have all gained awareness around the principles of equity, and there’s no question it informs how they engage in business and with their talents.
By participating in a learning opportunity such as our Equity Challenges, businesses are demonstrating a commitment to DEI, and that’s hugely important in the eyes of our community.
PBN: On the challenge’s final day – June 27 – “accomplice” will be the discussed topic. Can you explain what this means and why this is vital as part of the ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion conversations communitywide?
MATTA: The term accomplice comes from a place of active involvement – as an accomplice, you can’t skip out on the consequences, whether good or bad. As a result of this conversation, we want people to move from allyship and advocacy into the role of accomplice, where they proudly wear the hat of accountability and no longer choose to opt in or out of an equity challenge.
The “Accomplice” session is intended to be the culmination of the phrase, “To those who are given more, more is expected.” And with the knowledge of our Equity Challenge, all Rhode Islanders can be expected to be accomplices of positive change throughout the state.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
