What we do…

Equity Solutions provides engaging and innovative trainings and consulting services for state agencies, social service organizations, schools, and businesses so participants gain tools for strong client, staff, and leadership/management relationships. These strong relationships create a work environment where all are valued and thriving, and can actively contribute to a collective response to root causes of economic and racial inequity.

How we do it…

We use 5 key tools throughout our work.

1. Practice vulnerability. We recognize and name our own personal experiences - we tell our stories and we listen to the stories of others.

2. Recognize the larger context of racial and economic inequity we are living in. We need to continue learning so that we can make informed decisions about policies we are making and interrupt harmful assumptions we are making about people along the way.

3. Interrupt our assumptions and unconscious bias. We all carry bias with us and it is important for an equitable society that we can recognize when this bias is harming others and take steps to interrupt it. We can change many of these neural pathways.

4. Use trauma-informed principles. Trauma, whether from a one-time event or from generations of marginalization, has a profound impact on humans. It is important to recognize this and to put specific trauma-informed principles into practice so that people in our workplaces can be safe, valued, heard, and work towards healing.

5. Implement equity at four levels - Personal, Interpersonal, Organizational Policy & Practices, and Larger Systems. By using an equity lens we move beyond ‘helping’ to transform relationships among people living in poverty and the organizations meant to serve them. This model empowers all stakeholders to co-create short- and long-term solutions that work.

Why Equity Solutions

So you’ve been in lots of diversity and equity trainings before, and you want to know how this one is different. There are many great training options out there, and we hope you choose the best one for your group. Here’s how Equity Solutions is unique:

1. We are very intentional about talking about race and class together, never separately. And we bring in gender, ability, religion, mental health, and other issues where appropriate.

2. We are a worker cooperative - we make decisions by consensus and we each have an equitable share in the profits (whenever there are any).

3. We have a very diverse team, both in our social identities and in the experiences and interests we bring to equity work, making us very flexible in applying an equity lens to many contexts.

4. We are part-time trainers/consultants; the rest of the time we are community organizers. And we are all actively volunteering for key efforts for racial and economic equity. This keeps us in tune with what is happening on the ground and what the real needs of people are.  

5. We are committed to learning, and you get to witness that learning while we are with you.

6. We love and trust each other, and it shows. We model equity in the way we work together, and in the way that we work with you.

   Check out the results and benefits that groups have had from working with us.

What We Offer

• 1-hour presentations

• 1-hour webinar

• 3.5-hour trainings

• 1- and 2-day trainings

  • Racial and Economic Inequity and What We Can Do About It

  • Poverty In an Unequal Economy

  • Unconscious Bias and Microaggressions

  • Trauma-Informed Practice

  • Class In the Workplace

• Intergroup Dialogues

  • Cross Class Dialogue Circles - in-person and virtual, Level 1 and Level 2

• Consulting Services tailored to your needs:

  • Equity Assessments

  • Developing Community Engagement Plans

  • Policy Review

  • Outreach Materials Review

  • Coaching: Individual and Organizational

  • Monitoring and Evaluation

  • Strategic Planning

  • Best Practice Research

We are committed to working in a cross-class team and to providing a livable wage for all trainers and consultants. We provide a dynamic and effective experience and are committed to excellence.

We are currently fiscally sponsored by the Peace Development Foundation and are in the process of becoming a worker cooperative. Donations of all sizes are welcome in this kick-off phase.

Be in touch to set up a free 1 hour consultation or to schedule a training or consulting service.

What's in a Training?

We use a dynamic, creative, and innovative combination of storytelling, presentation, small group work, pair share, activities, group brainstorming, action planning, and relationship building. We bring both data driven solutions and a commitment to connection through story sharing.  

Click on the image below to scroll through a few photos of a training with Substance Abuse Prevention people from around the state of VT in 2017.

What does an equitable change process look like?

It is circular rather than linear and usually has many of the following components:

• Becoming aware that a problem exists

• Learning more about the problem

• Recognizing our own personal role in that problem

• Wanting to do something different

• Learning about solutions

• Trying out solutions

• Making mistakes

• Reflecting on what could have been done differently

• Trying something new

We like to support all kinds of groups in this equitable change process. We don’t pretend to be experts in every field. We are, however, experts in seeing through an equity lens and supporting you in applying equity to your own area of expertise, whether that is teaching, case management, HR, business management, policy development, health care, writing, substance use prevention, or any other field!

How might a training be different for different groups? We work with each group to learn what your goals are, and then we structure our trainings to meet those goals. We work with you to support you in applying equity concepts to your work (and life). Sometimes a training doesn’t quite hit the mark; it might be because you’ve had a major staff change and applying equity concepts at this moment in time feels daunting, it might be because we couldn’t go deep enough on an initial training to satisfy the need for immediate change, or we might have misjudged how ready your group is to make equitable change. Because equity work is a process, not a checkbox, we highly encourage groups to commit to at least two sessions with us so that you can begin to see tangible results. The first training is often more building awareness and introducing people to the frameworks - we begin to apply the concepts, but it can be hard to get very far in just a few hours. In a second training we can get more in depth. And if we work with you over a period of time you will see the most change.