On Earth Peace board report, volunteers invited to Anti-Racism Transformation Team

By Laura Hay and Bev Eikenberry

This year has brought significant transitions. After 25 years of dedicated service, our beloved director of administration, Darlene Johnson, has retired. We are deeply grateful for her long-standing commitment and the stability she provided, and we wish her a happy retirement filled with family, friends, and plenty of gardening!

In response to this change, the co-chairs, in collaboration with our staff liaison and co-directors, are excited to welcome Andrew Duffy as our new transition director to help us in this season of change. With this transition comes an exciting opportunity for both staff and the board to thoughtfully consider the future of On Earth Peace.

One of our committees, Board Governance and Development, is actively working to complete our board with the addition of a secretary and treasurer. If you feel you have skills in these areas and could fill one of these positions please reach out to us at boardchair@onearthpeace.org.

On April 12, we held our biannual all-day board meeting. We heard inspiring updates from staff that encourage us to seek increased support to build our capacity. We gained insight from each of the major committees, and deepened our collective skills to help move the organization forward. We left renewed by our shared commitment to active nonviolence in the pursuit of justice.

Invitation to apply: Anti-Racism Transformation Team

We’re excited to announce that applications are now open for the Anti-Racism Transformation Team. The team was created in 2016 with the intention of transforming On Earth Peace into a fully multiracial, multicultural, and anti-racist institution. The revitalization of the team will center its focus on race and racism in our organizational transformation as it relates to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Specifically, On Earth Peace empowers the Anti-Racism Transformation Team to:

Lead and hold On Earth Peace accountable for dismantling racism within the organization by partnering with the board, staff, and stakeholders to create policies, practices, norms, and spaces consistent with racial justice.
Move On Earth Peace from being an organization that is simply aware of institutional racism issues to a fully transformed multiracial, multicultural, and anti-racist institution.
Create and help carry out the Anti-Racism Transformation Plan to become a genuinely multiracial and multicultural organization and peacebuilder community.
Help On Earth Peace become more accountable to the communities of color with whom we are connecting, especially as we seek to expand our constituency beyond the Church of the Brethren.
Share the story of this institutional anti-racism work with—and provide continued anti-racism education to—On Earth Peace staff, board, constituencies, and stakeholders.

The team’s primary intervention method will be to develop proposals for the board and staff that influence multiple areas of our work and community. These proposals will identify concrete steps to addressing existing barriers and help guide our transformation into a truly inclusive, multicultural organization.

The team will be composed of a racially diverse, all-volunteer, long-term leadership team. Members must serve for at least one year, with the option of renewing their commitment for up to six years of service.

Anti-Racism Transformation Team members must:

Be deeply committed to the mission and ministry of On Earth Peace, as well as agency’s desire to become an anti-racist institution
Have completed or expressed a willingness to complete an identified Crossroads training or equivalent training in antiracism
Have personal experience and/or professional expertise in anti-racist institutional transformation

If you are interested in joining the team, please submit an application by June 1—go to www.onearthpeace.org/artt. If we decide to move forward with your application, you will be contacted for a follow-up interview.

We look forward to working collaboratively with all of you to ensure this work is intentional, actionable, and impactful. Thank you for being part of this journey.

— Laura Hay and Bev Eikenberry are serving as co-chairs of the board of On Earth Peace this year. As a former intern, joining the board last year and now this year stepping into a new role as co-chair has been a meaningful way for Hay to support the mission of On Earth Peace in a new capacity. Find out more about On Earth Peace, an agency of the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, at www.onearthpeace.org

———-

Find more Church of the Brethren news: