Being a changemaker at the Tucson J means we are champions of our workplace culture, helping to deepen the work we are doing as an agency to advance our goals toward creating a safe, respectful, and equitable environment for our colleagues as well as our community. It means we have a unique opportunity to identify our own biases as we help others recognize theirs, and in doing so, gives us a chance to truly connect as a team as we learn from one another, share experiences, and grow together.

Our entire team now has a shared language and understanding around the behaviors that contribute to (and denigrate) the kind of work environment we strive for, but more than that, they are empowered to use this knowledge to shape concrete change. With the knowledge of how they can individually contribute to fostering a psychologically safe, equitable, accountable, and inclusive workplace for people of all identities, our staff are better able to approach continued learning and growing around our DEI initiatives. What we have learned from Ta’amod has provided necessary buy-in and framing for a variety of other concurrent projects and initiatives including our hiring of a full-time Inclusion Coordinator, work with Blue Dove and Gather Inc, participation from two of our employees in the Tzedek Social Justice fellowship, the creation of a JAmbassadors volunteer program which incorporates culture training, ongoing J-Ed professional development opportunities, and department-specific trainings that delve deeper into relevant DEI- and SRE-related topics. The impact of this work ripples out and continues.

The section and training on psychological safety has been most impactful when training with our community. Our staff feel validated and seen when we take their psychological wellbeing into account in a professional setting, as it typically is an area that is ignored. Conversations around power have been full of interesting perspectives and have been an opportunity to explore power dynamics at play in our agency that we aren’t always able to identify without being one of the involved parties. Discussions around both of these things have been eye-opening and led to further learning.

It is imperative this work happens at all leadership levels and begins with the people at the top of an organization. Without our CEO’s leadership and intentional and strategic approach to creating a foundation our efforts could grow from, we would not have been able to successfully train over 300 individual J employees and 10 Jewish community organizational leaders. Additionally, getting buy-in from the Board and the local Jewish community, as well as creating structures of support through grants, donors, and human resources is extremely important. Organizations must be willing to invest the time and accept incremental change while remaining deeply committed to your goals. Remember: Nothing happens overnight, and this work is ongoing and always evolving; there is no end so every bit of progress along the way counts! Come to this work with an open-mind and the intention to be challenged and grow through it yourself as much as you expect your trainees to. Remember that most incivility and inappropriate behaviors stem from systemic social justice issues – so understanding how DEI and SRE intersect is massively important to do this work effectively.