Zumbro Valley Health Center’s mission is to improve the lives of clients we serve utilizing a person-centered, integrated approach. Employing a highly engaged, diverse workforce is our foundation. Now, more than ever, it’s important that we take steps to build this foundation thoughtfully and strategically. This commitment to racial justice in southeast Minnesota is in partnership with the Rochester Nonprofit Consortium.
In 2007, we formed a partnership with the Rochester Diversity Council to provide guidance to our organization. Our staff and providers want to ensure that our efforts in Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity are effective, meaningful, and sustainable. We continue to value feedback and want to communicate the next few steps:
- Seek Diversity Council’s guidance in updating our Diversity Council Charter and team selection.
- Signing of a Commitment to Action towards Racial Justice to Listen, Learn, and Act.
Also, we ask those in our community to please take notice of Juneteenth. For those who are not familiar, Juneteenth a nationally recognized day that is remembered as the end of American slavery. Although the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, it was not until June 19th, 1865 that Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas to break the news that the war was over, and slaves were officially free.
Although structural inequities persist, and institutional and systematic racism still permeates several systems, Juneteenth marks an important moment in American History.
As a local nonprofit serving our community, we will continue to listen, learn, and act for social and racial justice.