Copper Beech Institute’s Healing & Justice Accountability Plan
Copper Beech Institute (CBI) believes that the pursuit of justice and the practice of contemplation are intrinsically linked journeys that contribute to the liberation of all beings. To this end, we seek to dismantle systems of oppression and to further healing and justice within and beyond our walls. We recognize that as a result of historically and intentionally constructed systems, many groups, specifically Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), have been excluded from various spaces, including mindfulness and meditation communities. As a community that values awareness, connection, transformation, open-heartedness, and compassionate action above all else, we strive to cultivate an environment where healing and justice is possible for all.
Here is our 2022 Healing & Justice Accountability Report, outlining our achievements for 2022. The following is a summation of our Healing & Justice Accountability Plan goals for 2023. It is the result of discussions with staff, our Healing & Justice Collaborative, and a review of best practices. It has been reviewed by two DEI consultants. The Executive Director and the Director of Integrity & Growth will oversee the implementation of the outlined goals in each department through quarterly check-ins and a monthly progress dashboard. Each year, Copper Beech staff will create a Healing & Justice Annual Report for the Board, HJC, and our community. It is important to note that this is a living document. As we achieve our goals in 2023, we will create even bolder goals for 2024 and beyond.
Current Demographics
Current Demographics
Central to our mission and goals is a commitment to being a community that reflects the diversity of the Greater Hartford area. Although we strive to welcome and employ people who hold many types of identities, we are especially focused on creating racial diversity in our organization. According to the 2019 Census Bureau, Greater Hartford has the following racial make-up: 59.9% White, 18.8% Hispanic or Latiné, 15.8% Black, 6.2% Asian or Pacific Islander, 0.6% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.1%. We are also committed to pushing back on systemic whiteness in the mindfulness community at large, ensuring that when people seek out our services, they will find facilitators, staff, board members, and volunteers that look like them and may have similar life experiences.
In 2022, the racial diversity of our organization looks like this:
Staff: 100% White
Facilitators: 34% BIPOC*
Board: 59% White, 33% Black, 8% Latinx
Volunteers: 5% BIPOC*
In 2022, the racial diversity of the population Copper Beech serves is 74% White, 18% Black, 7% Latinx, and 1% Asian/Pacific Islander.*
As we implement this plan, we will continue to measure ourselves against the Census data, but we will strive for our aspirational goal of at least 50% BIPOC* representation in all categories listed above. However, we will pursue these goals with intentional actions, never making decisions solely based off numerical targets. We understand that authentically representing our community is an urgent and significant need, and we will carefully measure our progress over time.
*NOTE: We do not have fully accurate data on our population served at this time, though part of this plan establishes a process for ongoing data collection of our participants. As we collect more data, we will move beyond the general term “BIPOC” and note the racial identities that people in our community hold more fully.
Current Healing & Justice Work
As we move forward with new practices, policies, and initiatives, it is important to look at what work has been done to create an environment of healing, justice, and inclusivity at Copper Beech Institute. The following are initiatives, programs, policies, and practices that have been implemented and adopted at our organization:
Healing & Justice Collaborative (HJC) – A multiracial consultative group that meets bi-monthly to give feedback, suggestions, and guidance on Copper Beech’s healing and justice work.
BIPOC Meditation Group – An affinity meditation and support group by and for BIPOC that meets monthly and is led by the co-chairs of the HJC.
CARE Program – We believe that access to mindfulness practice is a human right. Through CARE, we offer free, twice daily meditation sessions, generous scholarships, and pro bono mindfulness sessions in the community.
Social Justice Programming, Observances, & Awareness Months – We celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Women’s History Month, Earth Day, Asian-American/Pacific Islander Month, Pride Month, Juneteenth, Latinx Heritage Month, and Indigenous Peoples Month through programs. We also post daily wisdom from Black, Latinx, and Indigenous folks and women and those in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community during their respective Awareness Months.
Collaborative Programming With Nonprofits Led by BIPOC and Others Most Impacted By Systems of Oppression – Most recently, we collaborated with One Village Healing to offer Restoring Integral Spirit Energy (RISE), a group focused on helping all to heal from systems of oppression.
Mindful of Whiteness: An Anti-Racist Study Group – An 8-month program for white people to gather and educate ourselves on racism and to build resilience to do anti-racism work, offered in 2021.
Code of Ethics - A document created by Copper Beech staff, facilitators, HJC members, and the board that outlines our ethical commitments as an organization.
Tiered Pricing Structure & Scholarships – To ensure access for as many people as possible, we offer a tiered pricing structure for all programs and offer between $50K-$100K in scholarship funding each year. We have specific scholarship funding ear-marked for BIPOC participants, though one of the goals of this plan is to increase and set specific targets for this particular funding.
BIPOC Fellowships for Mindfulness Facilitator Certification (MFC) program – part of our annual scholarship funding is earmarked for BIPOC wishing to attend our MFC program. Our 2nd MFC cohort began in March 2022.
Racial Healing Initiative (RHI) + Anti-Oppression Training - Annually, CBI offers at least one anti-oppression training to all facilitators, staff members, board members, and volunteers. We will continue our partnership with the RHI, including planning annual racial healing retreats. Much of this training has focused on antiracism, whiteness, and white privilege. Other trainings include mental health topics, trauma-sensitivity, and creating affirming spaces for 2SLGBTQIA+-identified folks.
Paid Holidays – In addition to other major holidays, our team has paid time off for Earth Day, Juneteenth, Indigenous People’s Day so that they might celebrate with friends and family on these days and/or participate in educational activities and programming. We do not celebrate Columbus Day.
Organizational Culture, Hiring & Retention Practices
CBI is committed to practices that cultivate an inclusive and diverse community and workplace. We celebrate and value differences in life experience, perspectives, self-expression, knowledge, and education as qualities that deepen our understanding, challenge the status quo, and make us stronger. Our hiring practice focus on increasing diversity, cultivating inclusion, and eliminating areas of implicit bias. In 2022 we commit to:
CBI is committed to practices that cultivate an inclusive and diverse community and workplace. We celebrate and value differences in life experience, perspectives, self-expression, knowledge, and education as qualities that deepen our understanding, challenge the status quo, and make us stronger. Our hiring practice focus on increasing diversity, cultivating inclusion, and eliminating areas of implicit bias. In 2023 we commit to:
Ask demographics questions on Program Proposal form and Board Application.
Create a plan for a BIPOC-identified mentor.
Every other month, dedicating the discussion portion of staff meetings (40 minutes) to healing and justice topics, including discussion about materials (both written and audio) sent out before team meetings.
Work with volunteer DEI consultant.
Develop white affinity groups for the staff and board where we practice meditation alongside reviewing and discussing anti-oppression resources.
Utilizing tools to objectively rate applicants based on skills rather than the ‘gut feelings.’ Diverse hiring teams will reflect on their own implicit bias when meeting with applicants and discuss as a team, holding each other accountable.
Creating job descriptions that validate lived experience and proven skills, not just education or certification.
Ensuring, to the extent possible, flexible work arrangements honoring religious practices and considering accommodations for physical or mental differences/needs for each team member and included in job descriptions/positions when possible (NOTE: Some job descriptions have specific requirements that need to be met, in these instances these requirements will be made explicit and accommodations will be made when possible).
Staff members are responsible for attending at least 1 webinar or training focused on anti-oppression each fiscal year.
Supporting any team members to bring issues or concerns without fear of retaliation to our Reporting Liaison, as outlined in our Policy Prohibiting Harassment and Discrimination.
All facilitators, staff, volunteers, and board members must sign ourAll facilitators, staff, volunteers, and board members must sign our Healing & Justice Statement, Code of Ethics, and Policy Prohibiting Harassment.
Operations, Budget, & Policy
CBI is committed to transparent operations that are anti-oppressive and resource sharing that benefits the communities we serve. In 2023, we commit to:
Maintaining a fully transparent fiscal process by developing and sharing financial planning and updates with all team members.
Guidance from 2 volunteer DEI technical experts from our Board.
Select HR services for team to conduct a review of the Employee Handbook, staff salary and benefits, to help select and EAP, and to create an evaluation process for the ED.
Begin planning Board Racial Healing Initiative (RHI) training and 2023 RHI Retreat with our RHI trainer.
To the extent possible, creating event/office spaces that are physically accessible to all people.
Anti-racism work (training, etc.) will be incorporated into the CBI yearly budget. Outreach will be done to engage funders in the work that is happening and external funds will be sought.
Grant and contract budgets will be crafted to ensure that community engagement is equitable and properly remunerated.
We will offer at least two trainings each year for staff, facilitators, volunteers, and Board members, with at least one of these trainings focused on anti-oppression.
Departmental Goals
Programming - This department plans all courses, workshops, and retreats offered at Copper Beech, both in-person and online. While engaging diverse facilitators, we commit to selecting program topics that are relevant, timely, and that engage people from a wide range of communities and backgrounds. Our guiding principles in this department include trauma-responsiveness, social justice, and experiential learning. In 2023, we commit to:
40% of our programs will be facilitated by BIPOC. (Increasing this to 50% over the course of 3 years.)
Create Accessibility Plan with budget. (Possibly with guidance from Disability Rights CT.)
Collaborate with our Director of Integrity & Growth to seek funding for reasonable accommodations to our programming.
Hold at least 1 Spanish language program.
Create an Evaluation Plan and calendar for administering Program Surveys.
Annual updating of our Facilitator Research Guide to ensure diversity on our facilitation team.
Administering annual surveys and focus groups to our community to gather program themes and potential facilitators.
Offering a monthly BIPOC meditation group.
Holding at least 4 explicitly social justice-oriented programs and/or events each year, using our observance calendar as a guide to the stories, holidays, and celebrations of people most impacted by systems of oppression.
Working with our Director of Integrity & Growth to secure scholarship funding each year, especially for BIPOC.
Working with our Director of Integrity & Growth to partner with BIPOC-led organizations on programming.
Requiring all new facilitators and volunteers to sign our Healing & Justice Statement, Code of Ethics, and Policy Prohibiting Harassment.
When deciding on venues, performers, and catering options for events, we will seek out BIPOC and BIPOC-owned companies.
Marketing – This department is responsible for all social media, mass emails, newsletters, video-making, and communications for the organization. We pledge that our marketing will reflect the diversity of our community and will communicate our commitment to equity, healing, and justice in ever more accessible ways. In 2023, we commit to:
40% of all blog posts written by BIPOC.
Twice weekly social justice themed posts/stories.
Choose a Spanish translation service for website.
Yearly audit of Healing & Justice Resource Page on website.
Featuring BIPOC, people of different sizes, and people with different abilities when creating posts, emails, videos or content.
Using an observance calendar, we will highlight the stories, holidays, and celebrations of people most impacted by systems of oppression.
Issuing statements in moments of crisis expressing solidarity with those most impacted, lifting up social media posts from organizations led by those most impacted, and listing ways to donate to or support organizations helping those most impacted.
Transformative Leadership Program (TLP) - TLP focuses on bringing mindfulness into the workplace and into schools. We work mostly with nonprofits, but have partnered with for-profit businesses, as well. The Angell Foundation supports our piloting work each year, meaning we can bring this program into nonprofits and schools for free. In 2023, we commit to:
20% of our TLP workshops will be led by BIPOC.
When funding is available, updating our curriculum and our brochure with the support of a DEI consultant to ensure we are infusing all of our workshops and marketing with Healing and Justice principles.
Standardize TLP workshops and update brochure.
Link TLP more fully to our CARE initiative.
Invite MFC graduates to facilitate TLP.
When we have pilot funds available, seeking out partnerships with Black-led nonprofits or nonprofits that serve those most impacted by systems of oppression to offer free or subsidized mindfulness and resilience sessions.
When funding is available for work in the school setting, we will partner with schools in low-income neighborhoods and/or with schools with high numbers of students most impacted by systems of oppression.
Offering TLP facilitators anti-oppression training at least once per calendar year.
Fundraising and Grant Writing
While our funding priorities vary year to year, our fundraising and grant writing will reflect our commitment to healing and justice. In 2023, we commit to:
Developing 2-3 enduring partnerships with BIPOC-led organizations.
Sponsoring or donating to 2-3 nonprofits.
Writing CARE into at least 3 proposals and/or LOIs.
Conversation with Racial Healing Initiative leaders about ongoing support for healing and justice work.
Partner with DEI consultant/mentor on volunteer basis.
Writing at least 3 social justice-focused programs into grant proposals annually.
Gather BIPOC 5-7 donor testimonials and share on social media channels and website annually.
Board Goals
We believe an organization can only flourish if diverse views and experiences are represented on its Board of Directors. As such, we are committed to a diverse and inclusive Board, including racial and socioeconomic diversity, etc. In 2023, we commit to:
Creating an equitable process for electing board leadership and committee chairs.
The Governance Committee will review needed skills, representation, and qualifications for board nominations.
Having at least 25% of our board members holding BIPOC identities with leadership from the Governance Committee and the Board Liaison to the HJC.
Creating a Racial Healing Initiative training for the board and a white affinity group for the board.
Demographics and Data Collection
We understand that collecting data about our staff, facilitators, volunteers, board members, and participants is vital and necessary part of measuring our progress on our healing and justice goals. In 2023, we commit to:
The Programming Department is developing an Evaluation Plan and calendar for administering Program Surveys which include demographic questions.
The Transformative Leadership Program will continue to evaluate their offerings with a survey that include demographic questions.
Demographic questions will be included in our Program Proposal form and our Board Applications.
A note from the Copper Beech Institute staff: This plan is a living document. We recognize our understandings of social justice issues will continue to evolve over time and that the words shared here may require changing. We welcome feedback and request the support of others in guiding us along the path of liberation.