In our mission to support the creation and availability of quality children’s books in every region of the world, we recognize that those books must reflect the rich diversity of our human family. The only way to do that is to support writers, illustrators, and translators that reflect every lived experience. As a global organization, we acknowledge that inclusion looks different in every corner of the world and invite you to share what “Inclusion Plus” looks like for your region and how we can better fold that into our toolkit.
Equity & Inclusion (EI) is an integral part of who we are, woven into every chapter of our story. Like many organizations, we find ourselves at a crossroads of how to keep improving our inclusion efforts and best share that message with you. In the past we kept our partnerships, contributions, support, and EI efforts as internal documents and hoped our goodwill would speak for itself. Transparency has evolved as a value of ours. We consider this space to be a living document, up for regular review, improvement, and sharing.
In this spirit, the Kansas/Missouri region is looking for volunteers to form an Equity and Inclusion team specific to our region. In order to expand inclusivity in our leadership, membership, and volunteer corps, we are seeking members to join this committee. We would like to increase representation including but not limited to race/ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship, veteran status, and religion.
Our initial goals for the group would include quarterly virtual meetings and participation in outreach and education efforts. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to Jess Townes at ksmo-ra2@scbwi.org. In appreciation for volunteer involvement on this committee, we will be offering free SCBWI membership for one year.
We affirm the SCBWI Statement of Intent on Equity and Inclusion, and likewise affirm our region’s responsibility in helping to shape a more equitable, inclusive world for our young readers. We look forward to hearing your ideas.
To learn more about equity and inclusion with SCBWI as a whole please click here.