In Justic, Solidarity and Action ✊

To our communities, our supporters, our allies, The murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many others whose names we may never know, all in the course of a month has deeply impacted the citizens of this nation and once again and tragically shined a light on racism in America.  At Bridges to Change our mission rests on recovery from addictions, mental health, poverty and homelessness. These are all issues that have a disproportionately greater impact on communities of color.  This can be seen starkly in the pandemic that is the back drop of these terrible deaths, as it disproportionately takes the lives of people of color.  Not because of biology, but economic and social issues that create barriers to accessing resources.  It is our duty to stand together, to speak our outrage, to listen to each other and to become better.  We support our communities and staff in exercising their right to protest.  Today, we are also sharing with you our statement on anti-racism and our planned actions to help you understand where we stand in this moment in the history of our nation. Bridges to Change's Anti-Racist Statement and Commitment As an organization, we recognize that our mission is to strengthen individuals and families affected by addictions, mental health, poverty, and homelessness is driven and compounded by systemic and institutional racism. We also recognize that, as an organization with the majority of employees and board members not representing communities of color, that we are part of the systemic problems we wish to change. In order to change injustices, we must acknowledge our own contributions to injustice, and work diligently to improve our organizations impact on the community.  Bridges to Change is determined to utilize an anti-racist approach in all things we do. We know that communities of color are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system, impacted by health disparities, police brutality, chronic lack of resources, and interpersonal and systemic violence. As a result, we are determined to continue working against all forms of racism, discrimination, and injustice. We will not stand with the status quo and enable continuations of oppression to impact the communities we are part of. We are actively pursuing action against overt and covert displays of racism, injustices in the way resources are distributed, and negative outcomes for the most-impacted communities. We stand in partnership with black, indigenous, multicultural people of color. Bridges to Change will not waver in our fight for equity. We stand for justice and actively seek guidance from and in partnership with our most-impacted allies. We stand and demand action for positive change from systems of power. Bridges to Change will not stand silent, we will not be complicit with the status quo, and we will not be complicit to the current structures that create and continue racism and injustice. We will stand with the most-impacted communities and we will be accountable to the community, our program participants, and to our mission.   Bridges to Change is determined to take action in the following ways: -Bridges to Change will hold our funders and community partners accountable to equitable practices, openly addressing systemic barriers they and we contribute to and decline funding from entities that do not support our anti-racist and equity values.  -Bridges to Change will deepen our commitment to internal organizational action for equity by seeking mentorship from our allies and holding our leadership, board, and staff accountable to our anti-racist and equity organizational statements and values. -Bridges to Change will create and sustain partnerships with organizations, businesses, and community leaders to support and receive guidance on how we can improve our impact and be better allies.  -Bridges to Change will make ongoing investments in community organizations supporting the most-impacted communities of systemic racism and injustice. We suggest that our allies donate to local organizations that support this work including: The Black Resilience Fund Women First NAACP - Portland Urban League of Portland

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