These values are the behavioral contract we uphold as a team.

Goals are what we do, our values are how we do it.

Community Action

Compassionate Accountability

Innovation

Distribution of Power

Multiple Truths

Community Action

We believe that action is required and we all have a role to play, together. As a growing movement of Black and Latinx technologists, their allies, and fellow advocates, we care for each other, celebrate each other, actively bring in others, and take on the work of remaking the industry to be equitable and inclusive.

  • Actionable Behaviors:

    • We spot missing systems and create them

    • We identify decisions that need to be made and we make them

    • Doing due diligence is action

    • We build coalitions whenever possible, internally and externally

  • Signs of Challenge:

    • Decision paralysis

    • We struggle to ask questions

    • We identify a problem and dwell vs moving into vision/solution/ implementation space

    • We do not factor others into our actions

Compassionate Accountability

We believe all people and systems can change and that speaking truth to power is critical for that change to occur. We lovingly but firmly hold others and ourselves accountable for centering Black and Latinx experiences, naming and dismantling oppressive systems, and creating the processes and cultures required to ensure Black and Latinx people thrive in tech.

  • Actionable Behaviors:

    • We approach feedback conversations as mutual learning opportunities

    • Accountability is done through a lens of deep compassion, never cruelty or punishment

    • We reject us vs them thinking both internally and externally

  • Signs of Challenge:

    • We struggle to be direct

    • We keep resentment instead of approaching conversations from a place of possibility

    • We use punitive emotion as a tool to get what we want

    • We make a conversation about good guys and bad guys

Innovation

Structural racism is our enemy and we know what it takes to create structural change. We are constantly testing new approaches, pattern spotting, and sharing knowledge that will transform the industry. In working with hundreds of technologists, companies, universities, and others, we’re learning what’s working and what’s not.

  • Actionable Behaviors:

    • We actively search for patterns and share knowledge that leads to deeper understanding

    • We practice sharing insights for our own learning, and the learning of team members, the organization, and ecosystem

    • We operate from a place of possibility and imagination

    • We test new approaches and are willing to travel uncharted paths

  • Signs of Challenge:

    • We do things because “we’ve always done them that way”

    • We don’t step back and observe the breaks in our systems

    • We don’t approach our work from a place of curiosity

    • We keep our insights close to the chest rather than write them down or create new systems with them

Distribution of Power

We reject the zero-sum view of power and resources that says “if you are getting something, this must mean I am not.” In contrast, we believe that by applying the gifts and talents of ALL people, intentionally deploying the ardent sponsorship of allies, and engaging in a consistent inspection of structural and personal beliefs, we will better be able to grow the pie to the benefit of all people.

  • Actionable Behaviors:

    • We must prioritize the intentional distribution of power in our systems

    • We focus on defeating structural barriers to entry, participation, and leadership of Black and Latinx people in the workforce

    • We create access to information, money, and each other in search of more equitable systems

    • We are in active and personal racial equity learning journeys through which we inspect our own programs, systems and behavior for latent bias and power inequities

  • Signs of Challenge:

    • We have difficulty distributing information

    • We have difficulty creating transparent systems

    • We struggle to lean into our own personal development to find the places where we’ve been attached to power

    • We create systems that enable the perpetuation of structural barriers

Multiple Truths

Reality is complex and nuanced. We understand that forward movement means making difficult tradeoffs and there is room at the table for the complexity of our shared experiences. We hold the multiple truths of the data we collect and the experiences of our community at the center of our ideas, knowing both are required and valid.

  • Actionable Behaviors:

    • We only make decisions when those most affected by those decisions are at the table

    • We create systems and feedback loops that provide the data we need to do this work

    • Whenever possible we use data to inform decision making—both quantitative and qualitative

    • We make the hard but necessary tradeoffs needed for forward progress

    • We use data to contextualize a lived experience for ourselves and partners

  • Signs of Challenge:

    • We struggle to identify perceptions outside of our own

    • We struggle to identify the people impacted by the decisions we make

    • We insist on perfection instead of progress

    • We don’t look into available information sources to ensure we are making decisions with input