Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Statement of Principle
Newborn Care Specialist Association
V08.01.22
We value inclusion and diversity at the Newborn Care Specialist Association.
We value uniqueness and the individual qualities that make you who you are.
We welcome that every NCS brings a unique perspective and experience to families internationally.
The NCSA’s mission is to fight for equality in jobs, education, and financial stability.
We believe that the NCSA is responsible for each member, donor, volunteer, and advocate and we all must have equal access to available opportunities.
We strive to include diversity, equity, and inclusion practices at the centre of our daily communication in the NCSA.
We commit to using these practices for ourselves and require the same methods in our training, agencies, and the larger community.
The NCSA has multiple facets of how our values and experiences advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work.
We are committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status.
Join us in embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion for every person within the NCS community.
Our next steps:
We plan to take several steps to ensure BIPOC are equitably supported in career advancement, including beefing up talent mapping processes with multi-year projections of the roles we will need for achieving our mission and vision; investing in robust succession planning processes that prioritize a diverse slate of high-performing staff; emphasizing career development and learning for all members in our Association.
Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan:
After an in-depth conversation with members and non-members, we identified that unless we all came together to seal the gaps in the NCS communities, our growth as a community would continue to stall. We identified important ways our organization can better instil diversity, equity, and inclusion within our affiliates and team culture.
OUR COMMITMENT:
Each organization and training program that the NCSA will be affiliated with MUST have a Diversity Equity and Inclusion statement and training for all the NCSs and members. They MUST demonstrate their commitment to diversity and equity and inclusion. For example, their obligations to DEI should be evident through their work, training, and policies. We want everyone to feel included, each representing the voices of underrepresented groups with equal opportunities.
OUR PLAN:
One of our core visions is to remain visible in our work as we establish a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee made up of Newborn Care Specialists worldwide. The committee meets throughout the year to establish, develop and prioritize findings with sensitivity and care. The committee will continue to be an essential lead structure that will help hold our organization and affiliates accountable for implementing the plan.
THE IDENTIFIED PRIORITIES
We partnered with external and internal NCSs and Postpartum Support Specialists to conduct an in-depth NCS community audit. It was shared that significant gaps remain problematic and unsupportive, and we feel like anti-racism work is often swept under the carpet. We must have true allies, anti-racism pillars, and partners with our leadership teams. Priorities next three years
1. Pursue equitable treatment for all Newborn Care Specialists of color
2. Strengthen DEI PRACTICES within the organization and all affiliates
3. Speak up and stay kind. “if you see something, say something.”
4. Stay accountable and ask the same for affiliated organizations.
5. Pursue equitable treatment for all Newborn Care Specialists of color
Our number one role as an anti-racist and anti-discriminatory organization is to deliver an excellent program that supports the best health, academic, and social-emotional outcomes for all Newborn Care Specialists. To do that, we need to understand how each member of color is supported in their growth and learning as students. We will also make it a priority to ensure agencies have a DEI plan and training.
We will also identify an infrastructure of reporting and a framework for decision-making and policy. Provide more clarity on responsibilities to support equitable opportunities for jobs and professional development and a clearer understanding of success.
We are also in pursuit of feedback from NCS focus groups and responses from our organizational health survey, which will collect input from different sources on what it’s like to work as an NCS in an agency, including satisfaction with workload and role expectations and job placements.
We want to undermine unclear roles and responsibilities that can perpetuate white supremacy culture characteristics, like asking a Black NCS to elaborate or underscoring the intent to express a view valued by white-dominant spaces and often only acceptable for white people to participate in asking questions. We are removing the bully culture, and no question is stupid. All questions and opinions are essential.
CREATE MORE EQUITABLE PATHWAYS FOR CAREER ADVANCEMENT
Our equity goal for the future is an opportunity to intentionally focus on and build more equitable career advancement pathways to increase retention and see more leaders of color advance to the highest levels of the NCS space.
We believe career advancement is an individual achievement, and we would like to see more Newborn Care Specialists of color training courses and leadership workshops; We want to see more title changes like IBCLC, Sleep Consultant, RN, and others. With those titles, we will see a rise in compensation, access to learning opportunities and coaching, deep expertise in areas of our work, and increased decision-making power.