COR History |
| Confronting Organizational Racism evolved out of our diversity and multiculturalism model. Our diversity model was established in 1991 when Dr. Alan Siskind became CEO of JBFCS and convened a 25- person diversity task force to improve the agency's competence to serve a diverse population, as our mission expanded to serving all racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds. JBFCS work then evolved in 1997, into multiculturalism, which sought to learn and understand the diverse cultures of our staffs and clients. Significant gains were made through the adoption of both approaches; however, as we progressed as an agency in the later efforts, it became clear that race and racism greatly burden and impacts the lives of all people of color which includes both our staff and clients, and multiculturalism remotely addresses the adverse effects of racism. |  CEO Paul Levine |
 Former CEO Dr. Allan Siskind |
After a series of workshops with the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, JBFCS began to look at and address the less visible issues of power and privilege that operate within institutions. We came to understand that racism is race prejudice, combined with power, and it manifests itself individually, culturally and institutionally. This new understanding led to a shift in our efforts to remodel an anti-racist paradigm. An anti-racist stance is needed for JBFCS to continue to evolve as a prominent agency and to preserve our commitment to providing the finest quality of social and mental health services. |
| Nancy Boyd- Franklin, PhD and Anderson J. Franklin, PhD are two endowed individuals who played a major role in the launching as well as the progression of COR. Serving as the initial JBFCS anti-racist consultants from 2003 to 20005; they brought their expertise of anti- racism training to the agency via facilitating several types of dynamic trainings during agency-wide interdivisional meetings. They also assisted the executive leadership to develop an anti-racist strategy for all 9 divisions in JBFCS. In addition, they helped several of the JBFCS leadership to author "Racism and Racial Identity: Reflections on Urban Practice in Mental Health and Social Services." Edited by Lisa Blitz PhD, LCSW and Mary Pender Greene LCSW-R, ACSW, this book captures the insights and struggles of social work practitioners joined together in their efforts to rid the mental health and social services field of embedded bias and racism. |  Assistant Executive Director Mary Pender Greene |
