Diversity & Equity

We invest in our community through Girl Scouts. Our community represents every race, ethnicity, income level, sexual orientation, ability, and religion; reflects a spectrum of gender identity; and connects across geographic locations. By focusing our attention on community members who are furthest from racial, economic, and social justice, Girl Scouts can be an instrument of change, promoting equitable outcomes for all. We wholly commit to taking action to grow as an anti-racist and anti-oppressive organization so that, through Girl Scouts, our members are affirmed as they strive to make our community and world better.

We would like to begin by acknowledging that Girl Scouts of Western Washington’s many offices and properties in the Western Washington region occupy the ancestral lands of many indigenous communities. Click here to read our land acknowledgment.

DEI Priorities

In order to put our mission into action, we’ve adopted the following priorities that serve as a guide for the work we do with members and employees. We have included some examples of our current activities under each priority.

Vision & Values

Ensuring that our vision and values are integrated into everything we do across the organization and applying an equity lens to all decision-making, programming and practices.

Current Activities

Use of a DEI lens when creating all social media content, being mindful of alt text and captions and creating a social media strategy that centers around equity and inclusion.
Conduct a board assessment to identify education needs and areas for Board focus.
Development of an equity impact tool to apply to decision-making.

Cultural Competence

Educating to build the cultural competence of Girl Scouts, volunteers, board members, donors, and employees.

Current Activities

Cultural competence workshop topics for volunteers, for example:
- DEI 101
- Exploring Privilege and Microaggressions
- Talking with Youth about Race
- Talking with Your Troop about Protests
Our new Spotlight Program, which coaches experienced volunteer leaders, includes a DEI focus area learning path.
DEI is embedded into our ongoing volunteer development opportunities.
Cultural competence workshop topics for employees, for example:
- Discomfort in Dialogue in Conversations about Race and Racism
- Ableism & Accessibility
- LGBT & Gender Identity

Recruit & Retain

Recruiting and retaining members, volunteers, Board members, donors and employees who reflect the diversity of western Washington.

Current Activities

Create resources for interview teams to use in evaluating candidates equitably.
Partner with local native communities to create an American Indian Heritage patch program.
Ongoing recruitment and retention internally to ensure leadership and the board are representative of the racial diversity of the region we serve.

Accessibility & Inclusion

Establishing a culture of accessibility and inclusion throughout the organization.

Current Activities

From the standpoint of disability justice, review and improve accessibility of all properties.
Approach property decisions through an equity and accessibility lens.
Inclusion of a Land Acknowledgement at large meetings and events and posted at all our properties in order to acknowledge the colonial history of our region and our responsibility to respect and honor the intimate relationship Indigenous peoples have to this land.
Ensuring we use gender-neutral language and provide programs that emphasize our recognition that gender is not binary – people don’t identify only as boys or girls. We welcome children from across the gender spectrum: those who identify as transgender, agender, androgynous, etc., and those who are in transition or questioning their gender identity. The Girl Scout mission is to hold space for those who, on the spectrum of gender identity, are not cis-gender boys (those whose gender identity is boy, and the sex assigned at birth is male.) Girl Scouts is not appropriate for cisgender boys.

Accountability

Holding ourselves accountable to these priorities by regularly tracking data from a variety of sources.

Current Activities

Regular DEI and employee engagement assessments.   
Surveys to membership about their overall Girl Scout experience.   
Respond to feedback received across multiple channels (website, social media, calls, emails, etc.).

Removing Barriers

Finding ways to remove barriers to access and inclusion.

Current Activities

Improve our methods for consistently collecting demographic data about our members and volunteers.
Provide resources (money, time, people power) in an equitable manner to remove barriers to access for historically excluded communities.

Click here to see the full list of our DEI Priorities.

Social Justice FAQs

Black Lives Matter and Social Justice FAQ
LGBTQ+ FAQs

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