It is officially spring, and we’re casting off the last throes of winter. We hope you’ve been finding ways to continue building community, and EQT By Design is excited to bring you some of the ways we’ve been doing that this spring.
Be part of the EQT Southside Street team! Are you looking for skill and community-building opportunities? Would you like to join a group of people who will support you, listen, and want something where you can earn a little this summer that is more than a job when? Then sign-up and help us build community this summer in Madison's Southside. complete the Street Team Interest Form by clicking here
Are you a person of color who lives in the Southside of Madison? Are you, comfortable knocking on doors and going to community events, and talking with people? We’re actively looking for Southside Madison paid EQT Street team: These will be people with strong community connections with the Southside. This is a limited-term opportunity that provides a flexible schedule, including nights and weekends, where you'll do one or more of the following
Organize small focus groups;
Distribute surveys;
Recruit for community meetings;
Knock on doors in your community;
In return, EQT will provide fair financial incentives for your work, as well as skill-building support for meeting facilitation, community engagement, and more. Skills you'll learn
Group facilitation
Meeting facilitation
Data interpretation
Community engagement and organizing
and more
If this sounds like you, please If this sounds like you, please complete the EQT Street Team Interest Form by clicking here and a member of our Community Engagement team will be in touch!
This spring has been one of grounding ourselves, reviewing, and building our base for the future. We’re excited to share some of what we have been up to.
John Nolen Drive Redevelopment:
John Nolen Drive is one of the main entryways into the City of Madison, but it’s also a main road for many Madasonians to access work, education, and other important opportunities to uplift their families and communities. To ensure this, we engaged with the YWCA and Latino Workforce Academy and their populations to get their stamp on the proposed designs.
Sun Prairie:
We’re wrapping up an important engagement in Sun Prairie. Sun Prairie is an increasingly diverse city, and city leaders taking active measures to make sure equity is a part of their growth. They’re doing this through their active transportation plan, to ensure diverse populations maintain and gain more access to all the resources the growing town has to offer. And in doing so are increasing pedestrian safety, access to bike paths, and more.
The Triangle Community Redevelopment:
We’re loving the community we’ve built with Triangle residents, and as the project moves into its pre-building phase we want to continue to engage the community. Because of this, we’re working with the Trangle community and our Triangle community-based partners to hold a block party for community residents. We can’t wait to bring to you all the amazing things coming from this project once building commences.
How we do Our Work
We had a wonderful opportunity to interview with a PHD student about how we do our work, and we are excited to share a bit of it with you all. What does the “equity-centered engagement, strategic planning, change management and organizational culture” that EQT does actually mean?
EQT works with organizations to start deconstructing processes and practices responsible for creating inequities within organizations and systems. Through collaborative design with their clients, EQT creates safe spaces where they actively listen to diverse voices to learn about concerns, issues, challenges and needs within and outside the organizations they work with. The goal is to create inclusive processes and people-centered decision-making.
How does EQT’s outreach work help people start to “unlearn”?
EQT focuses on bringing marginalized voices to the center of the conversations happening now. This provides projects, companies and organizations a more equitable perspective while at the same time providing guidance and educational services to transform attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge around equity and inclusion.
How does EQT actually DO the work, though?
EQT starts with the foundation that we are in a “co-creation” space. That means our clients are central to the planning and development process of the work we’re doing. Not only will they need to invest support and time, but they need to come to the table with a strategic plan before any transformation can occur. We are very upfront that there are certain expectations for all involved, including the fact that they must continually show up with intention and will, offer best practices and insights and consultation, and go as far as they think they want to go to make a change.
What’s the result of EQT By Design outreach work?
EQT's vision focuses on changing culture to be more inclusive and equitable, centering the community’s voice, and conducting cross-cultural conversations with stakeholders. The EQT team aims to help bridge the discomfort often experienced with a transformative education.
What does EQT’s philosophy to inform, engage, disrupt, and facilitate action centered around equity and justice to connect and bridge diverse community members’ perspectives mean?
Using an equity lens means including diverse voices and perspectives and slowing down processes to inform, engage, and work with grassroots members to create networks. We focus on policies and systems because once the EQT team leaves the room, those systems will be in place and must reflect the work. It’s our goal to help build groups within communities that identify common problems and that work together to solve them.
We want to shout out to Shar-Ron Buie, one of Dane County's impactful Black leaders in his new, well-deserved position, serving as JustDane's Associate Director.
From JustDane's announcement:
"Shar-Ron has been with JustDane as our Reentry Health Navigator since 2021 and has an impressive resume of education and experience. In his role as Associate Director, Shar-Ron will provide program oversight, and work on strategic visioning, program development, strategic partnerships and collaborations. Shar-Ron has lived experience with the justice system and is eager to bring his insights, skills and education to the position.
Please join us in congratulating Shar-Ron on his promotion to Associate Director." JustDane is an EQT By Design partner and a valued organization providing direct services to individuals and families involved in the criminal justice system. If you want to learn more about JustDane and how to support their work, click here.
We have some exciting projects we’re working on in 2023, some of which are a bit too early to bring out to the public. There is one we’re particularly excited to get underway, one that we hope strengthens our connection and engagement with our many diverse communities, and we hope to be able to tell you about it. When? Soon!
To wrap up this month's newsletter, celebrate six years with us!
We’re six years old this month, and we can’t thank you, our community, enough for building and growing with us. Here’s to another year of blessings, we hope you receive as many as we do.