You Belong Here
AmeriCorps is committed to building a culturally diverse organization and fostering an environment of respect and inclusiveness, with equal access to programs, facilities, and employment amongst all individuals. It is our policy to maintain an environment free of harassment and discrimination against any person based on age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, creed, military service, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or family status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, physical or mental disability, genetic information, political ideology, or legal source of income. Discriminatory conduct and harassment, as well as sexual misconduct and relationship violence, violates the dignity of individuals, impedes the achievement of our mission, and will not be tolerated.
At AmeriCorps St. Louis all employees, volunteers and guests, whatever their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education or disability, are valued and respected.
We Are Better Together
The standard of our service to the community is raised through the inclusion of diverse life experiences and heritages. All voices are not only valued, but required to fulfill our mission. Through our service together, we grow in mutually understanding and respect, and strive to reflect the community in our response to its needs.
To provide informed, authentic leadership for equity, we strive to:
See diversity, inclusion, and equity as connected to our mission and critical to ensure the well-being of our personnel.
Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services.
Explore underlying, unquestioned assumptions that interfere with inclusiveness.
Practice and encourage transparent communication in all interactions.
Advocate for and support board-level thinking about how systemic inequities impact our organization’s work, and how best to address that in a way that is consistent with our mission.
Lead with respect and tolerance. We expect all employees to embrace this notion and to express it in workplace interactions and through everyday practices.
The standard of our service to the community is raised through the inclusion of diverse life experiences and heritages. All voices are not only valued, but required to fulfill our mission. Through our service together, we grow in mutually understanding and respect, and strive to reflect the community in our response to its needs.
Native Land Acknowledgement
AmeriCorps St. Louis serves on natural resources stewardship projects on public lands accessible to all. We acknowledge that these lands are the ancestral land of the Wahzhazhe, or Osage. Many other tribes have lived on or utilized these lands including the Ponca, Kaw/Kanza, Omaha, Otoe-Missouria, Ioway, Illini-Peoria, Kickapoo, Sac and Fox, Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Tamaroa, Peoria, Shawnee, and Delaware.
We also acknowledge that these lands have been stolen from indigenous peoples. We recognize that through acts of genocide, slavery, and exploitation of the Indigenous tribes who lived here, colonialist settlers systematically forced their way onto this land. The actions of Spanish, French, British and American settlers ultimately drove every one of these Indigenous tribes from Missouri by inciting infighting, withholding trade, and finally resorting to unfair treaties and abuse of annuity payments. As we work to preserve and protect the land, we feel that it is crucial to recognize this history in order to create an honest, open, inclusive culture.
There are currently no federally recognized tribes in the state of Missouri. Most of the indigenous people who once inhabited land in Missouri were forced to leave and resettle in ‘Indian Territory’ (present-day Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Kansas) during the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Indigenous people still live in Missouri and deserve visibility, appreciation, and support, and we thank them for their stewardship of these lands.
Sources:
History of Local Indigenous Tribes Native Land Map Osage Nation Cultural Center
Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis
Historical Confederate Symbols Acknowledgment
Confederate flags, statues, plaques, and similar memorials have signified, and symbolize, historic racism and oppression. The Confederacy that this flag represented was formed with the explicit purpose of maintaining slavery and white supremacy, as can be plainly seen from The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States. The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States make it clear that the Confederate states opposed states’ rights when it came to the rights of the Union states to abolish slavery within their borders, or to refuse to return escaped slaves back into bondage.
The adoption and continued display of the Confederate Battle Flag by numerous white supremacist organizations, has led to the recognition of the Confederate Battle Flag as a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and other social justice organizations.
AmeriCorps St. Louis understands Missouri’s past history and as part of U.S. History and chooses not to recognize or tolerate the Confederate Flag or associated symbolism in our community service programming.
Local Resources
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National Conference of Community and Justice of St. Louis
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Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence