Region 2 sub-grantee RAMP CIL (Center for Independent Living) is a non-residential center for people with physical and mental disabilities. Some of their Healing Illinois funds went toward a seminar about recruiting more racially diverse staff and board members. The second portion is going toward a 4-part workshop series exploring the intersectionality of race and disability. The topics that will be covered are healthcare, education, employment, and criminal justice.
HOW RAMP HELPS PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS
RAMP is a non-residential nonprofit that serves youth and adults with disabilities. Its main office is located in Rockford, Winnebago County, with smaller centers in the Boone, DeKalb, and Stephenson counties.
These centers help people with disabilities practice independent living skills, find employment, and access educational services. RAMP also does community outreach and works with businesses that wish to make their buildings ADA-compliant and disability-friendly.
Anyone with a disability can apply to receive RAMP’s services. This includes those with physical or mental disabilities or mental illness, so long as the disability affects at least one major life activity, per the ADA’s definition. Notably, no doctor’s note is required to access services, which removes a large barrier to receiving assistance.
One issue RAMP has started grappling with more substantially is DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) since understanding the intersectionality between race and disability is necessary for people to receive adequate, comprehensive care.
Alice Nichols, curriculum and training developer, shares that many of the people RAMP serves, “often identify as something else, as part of another marginalized group, before they identify as disabled. And we need to get on board with that so that we can best meet their needs, help them to achieve their full potential.”
RECRUITING RACIALLY DIVERSE STAFF AND BOARD
The first part of RAMP’s Healing Illinois grant was used for a training event centered on recruiting and maintaining a more racially diverse staff and board. The event was hosted by leadership development coach Martesha Brown, who is a Rockford native, a volunteer on multiple boards, and a DEIB expert.
In attendance were personnel from all the RAMP centers in Illinois as well as board members, directors, and human resources staff.
Autumn Kubatzke, RAMP’s human resource director, found the training highly educational. “Martesha did an outstanding job presenting and offering a wealth of actionable insights. I learned a great deal and am eager to collaborate with our team to put the strategies into action and enhance our diversity efforts."
CEO of RAMP, Jackie Sundquist, already has steps she plans to take following the presentation, once she has input from the staff and board members who attended. “I created a list of 20 action items and began identifying who on our team will take the lead on each item,” she says. “What I found most valuable... is the practical ideas and tools that Martesha provided to each participant that can be used right away.”
Working toward a more diverse leadership team and board is especially crucial in a city like Rockford, which faces issues of systemic racism.
SYSTEMIC RACISM IN ROCKFORD AND THE U.S.
Alice Nichols, curriculum and training developer for RAMP, had some insights to share about how racism affects not only residents of Rockford, but the country as a whole.
“We are nice people, it's a beautiful community and city, but there's some real old roots of racism here,” she shares. This includes racism in Rockford’s zoning and urban planning decisions.
Then there is the racism that affects the quality and competency of care that people of color with disabilities receive in the U.S.
“I think a lot of times you hear this phrase, ‘Oh, the system is so broken. The system is so broken,” Alice says. “I'm like, oh, no, it's not. It is working just as it was intended. It was set up to be racist, and it's moving along fine.”
Alice admits that coming up with a solution is daunting, given the highly intertwined nature of the issues and the hurdles one must overcome to make people aware of how they uphold a racist system. But it was a discussion she was eager to take on within RAMP.
Her four-part workshop series – developed in tandem with consultant Rebecca Francis, director of Ignite Change Solutions – aims to untangle these issues in a way that is visually memorable, easily understandable and highly applicable to RAMP staff in their work.
CHOOSING A STRUCTURE FOR THE WORKSHOP SERIES
Alice was inspired by a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture and used it as a blueprint for the structure of the workshop series. In particular, she was inspired by the journey the museum takes visitors on. Guests start in the hold of a slave ship and venture upwards through multiple floors, covering the accomplishments of Black Americans over the years, including achievements in politics, on the field, on the stage, and in ordinary life.
Similarly, RAMP’s training series attempts to capture the multi-layered intersectionality between race and diversity in an interactive, visual way. Each training also ends with a forward-looking message of hope.
“The final part of each training is, ‘OK, how do we go ahead? What can we do?’” Alice says. “Because that's something as people and social services we want to know … What are the steps, the concrete steps that we can take?”
Rather than opting for a traditional slide deck, Alice and Rebecca intentionally selected artwork and current and historical photographs to accompany each topic, which enhanced the conversation and encouraged better memory recall.
PACING AND TOPICS FOR THE WORKSHOPS
The workshop series will be rolled out with one training per quarter, starting July 2024. The workshops will be mandated for all RAMP staff, and the sessions will also be recorded so new staff members can onboard with them.
Over the series, RAMP staff will learn about four separate topics – healthcare, education, employment, and criminal justice – although Alice wishes she had time to cover more, like housing and poverty. The topics were chosen due to their intersectional nature with disability.
“Healthcare, Black people have the poorest health in the nation. And it's because of racism, because of other things. So there are more Black people who are disabled,” she explains. “Then you look at education, and you look at the school-to-prison pipeline – and it's also the special ed-to-prison pipeline – and it's the same overlap there. Employment, same thing. Criminal justice, one in three incarcerated adults also has a disability.”
Each workshop will be two hours long. For the healthcare workshop, Alice and Rebecca will engage in a dialogue to bring the information shared in the session to life. For the others, a guest speaker will be brought in for an informed perspective on the subject matter. Imari Hanserd, Special Education Director of South Beloit Clark Elementary School, will speak about education; Tommy Meeks, employment consultant and founder/organizer of the Rockford Juneteenth celebration, will speak about employment; and Jerry Hatchett, a criminal justice reform expert who was formerly incarcerated, will speak about criminal justice.
One message will tie all four workshops together, Alice shares. “In the final part, I'm using the Audrey Lorde quote: ‘We don't use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.’ OK, so what does that mean? How do we dismantle this without using the master's tools? And that's really what I want people to walk away with.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT RAMP AND HEALING ILLINOIS
To learn more about RAMP and their offerings and the workshop series, visit:
RAMP is one of 184 grantees who received Healing Illinois funds for 2023-2024. You can view more sub-grantee stories on the Healing Illinois website and Healing Illinois Instagram page, as well as view past and upcoming Healing Illinois events.