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First, I give @JaredCWiener props for always listening. We clearly see the @TechTownPDX journey from different angles. My perspective has always been that efforts like this should be centered around the experiences & outcomes for the communities where you want to have an impact..
... In my mind, those communities were Black & Latinx folks, as locally & nationally our boats seem to always miss out on benefitting from the theory "a rising tide lifts all boats." As we have discussed the pledge has seemed to center whiteness and the comfort for the mainly...
...white leadership who run these companies & make the hiring (and firing) decisions. This point is pivotal to understanding how we each view "progress" that has been made to date. To the positives of the grower number of powerful voices pushing leadership at these companies...
and that conversations are different now. Pushing them to do what exactly? Was it not clear what they were pledging to do in the first place? Rhetorical question has there was never a number target or timeframe for firms to hit. From the standpoint of Black & Latinx folks who...
... have had powerful voices in these efforts for years, I hear "white people now kind of hear you and we now have a coordinated manner for you to share with us (acceptable) views." You mention the "clearest" negative being progress not being made is in hiring & retaining PoC...
...I disagree, that's an outcome of the real issue, a lack of trust. These leadership teams haven't earned the trust of women & PoC in the tech community. We see leadership from pledge firms doing victory laps in articles like this one @ryancarson did... https://www.fastcompany.com/90299549/diversity-its-not-them-its-you
... As many of the PoC (and nonPoC) gasped at this overt display of "caucacity" it was also a moment for techpledge leadership to lean in and discuss how things like this impact trust in the community. How can folks trust these firms with their minds, bodies & emotional health...
... when they aren't even willing to step up and talk about an article written by one of their own. You talked about there being a "stronger pipeline"... just like the history books show us now with Mr. Columbus, you can't discover something that was already there. This...
... is a perfect example of where this being white centered manifests itself. You say there's been a stronger pipeline developed but women & PoC say "they are starting to finally see some of us." This leads to a point I have shared with you on other occasions, if there are...
already talented/qualified diverse candidates here in PDX then why aren't they applying? Why aren't they staying at pledge firms? I bet @CultivatedSense @GraceEwuraEsi or @timhornphoto would be a great start to really understanding some answers to those questions. Lastly, if...
... this really is a plane you want to build & fly to a collective destination not just one centered on the comfort of @puppetize leadership or the denigration exhibited by @CrowdStreet then please pay the people doing this work. It boggles my mind how @prosperportland can...
...continue to ask PoC to step on to committees like this one, where "gaslighting" and "Columbusing" run rampant without paying people. @oregonmetro figured this out years ago. Looking forward to continuing the conversation Jared.
