REJI is a community-wide initiative, lead by St. Joseph's Neighborhood Center in Rochester, NY, that seeks to address racism by focusing on organizational change at the individual, interpersonal, institutional and structural levels and building community capacity for racial equity. The organizations involved utilize a "collective impact" model as a structured way to achieve social change.
In 2016, CCSI joined more than 40 other organizations in the Greater Rochester area in a commitment to scrutinizing our internal policies, procedures, and practices with a commitment to finding ways to address and dismantle structural racism.
The CCSI change team has facilitated various conversations on race and provided learning opportunities to our workforce such as:
- Discussions on the social construct of racism based on the Seeing White podcast series by Duke University
- Monthly lunch and learn series with guest speakers focused on Indigenous people, Black history and the criminal system, the culture of food in Hispanic/Latino heritage, and many others
- Book discussions based on various readings with the most recent being How to be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram Kendi
- Shared an internal resource library with books, articles, documentaries, and podcasts with our workforce for individual learning
Dismantling Racism and Building Equity
As an organization, CCSI continues our work of nearly 30 years to eliminate systemic and institutional inequities across our community. We specialize in helping organizations become culturally intelligent change agents so they can foster equity and justice among employees, as well as on behalf of their customers and clients.
Our process begins with a thorough review and analysis of an organization’s culture, demographics, and other information to identify and address needs and gaps in cultural competence. Through expert consultation and technical assistance, our team then supports the organization in the enhancement of existing, and the design of, new practices and programs. We help organizations to examine their current practices, create and implement strategic plans, and educate and train their leadership, workforce, customers, and stakeholders.
Learn more about the range of services we offer here.