DEIA Statement


Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation works to preserve the historic site and to honor and illuminate the region’s
cultural heritage through innovative opportunities that expand access to all communities. This statement is
intended to describe our core DEIA values that we will uphold and model as we advance our mission.

As an organization, we are dedicated to:

  • Welcoming all visitors so that they will gain an appreciation of our community’s shared history
  • Prioritizing free/low-cost access to students so they will begin to develop curiosity about the past
  • Preserving the site as an inclusive community space so that every guest will see themselves as part of the
    Rancho’s story
  • Fostering an environment of preservation, innovation, and education, so that we enrich historical
    understanding, value diversity, and promote environmental stewardship

 

Vision:
Rancho Los Cerritos is therefore committing to:

  • Expanding cultural competency throughout our organization in order to create substantive learning
    opportunities for all visitors.
  • Defining and implementing supportive policies to develop organizational leadership that reflects the
    diversity of Southern California.
  • Creating and maintaining collaborative partnerships with other organizations and community partners
    who are committed to diversity and inclusion of underrepresented groups.
  • Measuring the social impact of our efforts to enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, and access by
    generating and incorporating quantitative and qualitative data to improve our work.

 

Guiding Principles:
To provide informed, authentic leadership Rancho Los Cerritos strives to:

  • Value and promote diversity in the recruitment of board, staff, and volunteers to ensure that our
    organization reflects the broader community.
  • Identify, acknowledge and address inequities in the Rancho’s history and in the Foundation’s policies,
    programs and stories we tell by forming a standing committee that regularly monitors and reports
    progress to our constituents.
  • Advocate for and support institutional understanding of how embracing DEIA practices will positively
    impact our organization’s work.
  • Be intentional about data collection to better understand the needs of the communities we serve.

 

*   In 2019 Rancho Los Cerritos (RLC) was awarded a grant by the California Arts Council to undergo a DEIA training that would result in a DEIA public statement and a plan for moving the sites DEIA work forward.  In the 1 st Quarter of 2020, both the RLC board and staff went through a series of three DEIA planning sessions – board only session, staff only session and board/staff session.  These sessions were facilitated by Griselda Suarez from the Arts Council of Long Beach and she is well versed and highly trained in DEIA work. From the series of sessions, the DEIA statement vision holders group was created, and through another series of facilitated trainings with Ms. Suarez, the group created this DEIA statement and plan. The group continues to meet to refine the DEIA plan and as the statement vision holders they will make sure that RLC continues this work.