Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

In honor of National Diversity Week 2020, we are proud to share our recently adopted Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) statement. In 2018, with the support of the California Arts Council, our Board, staff, and volunteers began DEIA training to transform the work of our organization. We are committed to continuing this important work to share the stories of the diverse people who shaped Southern California.

DEIA Policy*

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 site’s DEIA work forward. In the 1st 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 9/15/2020 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility (DEIA) 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.