United Way of R.I. kicks off 4th annual Equity Challenge

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The United Way of Rhode Island kicked off its fourth annual Equity Challenge with a discussion of justice, bringing local leaders and activists together on Juneteenth to highlight how their work gets done, and what is still needed.

“I think we started off on the right point, which is to talk about justice, and how intentional justice needs to be for it to become a reality.” Kevin Matta, the United Way Senior Director of People and Culture told ABC 6.

“We can’t just wait around for someone else to take the wheel or be able to do it. It can’t just be a civic leader, it can’t be our CEO’s, it can’t be someone that we really love and respect. It has to start with us.” Matta continued.

Wednesday’s panel featured representatives from Lifespan, Bay Coast Bank, and the executive director of RAMP, an accessibility advocacy group.

“There’s many components that we need to measure. And not only as our department, but the organization has to understand that this is something that we’re taking on as an organization. Not just the belonging and equity department, it is the organization, top down.” said Vanessa Vigil, a panelist with Lifespan.

The event kicked off a weeks’ worth of events surrounding four ideas: justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

The main focus of which includes video prompts sent to participants to be done as individual learning, and two additional pop-up events scheduled for next Monday, June 24, and Thursday, June 27. 

“My goal with bringing in healthcare, finance, and accessibility throughout this conversation today – just for the justice topic- was really intentional. And meant to be, how can I, within my role – maybe you’re someone who works in banking and you feel like you’re just a teller. How do I create justice?” said Matta.

“Well, you get to do that based on the conversations you have, based on when you hear something go wrong, you’re the one that goes, hey, is that fair? Can everyone access that?” Matta continued.

The Equity Challenge runs from June 19 to June 26.