The Equity Mindset

11What Is Your Equity (Mindset) Journey?

The newness of making our spaces more equitable may make the concept seem too big or unapproachable. Even as a practitioner, I find myself needing a moment to ask myself, Why does this matter to me? Some of my response lies within the ways equity played in my life—or more accurately the ways I desired for it to be present. Other parts of my response emerge from the spaces where I watched inequity manifest in other people's lives. Part of accepting our calling as equity designers is having a close relationship with how we got here. I have found that many of these moments have also helped me forgive the parts of me that used to think I was the problem. If asked, “What is your equity journey?” what parts of your life would stick out? here's a sneak into some of the journeys in my life that have shaped my understanding of the world we inherited.

Where Are the Swings?

Desiring equity was always real for me as a young child, even if I didn't know it. I didn't know why Mommy and Daddy were out of the house for such long hours for this thing they called “work,” but I did know I wanted more time with each of them—both individually and as a family unit. That feeling hasn't left to this day, but hey, kids adjust, right? I recall me and my sister memorizing the fake address (68 Ray Street) we needed to share to administrators at our elementary school because we lived in the city of Trenton, New Jersey, about 10 minutes from the school in the township ...