AWHONN Response to ANA Racial Reckoning Statement
from Jonathan Webb, MPH, MBA
CEO, AWHONN
Dear Colleagues,
As an organizational affiliate of the American Nurses Association (ANA), we are humbled and encouraged by its recent acknowledgement and commitment to reconciling the past injustices committed against Black nurses and other nurses of color. While this is the first step on what is sure to be a long and challenging journey to achieving equity in the nursing profession, we stand ready to support the ANA Enterprise and AWHONN members. As you all are aware, we have been engaged on our own journey of advancing diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and belonging at AWHONN, which has resulted in several key actions, including:
- Executive listening tours with AWHONN Staff and Members
- Creating internal staff and external member DEI Committees
- Creation and public feedback of the AWHONN DEI Roadmap
- Hiring of the Vice President of DEI
The thoughtful insight into our organization that you all have provided has given us a robust number of focus areas to build upon as we grow to become an organization that is more strategic and intentional about issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is with this in mind that the AWHONN Board of Directors, Executive Team and Volunteer Leaders will begin working collaboratively to lay the foundation for a DEI strategy built on transparency, power sharing, operational accountability, our people, our culture, and systemic change. As an AWHONN member, we encourage you to join us on this journey by engaging with us, lending your voice and your support. Feel free to contact us at dei@awhonn.org with your thoughts, comments, and suggestions on how we can be better together.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Webb, MPH, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, AWHONN
