We are thrilled to introduce our latest spotlight partner, The Equity Practice, an organization run by two former vChiefers: Alli Myatt and Courtney Tungate. Alli and Courtney started The Equity Practice in Summer 2020 after spending years in the education nonprofit space doing work around pay equity and human-centered talent practices.
“We were able to implement practices there we thought were really critical,” says Courtney. “Both from a racial equity lens and also from a [lens of] how to re-examine traditional work practices and create something new.”
While there are a lot of organizations and consultants out there dedicated to familiarizing companies and individuals with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices and helping them work through self-awareness and identity within DEI, The Equity Practice is dedicated to taking that next step with organizations and individuals in supporting them to change their practices.
“There comes this kind of sweet spot where individuals and organizations have enough information to understand they need to do something different but they don’t know what the road is,” says Courtney. “They want to do better, yet they don’t know what to do. That’s where we come in and help people understand how they can actually use their practices, policies, behaviors, management training, all these things to really start to change their ways of being.”
The Equity Practice works from a two-pronged approach. The first area is consulting, which has been in high demand since they started. Consulting includes working within organizations on fair and equitable hiring practices, equity process and practice improvement, designing inclusive cultures, and DEI strategic planning.
The other area that The Equity Practice is currently building up is educational coursework and programming aimed at providing individuals and organizations the resources and support they need to continue moving forward in their DEI journey.
Courses include:
- Anti-bias in hiring (self-paced)
- Manager series (seven week series focused on creating more equitable management practices)
- Identity lab (helping to unpack what’s deep seated, why that’s happening, and then unhook from some of those patterns of behavior)
Organizations and individuals that are interested in working with The Equity Practice can schedule an introductory call, where Alli and Courtney gather information and assess what needs are coming up. Their goal is to work with organizations and individuals that have already done some DEI work, although they certainly have recommendations within their network for organizations and individuals in the very early stages.
“Alli and I realized that what we were doing is not happening in a lot of organizations, and so we decided to take what we had learned in our work together and support other organizations to do this work and to do it well.”
For both women, the work is about disrupting the traditional culture of workplaces. Alli often shares her experiences growing up as a Black woman in spaces, particularly in education and at work, that were not made for her. She faced a lot of barriers, which motivates her to do this work–to be in solidarity with other Black, Indigenous and people of color along with co-conspirators who are trying to create a world set up for our collective liberation. For Courtney, her own identity journey in the racial equity space caused her to reevaluate her experiences in talent management and recruitment. She quickly realized how much of that work was unintentionally leading to inequitable outcomes.
“Alli and I realized that what we were doing is not happening in a lot of organizations, and so we decided to take what we had learned in our work together and support other organizations to do this work and to do it well,” says Courtney.
And the work that they’re doing is making a difference. One client commented: “We could not be happier about our partnership with The Equity Practice. They put in the time to really understand our issues and what we were hoping to gain from their expertise, and met our needs on time and on budget. We hope to have the chance to work with Courtney and Alli again in the near future.”
We hope you’ll consider The Equity Practice when your organization (or you) are ready to take the next step in doing the work towards an equitable and inclusive workplace.
