Representation brought into our bylaws

In a historic vote, on March 26, the KFTC Steering Committee amended the bylaws of the organization in order to ensure representation on the Executive Committee and Steering Committee from the KFTC People of Color Caucus (POCC).

The bylaw change creates a spot on the Executive Committee (officers of KFTC) to be held by a member of the People of Color Caucus. The change also creates a spot on the broader Steering Committee for a POCC representative and alternate (similar to chapters). This is the first time the Steering Committee has been broadened beyond chapter representation.

“It’s very crucial to have a POCC member on the Steering Committee,” noted KY River Steering Committee alternate and POCC member D. Parker. “It’s about representation.”

“Having a POCC member on the Steering Committee will give BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) members a voice in making decisions to promote positive changes within KFTC and beyond,” Parker added.

The People of Color Caucus (POCC) has been a warm and affirming cultural space for KFTC members and staff who self-identify as Black/African American, Indigenous, and/or as People of Color (Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Arab/Middle Eastern, etc.) to debrief, grieve, heal, and build community together. The Caucus was started informally in late 2018 by former KFTC staff members and one member. The POCC came together as a place in which BIPOC members and staff could hold space with each other and support each other, especially within the roles folks were playing within KFTC. The POCC has slowly but steadily grown since then. The POCC aims to build alignment and power within POC members of KFTC; provide a space for relationship-building, healing, and transformation; and grow the power of POC in Kentucky at large.

KFTC envisions a strong and thriving People of Color Caucus that can support the organization in leaning into our Audacious Goal. A strong POCC is a critical element in KFTC being guided by BIPOC and directly impacted folks and a thriving POCC can help KFTC broaden and deepen relationships across Kentucky. As one caucus member put it, “... the caucus is meaningful to me and should be an essential part of KFTC because it gives BIPOC folks agency over the decisions that affect us and the space to heal from the trauma we uniquely experience. All of which make KFTC a more just and equitable organization to work with.”

In November, members of the People of Color Caucus (POCC) met with the Executive Committee to discuss a set of requests the Caucus had of the organization. One of the requests pertained to POCC representation on the Steering Committee. The request was as follows:

KFTC should institutionalize POC decision-making power. This includes - but is not limited to - formal voting power where we should have a team representing the POC caucus who sit and vote on the steering committee. We would like to have a discussion about what broader decision-making power and input over racial justice at KFTC looks like, including our input on implementation of the BHAG and the OCI. While this specific request emerged in November, the idea was not new to KFTC. In the fall of 2019, the consultants working on our racial justice assessment (Frontlines Solutions) made three overarching recommendations about what was needed to make KFTC a more inclusive organization: 1) healing & reconciliation, 2) training, and 3) structural reimagining. Specifically, under structural reimagining they proposed: Re-imagining a more racially equitable representation model for the steering committee.

The Steering Committee discussed this POCC request at their Feb. 5 meeting. They noted that the request is well aligned with the direction of our Audacious Goal. The Committee noted that the voting rights and decision making authority of the Steering Committee are important and having strong BIPOC representation is a key way to move toward our Audacious Goal. Ultimately, a workteam was established and a formal vote was taken, supporting POCC representation on the Steering Committee. The workteam began crafting the necessary bylaw changes.

In presenting the bylaw changes to the Steering Committee, the workteam emphasized that the change is meant to add BIPOC voices to the Steering Committee, not supplant voices already there. The team encouraged Steering Committee members to work in their chapters to continue to elevate the voices and leadership of BIPOC members.

“I truly support this historic step for KFTC to ensure representation from people of color in our decision making,” said Dan Nolet, Steering Committee representative for the Wilderness Trace chapter. “Of course, our longer game is to work to make sure each of our chapters and all our partners also reflect representation from POC. This is a great first step.”

This is an exciting development for KFTC. It’s a departure from our standardized chapter model that begins to get at the structural reimagining work needed to make KFTC a more inclusive, multi-racial organization. This is an historic change to our Steering Committee structure.