In 2015, Rubicon conducted its first org-wide cultural assessment. We knew that achieving our vision of an East Bay without poverty would take not only outstanding services for our program participants, but also carefully building a Rubicon culture and infrastructure that would empower every single employee to bring all of their talents to the table. 

The survey results were promising - our staff felt highly engaged to their work and to each other. What an overwhelming percentage of respondents wanted to better understand, however, was Rubicon's commitment to dismantling racism and systemic inequity in our communities.

To define our stance, a diverse group of Rubiconians came together over a period of six months to examine the history and legacy of racism in our country and communities. They looked at the ways systemic injustice has, and continues to, impede our progress toward achieving our mission. The Antiracism Stance grew out of their learnings, hope for the future, and Rubicon's unequivocal commitment to doing the hard work of calling-out racism where we see it - starting first with our own practices and workplace culture. 

Rubicon’s Antiracism Stance

Rubicon unequivocally opposes racism. We are resolved to explicitly and publicly affirm our identity as an anti-racism organization. We will understand and eradicate racism’s impact within our organization. We will ensure that prejudices and stereotypes do not creep insidiously into the work we do and how we do it.

We recognize that when we are not actively dismantling systemic racism, we are passively upholding systemic racism. Rubicon refuses to uphold a racist system which opposes our values of Hope, Justice, and Humility, and devalues life. We know that dismantling racism, in our lives, our organization, our field and our community, is a prerequisite to achieving our mission and upholding our values. We will lead or join the work to breathe life into a new system of equity.

We exist in a culture of white supremacy. A culture that requires people of color to explain themselves, to prove systemic racism’s existence, to demonstrate the gravity of its effects, and to justify the necessity of dismantling it. A culture that wields these tools solely to retain power and to divide and destroy. However, we are too strong and determined to allow people to be belittled, questioned, and silenced. We will not wield these tools any longer. We are crafting our own tools. We commit to uprooting the damage done by the culture of white supremacy and systemic racism while cultivating a more just society.

• To cross the Rubicon is to commit to an irrevocable act. To that end, we commit to:
• Examine and recalibrate inequitable power relationships and resource allocations throughout the organization
• Foster full participation by people of color in decisions that shape Rubicon
• Value the contributions and interests of employees of color in shaping our culture, and determining our policies and practices
• Acknowledge in our work with participants that poverty is a result of oppressive systems
• Engage each other through a daily ritual of mutual respect
• Truly value racial diversity as an asset instead of simply tolerating or managing it
• Confront and dismantle racism within the organization and the broader community
• Earn community legitimacy as an antiracist organization
•  Partner with others in combating all forms of racism

The work for justice and equity is informed by the backs of those who withstood lashes and beatings, endured genocide, internment camps, exploitation, and police brutality. We follow in the footsteps of those who bravely spoke out and demanded justice despite great risk. We expect discomfort and pain; no transformative change happens without it. However, we will not use that as an excuse to avoid this work; we will sit with pain and discomfort until equity is realized. When challenged, we will respond with love, passion, curiosity, tenacity, and a desire for shared growth, until we crumble the very foundation of systemic racism.

We will not always get it right, but we will always strive for what is right. We ask every person who reads this statement to help transform Rubicon and the communities we serve into places where we connect with Humility, act with Hope, and live with Justice.

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Racism is the systematic oppression of people of color; occurs at the individual/internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels; may be overt or covert, intentional or unintentional.

White supremacy is a historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations and peoples of color by white peoples and nations of the European continent; for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power and privilege.