Volunteerism with an Equity-Focused Approach for Understanding Cultural Differences

Start Small Think Big is committed to embedding equity across all areas of our work.

Racial inequities are deep, pervasive, and normalized parts of life that distinctly affect our small businesses; we want to change this. An equity-focused approach allows one to foster a great understanding of cultural differences and sensitivities. We believe using targeted strategies that center on under-represented communities enables outcomes that benefit ALL people.?

Fueled by our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we piloted our first volunteer training program to share key concepts and frameworks related to equity, with a particular focus on how structural racism has shaped the opportunity and resource gaps that persist today. We also explored the ways small businesses serve as levers of community change and shared key considerations to build trust and improve communication with small businesses across cultural differences.?

Start Small Think Big's Hana Kamal, Senior Director of Equity and Inclusion, and Caroline Enjalbert, Volunteer Experience and Engagement Manager, led the training session. The discussion centered around priority goals guiding our work by taking a systematic approach to tackle systemic inequalities, which means coordinating across industries to provide the right services in the right way to diverse small business owners.

Over the next couple of years, our intentions focus on navigating ways to:

1. Provide small businesses with equitable access to high-quality and culturally approachable services
2. Dismantle white-dominant cultural norms?
3. Ensure that the people and partners we work with reflect and appropriately respond to the communities we serve

During the volunteer training, we connected with legal volunteers to explore why a racial equity approach is crucial to the small businesses we work with and why a racial equity approach is crucial to building trust with small business owners and deepening their growth and impact in the community. We shared our targeted strategies, communication examples, and ways to embody cultural sensitivity, competency, and humility when engaging with small business owners.

This volunteer training is one of many ways we are evolving our volunteer engagement strategy to execute our equity and inclusion action plan and take accountability. We have a responsibility to play an active role in fighting systems of oppression and advancing equity in small business ownership. We want to continue to work with law firms and corporations that commit to building an understanding of structural inequity and its effects on small business owners.

Learn more about corporate partnerships with Start Small Think Big: https://www.startsmallthinkbig.org/corporate-social-responsibility