Joyful shopping and learning experiences make ReBuilding Center a special place – for our guests, our students, our customers, and our staff, from finding exactly what you’ve been looking for (or didn’t know you needed!) to learning the practical magic of home repair.
Unfortunately, it’s not always so joyful. Like many retail spaces, we occasionally have guests who make vaguely racist, transphobic, or sexist remarks; use vulgar language or yell at our staff; or explicitly second-guess or act as if our female-presenting staff are less competent.
As a result, we have worked hard to create an environment where everyone feels safe, welcomed, and respected, especially people who have been traditionally excluded from building power and presence in the construction trades: Black people, Latinx people, Indigenous people, Asian people, queer people, and women.
Earlier this year, we developed our Inclusion Policy to enshrine that work and make sure it continues into the future, long after the current staff and leadership have moved on. Our goal is to cultivate an inclusive culture that encourages participation, collaboration, and creativity, and supports the ability of our staff, guests, students, and partners to join us fully and joyfully in our work. At its heart is a definition of what inclusion looks like at ReBuilding Center:
It’s safe: Anyone who comes to ReBuilding Center should not be exposed to danger or harm. In addition to the obvious physical safety considerations, this includes the ability to work, shop, and learn without experiencing microaggressions, shouting, vulgar language, sexism, racism, or transphobia. We explicitly empower our staff to identify and discuss bias incidents, receive support from managers during difficult conversations, and invite our entire community to learn about and investigate unconscious bias through handouts, signage, and guided conversations.
It’s welcoming and respectful: Anyone who comes to ReBuilding Center should be received gladly and treated with high regard and honesty, including job applicants. We practice equitable hiring practices, including salary posting, sending interview questions in advance, and interviewing with diverse hiring panels. And because we trust and respect our staff, we have an internal front-line Equity Team that is empowered to identify areas where we can improve our inclusivity and the equity of our policies and practices. Our Equity Team co-wrote this policy, for example (thank you Med, Isaac, Kiwi, and Té!).
It’s strangely exciting to be so specific about these things – unless you can define what you’re aiming to create, you can’t create it. And you certainly can’t invite your community to join you.
If this is exciting to you, too, please join us by becoming a ReBuilding Center Member! We’ve just revamped our membership offerings to make them more useful for you. Every dollar we raise through membership supports the joyful work of supporting our community through reuse and repair. Join us!
Jackie Kirouac-Fram, RBC Executive Director