We are the Vermont Community of Practice for Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Developmental Disabilities (CoP).

The police brutality towards people of color continues. There have been too many deaths and ongoing brutality of Black and brown people in our country. Black lives do matter.

We know our history also includes the death, harm, imprisonment and oppression of all people of color, including those with disabilities. This history began with indigenous people and expanded to include people brought here as slaves, and people who came here as refugees, migrants, immigrants over generations.

As the CoP, we work to understand and take apart the bias and racism that lives in ourselves. We monitor our words and actions to limit the damage we cause to others. When we hurt someone, we take responsibility and work to listen and repair the harm. We support the protests. The anger and frustration expressed in protests is important, and we respond in support of racial justice organizations.

We work to understand how racism is built into our government and service systems (systemic racism). We work to make our Developmental Disabilities Service System more culturally responsive. We call for people with developmental disabilities to get services that are respectful and meaningful to them.

We commit to these actions:

• We are working to add Cultural Competence as a value in the VT System of Care Plan for Developmental Disabilities Services. Our services and supports must be welcoming and culturally appropriate for people from all backgrounds.
• We are examining the policies and procedures in our organizations to ensure they are anti-racist. Our goal is to change who works in and leads our organizations, how we use resources and who we serve.
• We point out false ideas said about people from different groups. We work to learn the facts. We speak up to make sure we stick to the facts. We use data to understand the disparity issues and share that information.
• We engage with racial justice organizations, such as the Racial Equity Task Force, VT Racial Justice Alliance, VT Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools, etc. to make systems change.

We are: