The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum is committed to the work of developing an inclusive, anti-racist, and equitable environment for its employees, visitors, and community. Through its collection, exhibitions, programming, resources, and digital and virtual presence, the museum strives to foster thoughtful discourse and engagement with the unique and prolific postal and philatelic histories of the United States.
DEAI DEFINITIONS
Diversity is all the ways that people are different and the same at the individual and group levels. Even when people appear the same, they are different. Any individual will have multiple identities and experiences. Organizational diversity requires examining, acknowledging and questioning the makeup of a group to ensure that multiple perspectives are represented.
Equity is the fair and just treatment of all members of a community. Equity requires commitment to strategic priorities, resources, respect, and civility, as well as ongoing action and assessment of progress toward achieving specified goals.
Accessibility is giving equitable access to everyone along the continuum of human ability and experience. Accessibility encompasses the broader meanings of compliance and refers to how organizations make space for the characteristics and background that each person brings.
Inclusion refers to the intentional, ongoing effort to ensure that diverse individuals fully participate in all aspects of organizational work, including decision-making processes. It also refers to the ways that diverse participants are valued as respected members of an organization and/or community. While a truly “inclusive” group is necessarily diverse, a “diverse” group may or may not be “inclusive.”
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We gratefully acknowledge the Native Peoples on whose ancestral homelands we gather, as well as the diverse and vibrant Native communities who make their home here today.
