EQUITY & INCLUSION
Committed to providing a
learning, working and
living environment that
recognizes and values all
At IGNITE, we are committed to providing a learning, working, and living environment that is free from discrimination and injustice in all its forms.
Equity
Doing our part to help all of us succeed.
We are committed to doing our part and are proud of the steps we have already begun to take, including providing additional mandatory staff equity and inclusion related training, establishing an Inclusion Leadership Council, hosting listening sessions with various equity-deserving groups to help us better cater our services, and ensuring equity, diversity and inclusion is an area of focus within all that we do.
BLACKNORTH INITIATIVE
Removing systemic barriers.
In 2021, IGNITE signed the BlackNorth Initiative CEO Pledge and created a three-year action plan, committing to increase representation, remove barriers to advancement, and improve opportunities for Black students and staff within IGNITE, with commitments including:
- specific hiring goals of at least 10% within IGNITE’s student workforce from the Black community
- expanding education addressing unconscious bias and anti-Black systemic racism within IGNITE
- ensuring that no barriers exist to prevent Black employees from advancing within IGNITE
Our Commitment to Student Success
In addition, we have also committed to allocating 10% of our Leadership & Advocacy revenue for scholarships for students from equity-deserving groups and have since introduced three new scholarships in the past two years:
Black Excellence Scholarship
IGNITE Pride Scholarship
IGNITE Indigenous Scholarship
We are happy to see the impact that these scholarships have made within the Humber and University of Guelph-Humber community and hope to continue developing new scholarship opportunities.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
More than just words.
When we see injustice or ways to improve, we act. That’s why we hosted a series of Anti-Black Racism Roundtable discussions back in summer 2020. But, we know that we can always do more and are always looking for ways to extend our efforts, which is why in March 2021, your Board of Directors voted to take the BlackNorth Initiative pledge. By signing this initiative, we as an organization have pledged to actively work to eliminate the systemic hurdles faced by the Black community by implementing new organizational practices.
There are many additional equity and inclusion resources available to you on campus, including:
