It's extremely disheartening and triggering to hear nothing has fundamentally changed at Girls Inc. of Worcester despite our efforts to end the culture of racism, discrimination, harmful policies and practices toward the participants and staff.
Last week, a direct care worker came forward with their story detailing ongoing workplace abuse, unsafe working conditions, racism, discrimination, misogyny and more.
They described the following:
- Allegations of inappropriate sexual relations.
- Cultural insensitivity and discriminatory against Hispanic and Black employees.
- Lack of proper staffing with little to no training or support leading to preventable incidents such as children being injured and fights occurring.
- Donated food being sold to children instead of given freely.
- Children being denied bathroom access.
- Staff being underpaid, overworked, and denied overtime.
- Nepotism in the hiring of upper management.
Sounds familiar? These are similar grievances myself and many other staff members and girls shared in 2023.
While the previous administration (CEO Victoria Waterman and COO Allison James) were rightfully terminated, the new leadership (CEO Tiffany Lillie, Senior Director of Programs Lucia Alfaro and Director of Partnership and Initiatives Jessica Diaz) continues to cultivate the same hateful, harmful, and toxic environment.
What is to going to take to finally end this injustice and ensure safe environment for our girls? Our children deserve better. Their parents deserve better. The dedicated and hardworking staff deserve better. Our community deserves better.
To the brave staff member that came forward, we believe you. Thank you for doing what’s right. We know that this was not easy decision. We are here for you. Let us know how else we can support you.
We encourage you to read and share their full story on David Webb ( Investigative Journalist ) instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/davidfuckingwebb and on Facebook at David Webb. Thank you David for sharing their story.
Thank you to everyone that has signed this petition so far. Please continue to share it. Your support is invaluable to ensure a safe space. We hope that the public opinion can lead to the removal of this toxic leadership and the fostering of a better environment.
Our demands remain the same:
- To begin the work necessary to address deep-rooted white supremacist, harmful patriarchal and ableist practices in areas such as board representation, policy development, recruiting, hiring, onboarding, mentoring, etc..
- To embed trauma informed and culturally responsive leadership and practices and meaningful collaborations with culturally relevant organizations.
- To ensuring quality replacement for the new administration. They must be well versed in social justice practices, real equity, anti ableist and anti racist.
- And most importantly to create a safe and thriving environment for our girls and staff.
If anyone else would like to come forward with their story, please reach out to edawson2300@yahoo.com.
In solidarity,
Emily Dawson