We’re excited to announce that we’ve made the Crafted for All commitment. Meaning, we’ve dedicated ourselves to continuing to take specific, measurable steps toward improving inclusivity, justice, and equity within our brewery. Created by Dr. J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham, Crafted For All is a framework built to diversify and expand the craft beer community.
The work we’ll be undertaking with Dr. J will cover: Pipeline Development and Recruitment, Organizational Culture, Equitable Pay and Advancement Opportunities, Training and Employee Development, Discrimination and Harassment Policy, and more. Dr. J’s consulting work will help us set tangible goals, while also providing us with courses, seminars, and tailored guidance to help us achieve goals that fit our brewery. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to achieving inclusivity, equity, and justice within a workplace or community, and we’re excited to have Dr. J here to help us develop, grow, and improve.
Committing ourselves to this initiative is another step of many toward fostering change—helping us continue to be accountable to ourselves and to our fans. It will help us take meaningful action. And it will help us achieve our goal of becoming a more inclusive, just, and equitable member of our community.
For a snapshot of some of our recent and ongoing efforts to increase equity and address systemic racism, we put together a brief list below:
- We support employees in using their paid VTO (Volunteer Time Off) hours to participate in peaceful protests going on in their local areas, including protests to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
- We completed Implicit Bias training for all employees in 2019 (with Sycamore Keys Consulting out of Boston).
- Through a partnership with a local newspaper, Amjambo Africa; attendance at job fairs; and presentations to students at Portland Adult Education, we are continuing to broaden our employee recruitment efforts.
- We’ve dedicated ourselves to amplifying Black voices through all of our social media channels on an ongoing basis.
- We’ve also donated to organizations that fight for racial equity and justice and serve many of the BIPOC members of our community, such as:
- The Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM)
- NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- The Maine Community Foundation: People of Color Fund
- Cultivating Community
- In Her Presence
- The Indigo Arts Alliance
- We provided additional support for the Diversity in Beer Writing Grant, established by the North American Guild of Beer Writers in partnership with CraftBeer.com. You can find articles written with the help of this grant here and here.
But these are all just a start. We will continue to challenge ourselves to improve. Thanks, as always, for your support and encouragement of our ongoing effort to be a better brewery, employer, and member of our community.
