Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice

PSR is deeply committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ), and believes social change happens when people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and identities come together with a common purpose and a shared goal.

PSR’s commitment to DEIJ manifests itself through a variety of initiatives and participation in coalitions that include, but are not limited to, the following.

Building a Diverse Workforce

PSR is committed to employment practices that ensure employees and applicants for employment are provided with equal opportunities, and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, religion, disability, medical condition, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws, as well as any other factor that is not relevant to job performance.

Fostering a Culture of Inclusion and Belonging

PSR appreciates that for a diverse workforce to succeed in furthering its organizational mission, it is essential that each member of the PSR team can fully contribute their ideas, creativity, and skills. Accordingly, PSR recognizes that people from different demographic backgrounds experience their work environment differently. This requires that team members experience not only inclusion, but a true sense of belonging where they feel accepted, secure, supported, and appreciated.

Board of Directors Values Statement

PSR has a long and rich history of working toward a healthy, just and peaceful world and strives to achieve challenging goals—including nuclear disarmament including demilitarization, and environmental and climate health through just means that benefit those who experience structural injustice the most.  PSR seeks to maintain a Board comprised of talented and dedicated directors with a diverse mix of backgrounds, expertise, experience, and skills that promotes creativity and innovation.

Celebrating and valuing diverse voices and perspectives will create the culture of inclusiveness and diversity throughout the organization needed to best accomplish our mission. PSR is committed to attracting and maintaining Board members representative of diverse backgrounds and experiences. A diverse Board will elevate our collective skills and perspectives to value, support, and advance the voices and roles of communities systematically marginalized and disproportionately impacted by the gravest threats to human health and survival.

Racial Justice Action Plan

In 2020, PSR staff drafted and began implementing a Racial Justice Action Plan to guide our national operations, consisting of five major categories and goals:

Programs

Each of PSR’s major programs conducts an assessment of potential impacts of our activities on communities of color, and is working to explicitly incorporate racial justice goals or objectives into program plans.

Power

PSR staff are working to raise adequate resources and dedicate the budgetary resources needed to accomplish the organization’s racial justice goals and objectives.

Policies

This includes ensuring that our anti-discrimination policies prevent the harassment of any person of color who is a member of PSR, and that those policies are communicated and enforced; that we define family in a way that supports all family formations; and that we continuously strengthen our affirmative action in hiring processes.

People

We’re working to recruit and maintain a staff and board that reflects the full spectrum of communities of color.

Culture

We’re striving to ensure that all identities (sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, etc.) are recognized, respected, and taken into consideration in the development of our organizational culture.

Protestor with "Black Lives Matter" sign

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Discussion Group

PSR celebrates and values diverse voices and perspectives to best accomplish our mission by creating a culture of inclusiveness and diversity, promoting creativity and innovation, and elevating our collective skills and perspectives. Accordingly, PSR staff voluntarily participate in semi-monthly discussion group  meetings on issues related to DEIJ to learn, engage, and energize ourselves and our approach to our work.

Recent discussion topics have included:

  • Energy Justice: How it Relates To and is Different From Climate Justice and Environmental Justice
  • An Indigenous Peoples’ Approach to Climate Justice
  • Generational Bias and Inclusivity: Nuclear Threat Professionals Reimagine Their Field
  • Green 2.0 Retention Report – Leaking Talent: How People of Color are Pushed Out of Environmental Organizations
  • The Future of National Security Work: Flexibility Alone Won’t Fix Our Toxic Culture
  • Strategies Used by the LGBTQ Community and the Lessons They Hold for Other Groups Seeking Change
  • Nonviolent Direct Action & Civil Disobedience as Employed by Climate Activists
  • Ageism: The Last Socially Acceptable Prejudice That Pits Us Against Our Future Selves, and Each Other
  • DEIJ on the Rise: How Organizations Have Prioritized the Movement

In addition to also discussing general DEIJ topics such as racism, privilege, and gender bias, PSR staff also have the opportunity to voluntarily present on how their life experiences contribute to how they approach DEIJ.

Staff Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice

As part of PSR’s commitment to DEIJ initiatives, staff have pursued professional development opportunities to help further our work and strengthen our organizational culture. Director of Operations W. Taylor Carneiro-Johnson holds a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion, and a certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Building a Diverse Workforce, both from Cornell University. Interim Director of Philanthropy and Member Services LaTisha Henderson holds a certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace from the University of South Florida.

Coalitions and Partnerships

PSR participates in Organizations in Solidarity, which seeks to combat racism and discrimination in all of its manifestations as individuals and in its organizations and in so doing, diversify the fields of peace and security, foreign policy, and national security, making our work more inclusive and equitable. OrgsinSolidarity is formed as a partnership among more than 300 organizations and individuals who are signatories to the Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation (”WCAPS”) United States or United Kingdom Standing Together Against Racism and Discrimination Statements (Solidarity Statements).

PSR participates in Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy, a leadership network that brings together heads of organizations working in nuclear policy who are committed to break down gender barriers and make gender equity a working reality in their spheres of influence. PSR has signed on to Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Relevant, Timely, Inclusive, and Equitable (“SMARTIE”) commitments, or smart pledges that can be accomplished in one year to advance gender equality in the organization’s processes, practices, and policies or in its programmatic work.

PSR works in collaboration with the Green Leadership Trust, the first cross-organizational effort focused on building power and diversity in any advocacy sector. A number of PSR’s board of directors are members of the Green Leadership Trust: Joy Blackwood (co-founding member of the Green Leadership Trust), Natasha DeJarnett (PSR Board President-Elect), and Surili Patel (PSR Treasurer).

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