• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

  • Home
  • About/Contact
  • Advertise
  • Legal Notices
    • Submitting legal notices
  • Lincoln Resources
    • Coming Up in Lincoln
    • Municipal Calendar
    • Lincoln Links
  • Merchandise
  • Subscriptions
    • My Account
    • Log In
    • Log Out
  • Lincoln Review
    • About the Lincoln Review
    • Issues
    • Submit your work

Town seeks volunteers for new Inclusion, Equity, Diversity and Anti-Racism Initiative

March 1, 2021

The Board of Selectmen voted on February 22 to establish the Inclusion, Equity, Diversity, and Anti-Racism Initiative (“IDEA” or “Initiative”) and finalize the Initiative’s charge, and they are now seeking  volunteers. If interested, please complete this volunteer form and send it with a note of interest to Peggy Elder at elderp@lincolntown.org by Wednesday, March 31.

Embedded in our town vision statement is a commitment to fostering economic, racial, ethnic, and age diversity within Lincoln. This longstanding commitment was brought into sharper focus and scrutiny last spring after the murder of George Floyd. Members of our community responded to that tragedy by organizing vigils, reading and discussing books that address systemic racism, and by asking town government to explicitly examine the systems and actions of our own town. In response, the Board of Selectmen launched a series of events to expand understanding of the current state and attitudes of policing, social services, and land planning in Lincoln, the roles and jurisdictions of town committees, and to explore partnerships with community groups and institutions.

Through these conversations, town residents have made it clear that they want to engage in candid discussions about what diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism look like in Lincoln, and to establish a long-term, town-led group that will keep Lincoln’s vision of fostering and supporting diversity at the center of all we do.

The board is establishing IDEA to recognize and support diversity for all who live, work, learn, and visit in Lincoln, and to develop a long-term action plan to identify and address unconscious bias, to ensure just and equitable policies and inclusion, and to actively promote a diverse and anti-racist community.

The IDEA Initiative is envisioned as a partnership between the town and community groups and institutions. It shall consist of up to 11 voting members, eight of whom are at-large members of the community. In addition, IDEA will encourage liaisons from groups not already represented by a voting member and explicitly reach out to the community for broad participation. Read the complete IDEA charge here.

The board recognizes that the work of IDEA will be dynamic and will need to develop as the group engages with the community, therefore the charge is intended as a set of guideposts for the Initiative as it begins its work.  IDEA will make quarterly reports to the board and will recommend a longer-term action plan and an initial vision for a standing committee by Town Meeting 2022.

Category: news

Primary Sidebar

Upcoming Events

May 12
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

“Fort-Night”

May 12
7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

LOMA: Sweetbriar

May 13
10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Blood drive to benefit Boston Children’s Hospital

May 13
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

Nature walk for families

May 14
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Popsicle party

View Calendar

Recent Posts

  • My Turn: Planning for climate-friendly aviation May 8, 2025
  • News acorns May 7, 2025
  • Legal notice: Select Board public hearing May 7, 2025
  • Property sales in March and April 2025 May 6, 2025
  • Public forums, walks scheduled around Panetta/Farrington proposal May 5, 2025

Squirrel Archives

Categories

Secondary Sidebar

Search the Squirrel:

Privacy policy

© Copyright 2025 The Lincoln Squirrel · All Rights Reserved.