For Immediate Release:
Contact: Liz Thompson
Director of Marketing and Communications
(614) 481-8169 | media@deltagamma.org
COLUMBUS, OHIO – Delta Gamma Fraternity is proud to announce its new partner, Social Responsibility Speaks (SRS), which will aid the organization in developing and implementing strategies for cultivating a more inclusive and equitable membership experience at all levels of the organization, including staff. Founded on the belief that all humans have a social responsibility to care for one another, SRS works toward a more just society and endeavors to educate others to do the same. The individuals who lead SRS have professional experience as staff of higher education institutions, project work with nonprofits and volunteer-governed organizations and existing relationships with Delta Gamma and other National Panhellenic Conference groups.
Prior to the start of this partnership, Delta Gamma had partnered with The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in 2019, to conduct a contextualization effort and subsequent organizational equity assessment to review policies, procedures and practices in order to provide the organization’s leaders with recommendations to further advance a culture of care anchored in enhanced inclusivity. The recommendations from the assessment, which will now be implemented by SRS, are designed to remedy barriers, create opportunities for repairing harm and identify needed cultural changes to realize a Delta Gamma where every member feels valued.
Delta Gamma Fraternity President Wilma Johnson Wilbanks, Alpha Psi-Mississippi, shares, “I am honored to work alongside the SRS team as we review the recommendations, engage our members and implement impactful change that will solidify the future of our Do Good Sisterhood. Last month, our Leadership team received the first SRS training experience and we are energized by their profound expertise, commitment to coach and guide, and authentic familiarity with member organizations established to empower women.”
In a statement from Social Responsibility Speaks, the Team Leads offered the following: “Our Team is moved by Delta Gamma Fraternity’s commitment to a comprehensive plan for sustainable change within the Fraternity to ensure the Do Good Sisterhood is able to achieve the vision of ‘when nowhere else feels like home, Delta Gamma does’ for every member. We look forward to building on the Kirwan Institute’s recommendations and operationalizing those within the Fraternity.”
The partnership between Delta Gamma Fraternity and SRS began in March 2021 and will continue for a minimum of one year as strategic plans are further outlined and the implementation phase begins across Delta Gamma organization wide.
About Delta Gamma: Delta Gamma Fraternity was founded in 1873 at the Lewis School in Oxford, Mississippi. The objects of the Fraternity shall be to foster high ideals of friendship among women, to promote their educational and cultural interests, to create in them a true sense of social responsibility and to develop in them the best qualities of character. Today we have more than 263,000 initiated members, 151 collegiate chapters and nearly 200 alumnae groups. Delta Gamma Fraternity Executive Offices is in Columbus, Ohio.
About Social Responsibility Speaks: Social Responsibility Speaks™’ mission is to create a culture of belonging and mattering through a focus on equity, inclusion, and justice. We partner with individuals and organizations to commit to becoming better and stronger in our journey to prevent harm, confront bias, and seek justice. The Social Responsibility Speaks’™ team sees everyone in this space as a leader who must model cultural humility and hold themselves and others accountable to this work.