Statement of Apology from The Doula Project's Board
To the membership and supporters of The Doula Project:
The Leadership Circle hopes you are all well, and we are grateful for your continued interest and support during these difficult and tumultuous times.
In July, the Leadership Circle shared a statement to provide transparency around the conflict between us and the Board of TDP. Since then, we have been in discussions with the Board, which is one reason why you haven’t heard from the LC on this matter sooner.
We will be reaching out in the upcoming weeks to talk with you and hear your input about both the mission and governance of The Doula Project going forward, and about programmatic plans for 2021.
The Board has asked us to share the following statement of apology with you.
-The Leadership Circle of The Doula Project, October 2020
The Doula Project Board would like to sincerely thank all doulas, Leadership Circle members, and supporters who have come forward to support and push the Board to evaluate our governance model. Since July 24th when the Leadership Circle published their response to the Board’s decision to pursue a reorganization of The Doula Project, the Board has been spending the past few months critically reviewing the ways in which we have fallen short of the community's expectations and how we can better move the mission and vision of The Doula Project forward. The Doula Project Board acknowledges that the decision to eliminate the Leadership Circle (LC) without the input of the LC was a serious mistake and would like to publicly apologize both to the LC and our doula base at large.
This decision was made hastily, without consultation with the LC, and with many new board members who did not fully understand the history and make-up of the LC nor the history of mistrust and lack of transparency between the LC and the Board. The Board fully acknowledges that our decision only served to deepen these wounds.
Although members of the Board still feel strongly that the current organizational model of the Doula Project is untenable, we agree that a path forward is one that is created transparently and collaboratively with both the LC and the Board. We also agree that the path forward could take many potential forms including significant changes to, or even dissolution of, the Board and the adoption of an entirely new organizational model. To be fully transparent, over the past six months four members of the Board have stepped down for personal reasons and will not be able to continue on this path with us. The seven members currently serving on the Board are committed to building trust and working collaboratively in moving this process forward.
The Board sincerely regrets the unilateral decision to eliminate the LC, acknowledges that the decision and the way it was made are examples of white supremacy at work, and takes full responsibility for the harm to the LC and the organization at large. The Board commits to heal and mend the relationship between the LC and Board, build trust, and create a safe and collaborative space to discuss and move the mission of the organization forward together. Furthermore the Board commits to address the white supremacy culture within the Board and to work with the LC to dismantle white supremacy and support anti-oppression work more broadly within the Doula Project.
Over the past few months, the Board has been meeting weekly to take a deeper look at our current functioning, to create commitments for our work moving forward, and to identify next steps for the organization. These commitments focus on the following goals:
To heal and mend the relationship between the Board and the LC;
To work with the LC to critically review how The Doula Project operates in order to move our mission and vision forward; and
To increase our commitment to anti-oppression work including: support ongoing anti-oppression workshops, all members complete required readings and a training, reviewing Board recruitment processes, increasing diversity so the Board is reflective of our doula base and the communities that we serve, and exploring organizational structures collaboratively including voices from the LC and the doula base.
The Doula Project is committed to overcoming these challenges to foster a more supportive and safe environment for patients and volunteers. There is a lot of work ahead but we are hopeful the Doula Project will emerge stronger and better able to meet the challenges of 2020 and beyond. TDP’s Board may be contacted at doulaprojectbod@gmail.com.
The Board of the Doula Project
October 2020
Rachel O'Sullivan, Chair
Monica Diaz McMillan, Treasurer
David Scatterday
Karly Bennett
Elizabeth Guerra
Georbina DeRosa
Megan Donovan