After five wonderful years of growth, joy, and the profound meaning that can only come from serving in a role aligned with my heart’s most sincere purpose — to create a better world for non-humans and humans — I have decided to step aside as executive director of Encompass and move into an advisory role.

It’s been four years since we launched Encompass, and I’m immensely proud of what we’ve accomplished. Now that we’ve secured our footing in the farmed animal protection movement and have had some time to implement our initial programs, we can’t help but reflect on what’s worked and what hasn’t. As we move into 2022, we’re sharing our Strategic Plan so you can see what’s in store.

Encompass created a Talent Database to uplift the brilliance of BIPGM in our movement and connect advocates with opportunities. Our goal with the database is to support BIPGM across the globe who are interested in accessing paid staff positions, board openings, speaking opportunities, and consulting gigs.

There’s no way around it: Talk to just about any animal advocate, and they’ll tell you they’re experiencing burnout or have in the past. The rates of burnout are higher for Black, Indigenous, and people of the global majority, because not only do we constantly carry with us the exhaustion that comes from dealing with racism, but nearly all of us experience racism in the movement as we’re advocating for animals.

We have been heartened to see many animal protection advocates, organizations—and even some plant-based food companies—making public statements in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, against structural racism, racial inequity, police brutality, and more. However, we need to go beyond public statements. We need to challenge the ubiquitous “stand in solidarity” trope and become proactive—not merely reactive—against systemic racism.

The novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, is affecting all of humanity around the globe. What is the role of the farmed animal advocacy movement at this time?

Before launching the Caucus, we had several internal conversations about what we should name the space. We landed on “POC Caucus” because “POC” is widely used in the U.S.; however, there are a number of critiques for this term that we believe apply to the caucus so we have determined that POC is not the best descriptor. We are now choosing to harness the globally inclusive spirit of a new term: People of the Global Majority.

As an animal protection group that focuses on racial justice, part of what Encompass does is shine a light on the connections people in our movement may not see. Specifically, we spotlight institutional racism because it is typically couched behind the veil of “how things are” and it deserves to be disinfected by sunlight. We care deeply about animals and the people who fight for them, and we also care deeply about those who are stuck in exploitative jobs in the food industry with no other options. The overwhelming majority of these are people of color and/or recent immigrants.

Incorporating DEI into an organization’s culture requires a paradigm shift. It requires everyone in the organization—from top to bottom, no matter how they racially identify—to be willing to grapple with how race affects our work for animals and our movement at-large. DEI work can take many forms and for some, it may be a brand new concept. We created this fact sheet to summarize how we help organizations realize their DEI goals.

At Encompass, we’re interested in getting to the root of the issue because the evidence is clear: racial diversity—without emphasis on equity, inclusion, and belonging—is ineffective. This post takes a deep dive not just into why we do this work, but how (and it’s chock full of references).

At Encompass, our core goal is to build a racially diverse, equitable, and inclusive farmed animal protection movement. However, we recognize that systems of oppression don’t operate independently. We believe that sexism, racism, ableism, and other forms of prejudice deserve introspection, analysis, and a framework for a path forward.