Mid-Year Update on SMANA’s Racial Equity Work

A year ago SMANA issued a statement pledging to prioritize racial equity in our work, commit ourselves to change from within, and help our members ensure their own work promotes equity and inclusion. Last fall’s diversity, equity and inclusion webinar series was just a start to the member benefits we hope to feature. Below is a snapshot of a few resources we’ve been compiling. This is a growing list that we want to add to. We invite our members to share their ideas for additions!

• Preventing Tokenism: How to Build Authentic Inclusion in Social Marketing Planning Processes, SMANA webinar presented by Crystal Borde
• Making Racial Equity Real in Research, SMANA webinar presented by Hana Creger
• Will Social Marketing Fight for Black Lives? An Open Letter to the Field. A commentary by Sonya A. Grier and Sonja Martin Poole published in Social Marketing Quarterly (SMANA members have free access to SMQ here.)
• Call for Papers: Social Marketing’s Role in Racial Equity
• American Marketing Association: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Marketing
• New research collection from SAGE Journals

This year, SMANA has been contemplating how best to use its platform to address not just the consequences of structural racism, but how it may be present in the field of social marketing. We also recognize the need for more BIPOC voices on our volunteer-led board and in our volunteer-led committees to address these issues. SMANA is approaching our second open election for board seats, and the call for nominations is out. Please nominate yourself or your colleagues to help us continue to prioritize racial equity and diversity in SMANA and direct the future of our organization. Or, give your time and skills to one of SMANA’s committees. Learn more here.