We are pleased to welcome our newest staff member, Lex Brown, who joined us in January as our first ever Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Fellow!
In early 2021, following months of nationwide protests demanding accountability, justice, and a reckoning with this country’s history of racism and police brutality, the Clearinghouse started an internal DEI Committee. We knew it was important that board members and staff were educated on these issues and the unique ways they impact the diverse communities we serve, as well as the legal and nonprofit sectors as a whole.
Committee members have participated in the ABA’s 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge; read articles and books, such as Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis; viewed the documentary series 13th; and discussed steps the Clearinghouse can take to make our services more accessible and inclusive. As an organization we also amended our bylaws to include language emphasizing our commitment to DEI.
Ultimately, this committee was only the starting point. Over the next year, Lex will help us formalize our DEI work by collaborating with staff and the DEI Committee to create action plans, update guidelines, and put together resources to ensure we are promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion across all of our programs.
As a Black woman raised in a predominantly-Black community, Lex is interested in the intersection of race and education in the U.S. school system and concentrated her studies at Harvard College on sociology and African American studies, with a secondary focus on education. She also has experience creating and implementing DEI initiatives and trainings for teens, young adults, and their families, and has studied and written about topics such as anti-Blackness in schools and the school-to-prison pipeline.
Lex says she was drawn to this role because she felt it would allow her to focus more intentionally on DEI as a whole, with actionable outcomes that impact the Clearinghouse and surrounding community, as opposed to the more targeted, project-based DEI work she has done in the past.
One of Lex’s first large-scale projects will be to update the Clearinghouse’s Language Access Plan, which will involve identifying the language needs of the people served by the Legal Clinic and Nonprofit Assistance programs and outlining best practices to help those individuals access our services and resources in their native languages.
In addition to the Language Access Plan and other DEI projects, Lex says she is also interested in working with staff to create resources that utilize imagery to better communicate complex topics such as nonprofit formation and the nuances of the legal system.
“Something I’m interested in with DEI work is producing tangible things for the communities we serve that can be referenced with or without us,” she says. “I’m really big on infographic creation and making something that is complex a little more understandable for people of various learning abilities and capabilities.”
Outside of work, Lex is an avid reader and lover of plants and enjoys spending time with her family. Hopefully, when she isn’t providing valuable insight and direction on DEI initiatives, she can offer much-needed tips on office plant care.
Welcome, Lex!
