Statement from Amanda Kraus on Behalf of the DEI Committee

The mission statement of USRowing is "To champion participation and the passionate pursuit of excellence in rowing." Fundamentally, we all share that same passion – we put in the hours of practice, volunteering, coaching and supporting one another, both on and off the water, towards our individual and team goals.

But the reality is that for many in our rowing community, they do not always experience the level of support, comfort and welcoming that the majority of us take for granted. That was brought to light most recently by the inappropriate and racist social media posts that occurred this past December. To be clear – USRowing denounces and opposes any form of discrimination, racism and harassment of the members of its community and is committed to making lasting changes to the sport in order to make it more inclusive and diverse.

In the short term, to accomplish our goals USRowing brought diversity training back to the Annual Convention, and we will create a full-time staff position to lead and support DEI work and promote our vision at USRowing. We also hosted 13 webinars since March of 2020 that highlighted the existing DEI work in our community, as well as amplified the stories of rowers, coaches, and others engaged in the sport of rowing who are too often "not seen" in the sport.

In order to create sustainable and lasting changes, the USRowing Board appointed the USRowing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ("DEI') standing committee in September 2020 and has been diligently working to develop the strategies and foundational structure necessary to support USRowing's commitment to improve diversity and advance equity and inclusion in rowing. I have felt tremendously lucky to work with such a passionate and intelligent group from across the country. You can view the full list of committee members here. Below are the overarching goals that have been prioritized by the DEI Committee:

Assist USRowing's communications team in developing a robust and rapid communication plan to address inappropriate and offensive media content. Use USRowing social media to highlight the successes of rowing clubs and programs in their diversity initiatives.

Increase the diversity and inclusiveness of USRowing staff and board through hiring, planning, education, and policy changes.

Develop strategies to recruit, train, and retain a more diverse pool of coaches, referees and administrators at all levels, with a focus to increase the number of women and BIPOC coaches.

Create a national team pipeline that is more accessible to underrepresented groups through identification, recruitment, financial support, and other strategies.

Improve communication by USRowing of how it conducts business and enhance DEI education for coaches, referees, administrators, and members.

Support member organizations, at whatever stage of their DEI programs and goals, and provide accountability to reach those goals.

To implement those strategies, the DEI Committee has created specialized workgroups to address USRowing Organizational Policies (Internal); Member Organizations/Coaches and Referees/Strategic Partnerships (External) and Transparency and Accountability of DEI Initiatives, which are described below.

USRowing Organizational Polices (Internal)

This working group focuses on USRowing's internal affairs including, but not limited to, budget, strategies, policies and programs. Its goals are to review the organization's current policies and organizational plans to ensure that they align with DEI priorities, as well as assist the development of internal policy frameworks to support the implementation and long-term success of the priorities. Since its creation, this group has reviewed current strategic and budget plans, worked with me to ensure that hiring policies are reflective of USRowing's DEI goals, reviewed DEI training materials for USRowing staff and board, and will review and provide input to improve the policies and procedures of Safe Sport. This group has also begun collaborating with the head coach of the junior national team and the director of youth rowing to ensure that youth development and junior national team programs are supportive of and actively advancing DEI goals.

Member Organizations/Coaches and Referees/Strategic Partnerships (External)

The focus of this working group is to gather data from member organizations to establish a baseline for DEI metrics and accountability for clubs, assist USRowing in facilitating community building and develop and provide DEI resources for member organizations and individuals leading DEI work in the rowing community. The group is also tasked with ensuring USRowing training and education programs reflect the integration of DEI principles, as well as help form strategic partnerships with other organizations to support and strengthen USRowing's DEI work. The group has been focused on developing a survey that will be sent to the USRowing membership in the near future to collect DEI data to better understand where we currently stand with respect to diversity as an organization. In the short term, the group has been collecting DEI census data for USRowing. The group has been developing best practices and identifying practices that do not work in order to help break down barriers to increase access to the sport by underrepresented communities.

Transparency and Accountability

This working group focuses on creating organizational transparency and accountability around USRowing's DEI initiatives and is working to bridge the gap of communication between the DEI committee and the public, including USRowing members and non-rowers. The group will help ensure that USRowing's DEI policies, practices, and procedures are clear, consistent and -- when appropriate -- codified in USRowing governing documents and its rules. Currently, this group is developing compelling and consistent messages to motivate key stakeholders to embrace and act for change in order to improve inclusion and equity.

The work of the DEI Committee is just the beginning of the efforts needed to support the long- term success of building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive rowing community. From my years of launching and running Row New York I know that I am still on a personal journey of learning and listening and hopeful I can earn my role as an ally to people who have been largely underrepresented and even, at times, unwelcome in rowing. Helping our sport better reflect the diversity of our country is no small task. But, as we all know, rowing is a team sport! It will also take the collective action of the entire USRowing membership to achieve this goal. As John Lewis once said, "Inner transformation must be realized to affect lasting social change." I look forward to working with all of you to move this sport forward.