Our Commitment to Welcoming All
“Cancer doesn’t discriminate. Neither do we. We value diversity, equality and inclusion on our team and board and in the communities we serve, and we stand to see these same values upheld by and within every institution, brand and partner with which we are aligned. We will continue to lead with our values and to listen to one another, because we believe this makes us stronger, more open minded, more empathetic and most capable of changing lives.”
This statement was posted to ROW’s social media accounts earlier this month, but we want to now dive deeper into what it means, what ROW has stood for since the start, and what we are committed to going forward.
Aware of it or not, every organization has a set of principles and beliefs that they adhere to in working toward a vision. To be proactive about what we stood for (and what we did not), ROW’s board of directors created a values statement in 2016 to guide the organization in its coming years of growth and development.
Our values have been the guiding light as we’ve grown into a more mature organization looking to uniquely provide programs and serve our mission. They have helped us develop a positive culture and served as a compass in times where we have had to make tough decisions, big and small.
One of our values reads: “We celebrate diversity.” As we reflect on the racial injustices that are now driving an historic movement across the U.S., we have been forced to ask ourselves what this statement really means to us.
We see the disparities for women diagnosed with breast cancer, and we know that outcomes for women of color are significantly behind those of their white counterparts; specifically, breast cancer mortality rates are 40 percent higher among black women who are diagnosed, and this is in part because black women are diagnosed later. That’s part of why we have worked hard and dedicated many resources to ensuring all patients and survivors of breast cancer can benefit from ROW.
Everyone deserves a team to help them fight back, and we know that diversity makes us stronger and more capable of accomplishing our mission. We also know that we must be active and intentional in welcoming to ROW those who don’t look like us and who have likely felt uncomfortable about approaching our sport, which has been historically exclusive and white.
Here is a look at what we’ve been doing to facilitate ongoing opportunities for diversity, and then we’ll explore how we are committed to doing more:
We recognize that water sport isn’t for everyone, and water could be a hurdle for women of color considering the sport of rowing. To ensure our ability to deliver broadly accessible programming, we invested last year in a 2,000-square-foot indoor home where we could provide off-water workouts and build more community on the south side. After opening the space in January 2020, COVID-19 slowed some of our initial progress, but we are still working to build a robust indoor offering, particularly for women who may not feel comfortable on the water.
Exercise—not just water rowing—is at the core of our mission, and the rowing machine is an incredible tool, accessible to anyone who wants to get fit and fight back. Indoor workouts are also far more accessible for those who may not have two hours to dedicate to outdoor rowing practice.
We empower survivors to become leaders at ROW, whether as coaches, board members, employees or volunteers. In February of 2020 we funded the certification of five ROW athletes to become indoor rowing instructors. Training our members to become ambassadors and advocates for our values-centric approach is key to engaging a more diverse audience of women and giving them confidence that ROW is going to meet their needs. We can’t think of anyone who can better understand the unique needs of women facing this disease than those who have fought the battle themselves, so we put those ambassadors front and center to “lift as we climb.”
Through hospital outreach starting in 2017, we have educated hundreds of women across Chicago about the benefits of exercise during and after treatment, including Rush University Medical Center, UI Health, Stroger Hospital, Northwestern and Advocate Illinois Masonic. We go into every hospital that will have us and meet with any doctor who will listen to our mission of improving rates of recurrence and quality of life. We have aligned with organizations like Equal Hope, Gilda’s Club, Wellness House and Imerman Angels to make sure that every breast cancer patient and survivor knows she can play a powerful role in her own recovery, and we have a team that knows just what she’s been through.
Rowing is an expensive sport—this has contributed a great deal to its history of exclusivity—but we believe cost should never be an excluding factor for the women who wish to join ROW. To ensure the door is open to all who wish to take part, we provide full and partial scholarships to those who might need them, and we make this provision available for both our year-round programs and annual Power10 Camp.
It’s a Movement, Not a Moment
In addition to what we have done in the past and will continue into the future, here are a few of our commitments to championing diversity, inclusion and equality:
We are committed to listening. It has been said that people have two ears and one mouth for a reason, and we believe in that idea.
We will seek out and support leaders who bring diverse perspectives and lived experiences that can deepen our own understanding of inclusion and elevate our diversity initiatives.
We will be considerate and intentional in our communications, our recruitment strategies, and our empowerment of diverse ROW ambassadors as we look to expand our reach.
We will take greater initiative to learn from rowing and breast cancer organizations that we feel are doing an exemplary job of improving diversity within their existing spaces.
We will seek out and act on resources like this article provided Philadelphia City Rowing and Row New York.
We believe that there is always room and opportunity to improve, and we welcome the chance to grow where diversity and inclusion are concerned. We are grateful to those who have shared with us their thoughts on how ROW can take action, and we are proud to represent a team, board and support network that values equality and holds our organization accountable as a proactive and welcoming leader of diversity, integration, inclusion and racial equality.