Who We Are
Mission Statement
Our mission is:
We will realize this mission by implementing a time-tested, insight-driven training and consulting model that will empower our clients to become catalysts for change and effectively engage all people in the deep, challenging, and rewarding work of authentic inclusion, personally and within their organizations and communities. |
Valerie Batts, Co-Founder & Executive Director, explains VISIONS approach to language and how it enhances our effectiveness. |
VISIONS is celebrated for its change-oriented approach to diversity and inclusion work.
We offer clients the tools and skills to:
VISIONS has a highly trained team of consultants around the United States and abroad. Since 1984, VISIONS has trained more than 115,000 people and, in the last decade, worked with over 500 organizations. Moving forward, we are developing the next generation of youth leaders through our Youth Empowerment Workshops and the Legacy Project.
We offer clients the tools and skills to:
- Communicate more effectively across difference.
- Create a non-judgmental atmosphere which allows for challenges and accountability without accusation and blame.
- Analyze complex issues regarding race, class, gender and other differences at the personal, interpersonal, institutional and cultural levels.
- Create strategies for inclusion that allow for engagement of all participants, so they can perform to their full potential.
VISIONS has a highly trained team of consultants around the United States and abroad. Since 1984, VISIONS has trained more than 115,000 people and, in the last decade, worked with over 500 organizations. Moving forward, we are developing the next generation of youth leaders through our Youth Empowerment Workshops and the Legacy Project.
Our Values
We believe that the work we do is essential to the success of every person, community, and organization.
We operate by the philosophy that an environment with a strong framework for diversity and inclusion will bear the fruits not only in the organizational culture and bottom line, but in ongoing relationships and daily interactions.
We believe in doing what’s important, not what’s easy.
We exist in order to make the hard conversations possible, and guide our clients through the process of overcoming their barriers and fears, whether they exist at the personal, interpersonal, cultural, or institutional level.
We believe that people don’t know what they don’t know.
Our work is based on the understanding that we all must first build awareness of unconscious beliefs, assumptions, and behaviors and then set the stage for a conscious and lasting shift in those behaviors. No one should be blamed for not knowing. And, once we know, we can choose to act.
We believe that working through difference is not about creating guilt.
We remove the stigma of shame and blame associated with issues of difference, in order to create room for open and honest communication throughout all stages of the process.
We believe that our defining purpose is to leave our clients better than we found them.
It is our lasting mission to create and implement new guiding principles for our clients that will endure even after our work is done.
We operate by the philosophy that an environment with a strong framework for diversity and inclusion will bear the fruits not only in the organizational culture and bottom line, but in ongoing relationships and daily interactions.
We believe in doing what’s important, not what’s easy.
We exist in order to make the hard conversations possible, and guide our clients through the process of overcoming their barriers and fears, whether they exist at the personal, interpersonal, cultural, or institutional level.
We believe that people don’t know what they don’t know.
Our work is based on the understanding that we all must first build awareness of unconscious beliefs, assumptions, and behaviors and then set the stage for a conscious and lasting shift in those behaviors. No one should be blamed for not knowing. And, once we know, we can choose to act.
We believe that working through difference is not about creating guilt.
We remove the stigma of shame and blame associated with issues of difference, in order to create room for open and honest communication throughout all stages of the process.
We believe that our defining purpose is to leave our clients better than we found them.
It is our lasting mission to create and implement new guiding principles for our clients that will endure even after our work is done.
Our History
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It started with a question…
In 1984, the founders of VISIONS—three black women who grew up in legalized segregation and a white Jewish man who grew up in the civil rights movement—brought together change agents in the fields of education, law, psychology, public health, business and religion, all of whom were asking the question, “How do we include people who have been historically excluded from white, mostly male institutions?” The challenge was to understand and pioneer ways that everyone could prosper. Following the first wave of affirmative action in the U.S., the common practice had been to add more diversity without paying attention to how to best prepare the workplace, community, or church for success. Organizations failed to recognize the elements that needed to change to ensure that those being brought in would stay and thrive. |
Co-Founder & Executive Director Valerie Batts on VISIONS’ humble beginnings and powerful impact. |
VISIONS developed a model that stood up to this challenge.
Our model is built on the understanding that change to any system must occur at multiple levels and address multiple variables of difference, including race and ethnicity, gender, class, sexual preference, and others. VISIONS recognized it was not enough to open doors to diversity at the institutional level alone. Instead, one must also address barriers to inclusion at the personal, interpersonal, and cultural levels as well. This approach revealed the attitudes, unconscious biases, and behaviors that prevent people from succeeding in organizations and pointed out what needed to change to make success for everyone a possibility.
Our model is built on the understanding that change to any system must occur at multiple levels and address multiple variables of difference, including race and ethnicity, gender, class, sexual preference, and others. VISIONS recognized it was not enough to open doors to diversity at the institutional level alone. Instead, one must also address barriers to inclusion at the personal, interpersonal, and cultural levels as well. This approach revealed the attitudes, unconscious biases, and behaviors that prevent people from succeeding in organizations and pointed out what needed to change to make success for everyone a possibility.
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Co-Founder Angela Bryant shares her experience of VISIONS’ history. |
Co-Founder John Capitman shares his experience of VISIONS’ history. |
Working with the next generation…
In 2003, in collaboration with W.K. Kellogg Foundation, VISIONS began to actively look at how these issues are the same and different for young people, and developed a version of our model geared toward those ages 15 to 30. Our engagement with this age group, including developing a cadre of youth consultants, has allowed us to stay fresh in our thinking and our perspectives and join with youth to continue our work to increase opportunity and equity for all people.
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The Legacy Project onstage after their show.
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Youth can play vital roles in creating positive social change in their communities.
Since 2003, VISIONS has been cultivating the voices and leadership potential of young people through our Youth Empowerment Workshops and The Legacy Project.
Since 2003, VISIONS has been cultivating the voices and leadership potential of young people through our Youth Empowerment Workshops and The Legacy Project.