Over the past several months the board members of NSGP have worked to craft a message that reflects the organization's commitment to social justice. Below is NSGP's statement on equity and inclusion. This statement is a starting point for our organization to develop strategies for accountability for who we are and what we do. The Board acknowledges this statement is long overdue and will only be as impactful as the meaningful action NSGP takes to serve this end. Therefore, we invite every NSGP member to reflect on the message of this statement and begin a dialogue in our shared spaces with the larger organization about how we can ethically reckon with the deeply entrenched systems of oppression in the United States. 

As an organization, NSGP acknowledges that in our society, there are historical systems of power that grant privilege and access unequally.  These systems allow for the intersections of different kinds of prejudice that combine to favor white, heterosexual, cisgendered, younger, able-bodied, Christian men.  The systems are self-perpetuating, which have enabled segments of these populations disproportionate access to wealth and power.  The element of social class further enables the ongoing exploitation of both people and the planet. 

NSGP recognizes that these systems continue to operate in our society. Specific to our professional roles, we recognize these systems for their impact on those with whom we work. In the United States the effects are especially pernicious for those who suffer anti-blackness, transphobia, and xenophobia. 

NSGP acknowledges that as an organization and since our founding in 1956, there have been different ways we have been complicit with these systems.  We collectively acknowledge that this is wrong, and we believe that inequities and injustice require continuous effort to be changed. We publicly commit to doing the work within our organization to dismantle these systems and we will participate in dismantling them in our professional lives. The organization will actively and continually encourage all of our members to consider how we each participate in perpetuating exploitive systems along with their impact on both people and the planet. 

NSGP strives towards a future in which social systems and their benefits— justice, opportunity, safety, respect, wellbeing, recognition, conservation, and more— are fairly apportioned and readily given.  We believe that fully actualizing the humanity of all people requires fully recognizing the humanity in all people.  We believe this involves the recognition and redress of past harms, the steady effort to make change, and the commitment to an ongoing dialogue among all groups about our needs and our future together.