The role of Mother and Child Alliance (“MACA”) leadership and board of directors is to expand, manage and further initiatives that build and strengthen the organization, with respect to inclusion, equity and diversity for the clients and employees of the organization.
Diversity and Inclusion Statement
Our mission:
Mother and Child Alliance reinforces a safety net during and after pregnancy for moms, babies, and their providers to prevent HIV and other serious, costly pediatric infections, in newborns. We strengthen disparate prenatal and postpartum systems of care in Illinois and across the U.S.
D&I Statement:
MACA is on a mission to build healthier communities in Illinois and the US. We believe that a community is only healthy when all its members, irrespective of race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disabilities, legal status, cultural, financial and persons from all backgrounds, have equitable access to health and health care.
Given our work in bolstering healthcare services to prevent HIV and other serious pediatric infections, we recognize that such diseases disproportionately affect members of our society that have long been marginalized – Black and Indigenous People of Color, LGBTQ, non-binary individuals, Immigrants and Refugees regardless of documentation status, the justice-involved, and the financially unstable and underserved.
We know that years of discrimination, combined with the stigma of disease, makes it challenging for these vulnerable populations to reach out for help. Hence, we at MACA are committed to delivering our services without judgement.
However, there is still a long way to go.
On our 20th anniversary, as we dawn a new name and mission, we re-affirm our stance against discrimination of any form and reaffirm our alliance with all members that enrich our shared community.
In action, we promise to:
- Continue to serve our clients with a sense of compassion and empathy
- Acknowledge and appreciate our similarities, and more importantly our differences
- Treat every MACA stakeholder – client, employee, case manager, partner, affiliate – with respect
- Act in all our business and professional dealings without bias
- Deliver care to every MACA client without bias, judgement or prejudice
- Support efforts to dismantle systemic racism by advocating for and with the people and communities personally impacted by the paradigm of systemic racism.
- Support efforts and work toward attainable solutions in ending systemic racism by supporting and advocating for changes of public policy and laws.
We accept that our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion means we must also make an ongoing commitment to constant learning. We acknowledge that mistakes may be made in our mission, but we are determined to identify mistakes, learn from them and improve.
We further acknowledge that we are accountable to ourselves (both as staff and board) and to the community, and will strive to create opportunities for reporting on our work, progress, mistakes and plans.
Finally, to support accountability, we encourage all constructive feedback and critiques to assist MACA in fulfilling its mission as to diversity and inclusion. You can do so by contacting us at 312-334-0974 or info@maca-us.org at any time.
COVID-19
For more on how we are managing COVID-19 impacts or to help our mission, please visit our COVID-19 Response page.