Safety. Hope. Healing.
Those three words are at the heart of Tubman’s mission:
To advance opportunities for change so that every person can experience safety, hope, and healing.
For over 48 years, Tubman has helped people of all ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds who are experiencing relationship violence, exploitation, mental and chemical health issues, and other forms of trauma. Throughout the Twin Cities, Tubman provides safe shelter, housing legal services, counseling, youth programming, violence prevention, community education, and other wraparound services. In 2023, we helped about 18,400 people in Hennepin, Ramsey, and Washington counties and the surrounding area get the support and information they need to experience safety, hope, and healing.
Our Vision
Thriving people, healthy relationships, peaceful communities.
Our Values
INTEGRITY - We model authenticity, and hold ourselves accountable to be good stewards of the agency's reputation, relationships, resources, and future.
RESPECT - We affirm the strengths and innate worth of all people.
INNOVATION - We commit to excellence and creativity, evolving through reflective learning and improved practice.
PARTNERSHIP - We collaborate to build collective expertise, and welcome diverse perspectives.
SOCIAL JUSTICE - We challenge our own biases, and work with courage and tenacity to build inclusive and equitable communities.
Our Racial Equity Statement
As an organization serving in the name of Harriet Tubman, Tubman has long recognized that our work to end violence must include a focus on equity, intersectionality, and ending the systemic racism that harms and devalues Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Since our beginning in the 1970s, we have served communities and clients who have experienced systemic racism, historical trauma, and gender discrimination, making it difficult to trust systems intended to serve them. We strive to center their lived experiences and voices throughout our agency.
This work also requires we look internally at Tubman as a nonprofit organization and employer. We commit to being a place that is equitable and welcoming for all by uprooting the white supremacy inherent in many traditional workplace policies and the white saviorism that is prevalent in the nonprofit sector in which we operate.
Alongside the communities we serve, we work for systemic change to end the disproportionate violence, trauma, and inequities experienced by BIPOC communities. Tubman remains committed to this work as it is fundamental to our mission of safety, hope, and healing for everyone.
Our Strategic & Racial Equity Plans
Tubman’s Strategic Plan is our roadmap, showing where we want to go in the future as a nonprofit organization. It is defined by our four strategic directions or the four main areas in which we will focus our energy and goals. Each strategic direction has success indicators guiding where we aim to be at the end of the three-year plan. Annual goals are set in order to drive the agency towards meeting those success indicators. We also have a concurrent three-year Racial Equity Plan outlining how we are striving towards an anti-racist culture.
Strategic Directions:
- Clients: Provide streamlined access to exceptional, relevant services.
- Community: Engage the community to take action.
- Culture: Invigorate organizational culture to lead with equity, well-being, and engagement.
- Capacity: Strengthen the agency’s infrastructure to better serve clients and the community.
Why do we have a Racial Equity Plan?
As an organization serving in the name of Harriet Tubman, Tubman has long recognized that our work to end violence must also include a focus on equity, intersectionality, and ending the systemic racism that harms and devalues Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). This work also requires that we look internally, at Tubman as a nonprofit organization and employer. We commit to being a place that is equitable and welcoming for all by uprooting the white supremacy inherent in many traditional workplace policies and the white saviorism that is prevalent in the nonprofit sector in which we operate. To that end, we have developed a Racial Equity Plan to publicly commit to how we will strive towards an anti-racist culture.
Since our inception more than 48 years ago, we have served marginalized communities, and we strive to center their lived experiences and voices throughout our agency – including formal program evaluation, informal feedback, and amplifying the work of culturally specific organizations and community partners led by BIPOC. Our agency vision calls for “Thriving people, healthy relationships, and peaceful communities.” For this vision to become a reality, we work for systemic change to end the disproportionate violence and trauma experienced by BIPOC communities — and to create an anti-racist and equitable culture at Tubman. We remain committed to this work as fundamental to our mission of safety, hope, and healing for everyone.
Why have the two plans?
This three-year plan is designed to run alongside Tubman’s Strategic Plan, from 2023 through 2025. Neither plan can be wholly separate from the other. The goals of our Strategic Plan must be advanced through a racial equity lens, with a focus on diversity, inclusion, and access across all identities. And the Racial Equity Plan must be an ingrained part of our work and our organizational culture, with all staff committing to being a part of this work. We have chosen to present the two plans side-by-side in an effort to communicate clearly and be transparent about what we are trying to achieve.
