About

Update - July, 2021

July 30, 2021

Dear Milwaukee Rep Community,

We are thrilled to begin this monthly update by congratulating the Milwaukee Bucks on winning the 2020-2021 NBA Championship! The players, coaches, management and vast multitude of support staff made us so proud and represented our city with confidence, class, determination, and resilience.

This win has given our entire city a boost. Obviously, there’s the nice economic bump from tourism, fans crowding downtown bars and restaurants. But it’s more than that. This against-all-odds championship run that featured the most humble of heroes in Giannis Antetokounmpo seems to have rejuvenated Milwaukeeans in ALL of our endeavors.

It’s hard to put into words what this championship means for Milwaukee. After all, the power of sports and the arts has often been something that defies explanation and resists eloquent description.

We know that a diverse representation in sports, the arts, politics, business and indeed all areas of American life matter. As the saying goes, “If you can see it, you can be it.” So maybe we all see ourselves in the Bucks and fully embrace the champion inside.

REP Forward
The championship has rejuvenated us here at Milwaukee Rep to continue the vital work of equity and inclusion. To that end, it is our pleasure to introduce REP Forward, our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Plan, which is available here.

Milwaukee Rep’s talented team, committed Board of Trustees, and these many months of crucial conversations, honest introspection, and ongoing education have given us a strong foundation on which to build an inclusive and welcoming culture. We have already enjoyed many successes on our journey, but there is still much work to do. We are committed to ED&I and aspire to be an anchor institution in our city, our state, and our nation.

REP Forward clearly identifies our strategy of using ED&I principles – valuing diversity, being consciously inclusive, supporting and modeling anti-racism, and continuously learning – to be the change we wish to see. To accomplish this, Milwaukee Rep will focus on three key areas:

  • Workforce: Ensure diverse representation throughout the organization.
  • Workplace: Build a culturally competent organization that embraces and celebrates differences.
  • Community: Continue building stronger relationships with marginalized communities and partners.

A work group comprised of staff from cross the company called Champions Uniting Experiences (CUE) has been implementing our REP Forward work. CUE has prioritized these focus areas in each of our three priorities:

  • Inclusion
  • Cultural competence
  • Compassion resilience (self-care)

Again, much work lies ahead of us, but we are buoyed by the progress we have already made at Milwaukee Rep with the dedication of our staff and leadership.

Quarterly Updates
Finally, we wanted to notify you that we are shifting away from monthly ED&I updates to quarterly updates. For the past year, we provided these monthly updates in a spirit of transparency as we embarked upon our journey to becoming more equitable. Our dedication to being more equitable remains steadfast, as does our commitment to transparency.

Our REP Forward plan will be evaluated regularly, and we will update you, our loyal supporters, on our progress on a quarterly basis moving forward. At any time, however, feel free to contact us at Milwaukee Rep to check in on our progress.

Thank you for continuing to be a part of this journey. We appreciate your support of Milwaukee Rep.

Judy Hansen
President, Board of Trustees

Andrés E. González
Trustee & Chair, ED&I Committee

Mark Clements
Artistic Director

Chad Bauman
Executive Director

Tammy Belton-Davis
Chief Diversity Officer

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