Vice President - Safety, Risk & Compliance | Executive Sponsor - Alliance of Black Professionals | Passionate about Mentoring | Obsessed with Operational Excellence
Monica's Monday Morning Memo... sharing lessons learned and reflections from my prior work week. The highlight of last week for me was the observance of Juneteenth and the variety of events sponsored by National Grid. In 2021 National Grid celebrated Juneteenth as a company wide holiday, a year before it was made a Federal holiday. Declaring this as a holiday demonstrates National Grid's commitment to building an inclusive culture and recognizes Black Americans who have suffered the impacts of racism throughout US history. It was also an opportunity to provide colleagues extra time to participate in civil action to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. We encourage colleagues to use the holiday as a day of reflection – to celebrate Juneteenth or to attend/volunteer at an event that celebrates diversity. In observance of Juneteenth, I, along with a diverse group of colleagues, visited Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn. It is dedicated to preserving the remnants of the thriving village of Weeksville which was established by Black New Yorkers in the years after the state abolished slavery in 1827. Weeksville attracted Black people from the North and South. Some had been born free and others had been born enslaved and escaped, but all who moved there wanted the opportunity to thrive. They found that in Weeksville. Their rich stories came to light in the rediscovery of these houses more than five decades ago in 1968. (See bottom photo below) As I reflected on Juneteenth, I thought about the importance of learning more about each other; respecting and supporting each other; leaving no one behind; and building a more inclusive world...one company at a time! #nationalgrid
Terry Yarde
4mo
Thank you Monica Alston for being our guest speaker at this event and for your unwavering support and leadership for the Alliance of Black Professionals as well as National Grod's commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
Greetings Monica. We applaud you and your colleagues for what you did and for encouraging us to think about on Juneteenth. You educated us about Weeksville Heritage Center as a future travel destination. At Puget Sound Energy, for the first time it was added as a holiday for all employees in 2024. For us, we reflected on its meaning as a celebration of freedom. Several of us gathered and had deep discussions about the history of the holiday and what it means to us personally on our life journey. I commend leadership for fully supporting employees on this commemoration.