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Breakfast for Champions | Designing a Pay Equity Plan: One Organization’s Journey

June 13, 2022

This month’s Breakfast for Champions focused on pay equity and the tools needed to overcome more than 500 years of inequity. “When it comes to systemic inequity the work is so vast, that’s the bad news but it’s also the good news because we get to start somewhere, anywhere, just choose a spot and start working there,” said Breakfast for Champions speaker Rut Martinez-Alicea, Director of Equity, People, Culture at the Oregon Food Bank. Inequity leaves large percentages of people without enough money to buy the food needed for their families. One attendee said, “Children is a huge thing, they can’t grow without nutrition,” leaving future generations with disadvantages in their health and wellbeing.     

For many attendees at this month’s Breakfast for Champions, the materials and concepts presented helped them understand that pay equity requires a profound shift and a deeper understanding of the root causes of systemic inequities. Gaining knowledge of the tools and resources provided can assist in the shifting of the wage gap and pay equity, at a personal, relational, and institutional level. Participants got a chance to use identity cards to reflect on policies that affect specific groups.   

This Breakfast for Champions session is part of Partners in Diversity’s year-long look at different ways organizations can enhance equity in the workplace.  

 Special thanks to Portland State University School of Business for sponsoring the session and providing the space.