NIRN’s Commitment to Justice and Dismantling Racism

June 11, 2020

The National Implementation Research Network condemns racism and police violence against Black people in the United States.

Anti-black racism has plagued this country for more than 400 years.  As we seek to support the implementation of good ideas in a range of systems, our team recognizes that all systems we work in are defined by structural racism. In the past several years, we’ve wrestled with the fact that even when implementation goes well and outcomes are achieved, those outcomes are not the same for Black people and other communities of color.

We recognize that we have a lot of work to do at NIRN. We must commit as individuals to working on the lifelong endeavor of becoming anti-racist. As a team, we must also commit to supporting racial justice and dismantling systems of oppression for all communities of color in our implementation practice.  Instead of working on good implementation practice, we need to work for equitable implementation, which occurs when strong equity components, including explicit attention to and respect for the culture, history, values, assets, and needs of the community, are integrated into the principles and tools of implementation science. Equitable implementation would facilitate quality use of effective programs for a specific community or group of communities. 

NIRN stands with protestors speaking out against the senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others across our country. As we plan how NIRN will take concrete steps toward equitable implementation, we welcome feedback and thoughts from our partners about our work and how we can support racial justice.