Vigorous Interventions in Ongoing Natural Settings Inc. (VISIONS, Inc)
Taking Diversity and Inclusion to the Next Level
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
VISIONS, Inc aims to use our model to show how when differences are incorporated they are a benefit to all. Our mission is to empower the creation of environments where differences are recognized, understood, appreciated, and utilized for the benefit of all through both time-tested and innovative training and tools, public advocacy, and consulting models addressing the personal, interpersonal, cultural, and institutional levels.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
BOSTON LEGACY
The Legacy Project is an 8-week intensive summer program with a year round monthly training that empowers the youth. The youth gain first-hand experience to utilize skills provided by VISIONS theory on social change as leaders of their community by running their own diversity and inclusion trainings for youth groups and organizations in Boston. The youth also learn to cooperate in a diverse environment by collaborating on a public arts event, contributing to community cohesion and outreach.
VISIONS FRESNO LEGACY
VISIONS' Legacy Project teaches young people how to be instruments of social change by empowering them to understand the root causes of systemic inequities, and equipping them with the skills necessary to be educators of other youth. Youth gain the ability to understand their current reality through a historical, economic, and psychological lens that takes into account the effect that such oppression has over time on individuals and communities. The Fresno (CA) Legacy Project is VISIONS second Legacy site. Our goal is to have the program replicated in other parts of the US
VISIONS on the CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL
Participants will be introduced to VISIONS' foundational model, frameworks, and tools while visiting key Alabama civil rights sites including the Equal Justice Initiative’s (EJI's) National Memorial for Peace and Justice and The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration in Montgomery; the Civil Rights District including the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI), Kelly Ingram Park, 16th Street Baptist Church, and other historic sites in Birmingham; and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Brown Chapel AME Church, the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, and other historic sites in Selma.
During the workshop portions of the five-day experience, participants will enhance their personal skills for relating and working across difference, engage in reflective work about their group identities, and learn to understand and mitigate the ways that modern forms of oppression might show up in their lives. Each evening, additional time will be available for affinity groups.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of donations made by board members
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Other - describing something else
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We are establishing baseline data currently. Donation totals are based on calendar year.
Number of participants attending course/session/workshop
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Participants (youth and adults) who have participated in VISIONS, Inc. Educational workshops in 2022.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
1) We define long term success as not just passive awareness of unconscious assumptions, biases, and power imbalances, but change-- concrete change in the cognitive, affective and behavioral propensity. We also define long term success as these changes taking place in multiple levels of social interaction: in personal, societal, cultural and institutional level. 2) The most obvious measurement is the change resulting in "positive" and "guilt-free environment," which promotes openness and prevents feelings of guilt or shame, allowing for learning and accountability.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our overarching aim is to practice what we preach, so that VISIONS symbolizes and realizes the "positive" and "shame-free" environment that we strive for, serving as not only an exemplary model for our clients to observe, but also to prove that our theory is realistic and effective.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The uniqueness of VISIONS' capability lies in our versatile theory that gives foundation to transformative process of our clients in diversity and inclusion issues.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Continuous Improvement Goals:1. Raise necessary funds to meet the demand for the Legacy Youth Project program and other initiatives aimed at low income populations and grassroots organization. We have had challenges educating funders/donors about our need for funds to run these types of program/initiatives as people will often focus on our fee for service work and assume we do not need funding. We have been an "entrepreneurial non profit" for 30 years and continue to try and gain resources to accomplish the fullness of our mission (to serve all sectors with similar tools/impacts despite their ability to pay).2. Position VISIONS for its next decade as the founder and Executive Director looks to change her role. We are in a re-positioning process looking at the non profit sector in general and considering creative ways to move our work forward given the interest/demand./need for it. 3. Develop next generation of consultants/change agents. This is a key goal of the organization as the founders (3 of 4 still involved) seek ways to enagage, train and empower young people who are interested in equity and want to develop new approaches for their generation.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Vigorous Interventions in Ongoing Natural Settings Inc. (VISIONS, Inc)
Board of directorsas of 08/29/2023
Ms. Louise Coggins
Private LICSW
Vincent Johnson
Louise Coggins
community volunteer
Patricia Davis-Penn
n/a
Louise Howlett
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Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/09/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.