Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Animal Protection Movement with Aryenish Birdie of Encompass

As much good as the animal protection industry is doing and focused on promoting the fair treatment of animals, the reality is it’s lacking in diversity and inclusivity when it comes to the composition of advocates and employees in this space. In fact, only 11% of staff within the animal protection movement identify as people of color, which contrasts with the fact that 38% of our country is made up of people of color. Clearly if we want to move this mission forward in a more productive, creative, and effective way, we must move forward as it comes to diversity and inclusivity.

Enter Encompass. A brand new nonprofit organization started by today’s guest, Aryenish Birdie, to meet this goal of improving the diversity and inclusivity of the animal protection movement. Aryenish has spent 20 years in this space, most prominently working at the Physician’s Committee For Responsible Medicine in the area of addressing animal testing. After recognizing the need for supporting people of color in this movement, Aryenish founded Encompass, which helps individual advocates and organizations in developing strategies and support systems in this area.

I’m very thankful for the work Aryenish is doing and I was honored to have her on the show to talk about Encompass and this issue on the show, because this idea fills a much needed gap within the vegan space. We talked about the difference between diversity and inclusivity, how Encompass intends to shift the tides, and how white people like Aaron and I can help support the movement in a compassionate and supportive way. Definitely check out encompassmovement.org and sign up for their newsletter to learn more and get involved. You can also follow Encompass on social media at EncompassMVMT on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

So in this time of divisiveness in our world, let’s all make an effort to change that and be more compassionate not only to animals, but to our fellow humans. Enjoy the conversation!

-Jackson

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Show Notes

Encompass Website

Black Vegans Rock

Breeze Harper

Sistah Vegan Project

Food Empowerment Project

Vegan Advocacy Initiative

Black Vegans Step Out Article

Connect with Aryenish:

Twitter: @AryenishBirdie

Instagram: @a_vegan_birdie

Connect with TFF: