Like many people and businesses, the Br8kthru team has spent a lot of time the last few years reflecting on our role in the world, our responsibilities to others, and how we can — and do — impact others. These reflections and conversations have led us to many places, but especially to the understanding that we need to make more of a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Our values of Michelin-Star standards, collective accountability, continuous improvement, and empathy drive everything we do, and we believe DEI is a natural extension of that work.

To that end, we will be undertaking the following actions:

  • Continuing team-wide learning about diversity, equity and inclusion,
  • Creating opportunities to practice our new learning,
  • Adapting our hiring practices to be more accessible and inclusive and to build a more diverse team,
  • Sharing what we’ve learned and how we’re applying that knowledge right here.

We’re excited to share more about this journey with you, and hope you’ll join us, so we can all do better together.

Pronouns

You may have noticed that we’ve been more openly sharing our pronouns, and we wanted to share a little more about why.

Asking for and using the pronouns someone uses for themselves is a respectful, inclusive way to ensure they feel more comfortable and are not harmed in our spaces. An easy way to invite someone to share their pronouns is to share your own first. We’ll usually do this when introducing ourselves. “Hi, I’m Jon, I use he/him/his pronouns. What about you?”

There are plenty of reasons someone may use different pronouns in different spaces, with different people, or at different times. Follow their lead, and use the pronouns they’ve given you in that space, even if they may be different from last time you spoke.

Pronouns, sometimes called personal pronouns, are how people refer to you if they aren’t using your name. Common pronouns are he/him/his, she/her/hers, they/them/theirs, and combinations of those, but there are many pronouns.

We share our pronouns because assuming them based on someone’s name, appearance, or presentation can be harmful — not everyone’s identities can be viewed, and assuming otherwise can feel invalidating.
 

Land Acknowledgment

Br8kthru’s values are guided by empathy, continuous improvement, and collective accountability. As a step toward truth and reconciliation, we collectively recognize that Br8kthru’s office is located on the ancestral and contemporary homelands of the Dakota people. We acknowledge the land now known as Minneapolis, originally named Bde Ota, has been cared for and home to the Dakota people since time immemorial.

Br8kthru team members understand community to be a space of collective support and connection. Similarly, we define home as a place where we feel safest. The essence of home lies in the bond our communities create with the land that supports us. Therefore, we recognize that in Bde Ota the roots of these sentiments run deepest in Dakota communities, which have historically faced colonial atrocities and removal from the land they have long called home.

Br8kthru is committed to honoring the continued resilience of the Dakota people as families, nations + communities work to reclaim stolen language, culture + land. Br8kthru honors and affirms the sovereignty of tribal nations and communities. We pledge to actively seek avenues of supporting Dakota reclamation and restoration efforts, grounded in our team’s values of continuous improvement, empathy, and collective accountability.

Accessibility

We’re committed to supporting accessibility for people with disabilities, no matter their disability or accommodation needs. This applies not only to our digital footprint and work, but also to our in-person policies and procedures.

Br8kthru aims to create accessible spaces for disabled people by adhering to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In addition, we make additional accommodations when and where we can to make our spaces more accessible and inclusive. Employees will never be penalized for requesting accommodations for disabilities.

In addition to following the ADA and going beyond what is required by law, we take the following measures to ensure accessibility across our organization, including but not limited to, in our daily operations, hiring practices, compensation practices, and more.

  • Accessibility is part of our internal policies.
  • Continual accessibility training is provided for employees.
  • Clear accessibility targets and responsibilities exist within the organization.
  • Formal accessibility quality assurance methods exist within the organization.
     

We adhere to WCAG accessibility standards in all our website builds, including our own. Our website is WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessible. Our content conformance status is partially conformant, as some parts of our content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard. Our site accessibility relies on the following technologies: HTML, CSS, and Javascript.