500 signatures reached
To: Triangle Rock Club
Do Better TRC
1) Hire a full-time, well-paid, well-insured DEI director to reform leadership and community relations based on their guidance.
a) This includes an audit of leadership, setting, coaching, and fitness
programs to assess diversity.
2) Public information such as pay scale and financial commitments to invest in the professional growth of BIPOC employees and members should be made public to all employees (full-time and part-time).
3) Hire more BIPOC staff into all levels of employment (management, desk and floor staff, instructors, coaches, etc.) to be more representative of the diverse Triangle and Richmond area and the climbing community of TRC.
4) Develop and implement a community code of ethics for all members and visitors to sign on to once per year (packaged and included with waivers) and an accountability system for people who break it
Implement an anonymous system of grievance reporting (with follow-up action) that protects employees, climbers, and community members
a)This includes a biannual, anonymous climate survey which
encompasses concerns from BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, and low-SES
climbers.
5) All involved leadership and upper-management must publicly disclose, on the Triangle Rock Club website, their positions and detailed descriptions of their roles and involvement in the company
6) Develop a transparent plan with tangible commitments for program and
facility access for the community that offers:
a) Increased language accessibility, with Spanish and ASL translations
for all forms, videos, signage around gyms and training for staff on
language justice. Include signage defining terminology throughout the
gym to eliminate elitist mentality around climbing language.
b)Flex membership options such as sliding scale or “volunteer for
membership” options
c) Scholarships for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, and low-SES
communities in all camps, fitness classes, and training/team programs
d) Accessible, gender neutral bathrooms
e) Full, transparent accessibility for folks with disabilities
7) Partner with regional chapters of grassroots organizations that promote inclusivity.
For the Triangle area:
Brown Girls Climb (leaders are both members at TRC)
Native Women’s Wilderness (leader is a member at TRC)
Latinx of the Piedmont (leaders are both members at TRC)
Outdoor Afro
For the Richmond area:
Blue Sky Fund
Richmond Cycling Corps
Richmond Climbers Coalition
8) Address the issues that led to the removal of TRC’s Outdoor CEO Pledge, then re-sign and recommit to the Pledge.
9) Make any organizational (private, public, and non-profit) affiliations within the company public
10) Andrew Kratz forfeit his position as managing partner and not be involved in handling any customer, member, or employee contact henceforth. He publicly recognizes the detrimental effects that donating to the Trump campaign has against BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities, as well as, the ways in which Trump has been catastrophic in regards to environmental issues.
11) Produce a publicly available timeline for addressing these demands
Why is this important?
As long-standing members of the Triangle and Richmond climbing communities, we have been dismayed by the lack of action taken both recently and historically to elevate Black voices and experiences, as well as other marginalized groups. There have been small actions taken by Triangle Rock Club; however, these steps have been nowhere near strong nor vocal enough to truly create an inclusive and diverse climbing community. We are demanding immediate steps to be taken by both organizations to radically alter service provisions so that they can better serve our community. We are requesting Triangle Rock Club to do the work to reflect on the privilege of rock climbing and how rock climbing has historically been an elitist sport centering white men climbing on Indigenous land.
Events prior to developing this petition:
Concerned climbers protested in front of Triangle Rock Club - RVA on June 21, 2020. We received no engagement from staff at the protest. We posted about our action on Instagram, and tagged both @trianglerockclub and @trianglerockclub_rva. The next day, we noticed that the tags on our posts have been removed. We received no comment, direct message, or any kind of response to our action. We are reaching out to TRC publicly and directly to explain our list of demands.
On the morning of June 23, 2020, Triangle Rock Club uploaded a post on their Instagram accounts in response to the concerns of the climbing community. They stated, “Black Lives Matter” and committed to taking steps to align themselves with the BLM movement. The climbing community commented on the posts concerned with Andrew Kratz’s donations to Donald Trump under TRC. Teresa Baker, founder of the Outdoor CEO Pledge, commented and said that she just found out about the donations and that she would look into it. A few hours later, the post was deleted/archived, and a new post was posted that had the same wording but without the Outdoor CEO Pledge. All of the comments were consequently deleted /archived as well. We are seeking long lasting and sustainable changes from Triangle Rock Club to help elevate BIPOC, LGBTQIA2+, and Disabled Climbers at all times.