Columbus Humane: REDI Implementation Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

This grant assisted our adoption counselors in creating opportunities for adopters who are members of BIPOC communities. We have worked hard with our adoptions team to increase awareness of implicit bias that may exist in our adoption process and created strategies to actively work against these barriers.

Additionally, as our DEI work has expanded elsewhere in our organization, this grant helped our adoptions team understand the importance of that work and buy into the process.

How many pets did this grant help?

Approximately 3,000

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Thumper is a bunny who had been searching for his home for several months. We recently initiated a pilot cohort for a Veterinary Assistant Training Program. This program is intended to increase diversity within the field of veterinary medicine, as well as increase veterinary practices’ access to a quality workforce.

Our adoption counselors, who participated in the REDI grant, worked closely for several weeks with one veterinary-assistant student to help her find her perfect pet, which turned out to be Thumper!

The REDI grant helped our adoption counselors approach the situation with a more inclusive attitude and diverse perspective.