Organization puts community at center of change
Dr. Dominica McBride is the founder of BECOME. PHOTO PROVIDED BY DR. DOMINICA MCBRIDE.
Dr. Dominica McBride wanted to create communities that are cohesive, inclusive and thriving. Growing up, she lived in a small town where she experienced two different conditions: a very inclusive, welcoming town, and the other was overtly racist. She wanted people who were impacted by structural racism, classism and sexism, to experience a more just world. In 2013, she founded BECOME.
BECOME’s goal is to help communities identify the root causes of issues, build capacity to create solutions and facilitate cohesion so those communities can move toward their goals.
McBride saw how different entities, government agencies and foundations, operated within communities. Oftentimes, telling people in those communities what they needed, instead of asking those in the communities what they needed. The result many times, was that nothing changed. She also saw the talent, potential and wisdom of community members and wanted to utilize that when structuring her organization.
BECOME uses culturally responsible evaluation, which creates thriving, empowered, liberating communities in a move toward a more just society by utilizing and collecting data and integrating diversity, equity and inclusion into the evaluation process. It takes the culture, context and community into consideration and enables a response based on the data collected.
“We use it to work with communities, as a way to build capacity within non-profit organizations and within neighborhoods and with community members to use data as a way to catalyze the impact they want to see in their community,” McBride said.
McBride believes it is extremely important for communities to be involved in creating their own realities. Having a person involved in a change that affects them directly, it respects the dignity of people and uplifts the power inherently within people. It also brings a sense of pride, because people are creating what they want and need.
Community members are empowered to have leadership in the programs that serve them. That way, the communities can voice and shape how they want things to affect them and how they want to affect their neighborhoods.
One of the things that makes BECOME unique is its values system.
“We bring the value of love, care, care for other people, for communities, for other non-profits, for the earth. We bring the value of unity, working together toward a common goal and seeing the interdependence and creating synergy. We bring the value of truth, of seeing what is, in a broader sense, the sociopolitical reality around us, even the metaphysical reality around us,” she said, adding that Become also values actualization and transcendence.
When other organizations partner with BECOME, they get a group that sees the potential and work and a partner that amplifies the work that makes them shine.
People who live, work and lead in the Auburn-Gresham area are encouraged to participate in BECOME’s Community Transformation Effort.
People interested in the Community Transformation Effort can email dmcbride@becomecenter.org. For more information about BECOME, visit www.becomecenter.org.
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