“Darin” you to engage with Meso

By Darin J. Dorsey (he/him)

My name is Darin J. Dorsey, and I’m the new Vice President of Outreach & Engagement at Meso Solutions.

The bulk of my experience is in violence prevention — over the course of 11 years, I have worked for three sexual assault advocacy centers and two statewide coalitions dedicated to preventing gender-based violence. Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work with brilliant people who broadened my understanding of violence and how it happens. One key takeaway is that we cannot adequately address one type of violence while allowing other forms of violence to thrive. 

I learned early on that an advocacy center that solely focuses on “violence against women” will fail to adequately serve people with intersecting identities, including, but not limited to, Black women, disabled women, and trans women. I also learned that an organization that supports people in the community who experience discrimination but does not provide that same support to their employees cannot succeed.

I came to Meso Solutions after discovering that we share a recognition that one of the greatest barriers to creating social and political change exists within our organizations. Many of the common organizational norms, cultures, and processes are derived from settings that perpetuate the very issues that we are attempting to address. We cannot structure our organizations like large corporations or engage in hiring processes that mimic Fortune 500 companies while expecting to contribute to economic justice. The contradiction between where we work and the work we do has become even more apparent after the many events of 2020, including the pandemic and increased attention to the prevalence of systemic racism and anti-Blackness.

“Many of the common organizational norms, cultures, and processes are derived from settings that perpetuate the very issues that we are attempting to address. ”

These events have ignited movements to address systemic inequities in all aspects of our society, so it’s no surprise that this includes increased attention on how organizations perpetuate these dynamics in workplaces. We’ve heard directly from many courageous workers who have come forward and shared their experiences of discrimination and abuse in the workplace, and we’ve seen increased efforts to unionize and hold workplaces accountable for maintaining safe and equitable work environments. Organizations in the progressive political space have not been immune. In fact, given these organizations’ values and missions, our sector has received increased attention when our internal practices are inconsistent with our external messaging.

At Meso Solutions, our goal is to work with organizations to build equitable and diverse teams, starting with the hiring process. Instead of focusing solely on high-level executive positions, we work with organizations to hire across all levels with the understanding that we cannot expect to uplift those who are most marginalized in our society if we rely on top-down (or trickle-down) strategies to create change. We’ve developed our approach through a combination of best practices, extensive careers in the field, and the diverse lived experiences of our staff. 

In addition to our hiring services, we are continuously learning and developing new ways to support organizations, which is why we’re building out an outreach department that will be partnering with progressive organizations and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practitioners. We hope to create spaces and opportunities to collectively share lessons learned and collaboratively address the challenges that arise in our efforts to create equitable workplaces.

I invite individuals and organizations who are interested in this approach to reach out and schedule an introductory meeting.