Thoughts/ Comments on AEOE DRAFT Inclusivity/ Diversity Strategies/ Goals

Duffy Ross, Headlands Institute, January 2006

 

I.  First, Emily had posed a question around the standing committee and their purpose. Some thoughts:

 

whose purpose is to:

  1. The HOW: set specific goals annually; work towards those goals (in conjunction with AEOE board or with community at large), share results broadly
  2. The WHAT: examine AEOEÕs perspectives, policies, programs, practices, and personnel (the 5 ps) to ensure that they are inclusive, value diversity, and address issues of equity.

 

II.            Second, thoughts/ edits/ comments on the diversity-related strategies that have been in circulationÉ

 

COLOR:

      Black: existing language (summarized in places)

      Blue: new ideas (language not necessarily flushed out)

STYLE:

      Regular Text:  language to incorporate

      Italics: thoughts or comments on the language

 

  1. Create AEOE internal structure and systems to maintain and feed dialogue and vision in relation to diversity, equity, and inclusion. (Goal 6a)
    1. Draft statement of principles for AEOE as an organization (Goal 6b) (should this be done by AEOE board, or the inclusivity cmte?)
    2. Define goals annually, along with measurable outcomes and timeline
    3. Make goals public via AEOE website (for accountability and transparency)
    4. Engage a sub-committee structure to work on specific goal areas (This is what the NAAEE Diversity Committee seems to be doing well. It allows them to address a wide variety of directions through focused attention by smaller teams. I have a handout from one of their meetings that shows the various committees, their annual goals, progress made, etc. Have shared this with EW already.)

 

  1. Increase AEOEÕs cultural competency (Goal 7)
    1. Benchmark current practices in diversity (see Jack ShuÕs comments)
    2. leadership: commit to cultural competence training for AEOE board on annual basis
    3. organization: examine AEOE culture through the lenses of diversity (invite feedback from external stakeholders, past conference attendees; use this in formulating future goals)
    4. through the conference vehicle

                                               i.     Continue diversity strand at each spring conference (at least 10 sessions directly related to diversity/ inclusivity) (Goal 7a) (As the 2005 workshop coordinator, IÕd bet we had over 20 workshops related to this. Goals should be set higher.)

                                             ii.     at fall conference: offer a minimum of at least two diversity-related sessions (Goal 7b) (same as above, go much higher) Note: in the process, address topics: hiring/ recruiting (Goal 8c)  (and retention)

                                            iii.     continue to develop the diversity resources page of AEOE website

 

  1.  Make AEOE more representative of the diversity of the state of California
    1. board
    2. membership
    3. conference:

1.     attendees

2.     workshop presenters

3.     volunteers

In general, I think there needs to be targets in these categories above. Then the strategies that get you there are #1,2,4, 5É.These may be distinct based on which group of people youÕre talking about. Strategies for diversifying the board will be distinct from strategies for diversifying conference goers.

 

4.  Network amongst and engage diverse audiences and organizations (Goal 6)

a.     use existing resources

1.     commit to partnering more with GSEEC (and others)/ more AEOE board members actively engaged with GSEEC – they have learned and are learning a great deal in this arena. LetÕs not reinvent the wheel but join in on their learning!

b.     identify multiple non-traditional (or ÒtargetÓ? – not satisfied with wording here) audiences in various categories (ie by region) Òincluding but not limited toÉÓ (people with disabilities, communities of color, faith-based groups, under-resourced communities, the LGBT community, etc) (Goal 6c)

c.     prioritize 10 different organizations (Goal 6c) (IÕd start smaller than this and not limit them to Òorganizations.Ó)

1.     measurable outcome: 20% attendance by 2010 (Goal 6e)  (IÕd change  Òpeople of colorÓ to Ònon-traditionalÓ or ÒtargetÓ audiences (based on priorities from 4b) (Goal 6d)

 

 

5.  Increase visibility of EE and OE field to non-traditional AEOE audience ( a morph in language of Goal 8) I donÕt think the goal is to diversify AEOEÕs applicant pool specifically but to increase the diversity of the field at large, both within and external to AEOE.

a.     inclusivity coordinator (is this a paid position? This seems like a lot of work for a volunteer.)