AEOE Diversity Strand Wrap-Up Forum

Sunday, May 2, 2004

The focus of the session was reflecting on the weekend and moving forward.

What are the Salient Points/Learnings to the On-Going Conversation-What should go on the Web/List-serve?

The group reviewed salient points from the Diversity Strand that should go on the List-serve which included:

1. Hear specifically from Jeff Hohensee about the steps that have been taken at TreePeople to diversify their staff.

2. Stories and experiences of how people and the Earth connect.

3. Names of organizations already working with school age children i.e. MEChA

4. Job announcements including marketing jobs, sales jobs etc.

5. Grant writing tips and references.

6. Quarterly updates from organizations reporting on efforts to diversify their boards and staff.

7. Information on the Spring 2004 AEOE conference.

8. Information on who is looking for a job.

9. Feedback from the presenters on the Spring 2004 AEOE conference.

10. Information about entry-level jobs.

11. News from other areas.

12. Educational resources for staff to increase cultural competency.

13. Willing mentors.

The group then broke down into four smaller groups and discussed what actions could be taken at the individual, site, organizational and statewide levels to diversify EE.

Individual

On the individual level folks committed to:

1. Contacting Ricardo Huerta and David Romain about setting up regular northern California meetings regarding diversity actions.

2. Putting items on the list-serve including a synopsis of Spirit of the Land. I will also contact the organizers of symposium to begin relations with "others".

3. Engaging with organizations in the communities my school serves to develop long term relationships that will be beneficial to all

4. Sharing culturally diverse stories with my students and work with a different cultural group next year in Senegal.

5. Making contact with Carlos Cortes

6. Encouraging staff and faculty to take diversity issues on in their studies.

7. Recruiting a more diverse population of students

8. Encouraging new staff that is coming in to learn more about the cultural background of the many students who will be coming. I will also by studying the Hispanic culture in the Bay Area through going to the inner city and engaging the people in those communities.

Site Specific

On the site specific level folks committed to:

1. Building a larger, more open job description and add all the necessary skills (every recruit has to learn on the job). Include the "children friendly" skills.

2. Developing and implementing an on-going diversity workshop for site staff during training

3. Meeting with staff to gauge the interest in diversity.

4. Developing a council of youth form the community to inform practice.

5. Putting the student experience first.

6. Meeting with the students in different places such as meeting in a Park by their school.

7. Being specific on the job description-Finding people from the community. Identifying their teaching philosophy.

8. Finding an article or two to share with staff and discuss it with them.

9. Utilizing multicultural literature.

10. Conducting site visits to talk to different groups/organizations.

11. Connecting with Families with Children from China in San Luis Obispo area.

12. Connecting with local diverse organizations currently working with school age children.

Organizational

On the organizational level folks committed to:

1. 8/04 retreat

2. Deepening board understanding of diversity

3. Not waiting another year, we must make progress!

4. Developing an official AEOE Task Force

5. Outcomes-

A. The face of AEOE changes

B. Strategic Partnerships between EJ and AEOE

C. Board changes

State-wide Level

On the state-wide level folks committed to:

1. creec.org stores diversity information. Call in universal access.

2. Developing a Council of Elders

3. CEEIN-Placing diversity on their agenda.

4. Working diversity or community-centric thinking into Earth day.

5. Working towards changing the paradigm of state agencies.

6. Starting to create pathways for statewide and national organizations to address universal access.

7. Developing caucuses.

8. Lobbying for an internship/training program on EJ or EE for diverse audiences.

9. Researching k-12 diversity programs and efforts and seeking possibilities for partnerships.

The group then shared action items and commitments to change.