12/17/2024

Keep DEI Efforts Going Despite the Political Climate

Embracing inclusion and protecting individuality are never 'out of style'

For people who work and volunteer around diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), this has been a difficult year. State legislatures have pursued rollbacks of DE&I training for employees, and many sectors of corporate America (technology, most visibly) have either cut or eradicated their DE&I teams. And even at organizations where DE&I leadership remains intact, many say forward movement has stalled.

Those challenges are part of the motivation for a session at the ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo on strengthening DE&I efforts, “Conscious Inclusion Through Strategic Motivation.” “A lot of organizations start down this path of DEIAB [diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging], and they get stalled,” said one of the session leaders, Rhea Steele, CAE, chief of staff and VP of strategy and governance at the School Nutrition Association. "So, we wanted to focus on the motivations that will help them move forward."

The session organizers identified a variety of factors that typically derail DEI initiatives and invited attendees to discuss them: lack of board buy-in, lack of champions, need for training, limited communication and investment and more. The weaponization of the term “DE&I” itself plays a factor, said another session leader, McKinley Advisors Managing Director Tim Hopkins, CAE (also chair of ASAE’s Conscious Inclusion Advisory Committee).

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.