THIS IS US: ALL-IN! DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Hi All –
I am super excited to update you all on the work being done in the All-In! Diversity and Inclusion Workgroup. This year has been a productive year for us in working hard to concretize our goals and make progress toward reaching those goals. Just for a bit of context, at the end of the 2015-2016 school year, the All-In! D&I Workgroup created a program specific survey that centered around diversity and inclusion efforts and asked all staff to complete it. We then used the information from the survey results to identify the main areas of focus and from that we formulated 2 goals for our program this year:

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GOAL 1

​The All-In! program will demonstrate cultural humility, as defined as, the ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented (or open to the other) in relation to aspects of cultural identity, in our work with clients by initiating conversations and or activities that include but aren’t limited to client's’ values, cultural backgrounds, identities, and how they are impacted by current events.
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GOAL 2A

The All-In! program will expand its recruitment efforts with an intention to attract highly qualified, diverse applicants that are representative of the racial/ethnic and gender profile of the communities we serve.

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​This goal will be measured by 70% of positive client feedback on the D&I survey question, "Seneca staff are interested in my culture, values, and beliefs and ask me questions about them." (think of a process to gather same information next school year) ; 70% of staff indicate they are comfortable discussing issues regarding culture and identity
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​This will be measured by reduction of the discrepancy in gender and racial/ethnic demographics between students and staff, particularly for Latino and male, where staff are currently underrepresented (baseline discrepancy for male - 38 percentage points underrepresented; Latino - 56 percentage points underrepresented)

GOAL 2B

​Once hired, the program will provide career development opportunities that help ensure we are able to retain staff that are representative of the communities we serve.
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​This will be measured by a decrease in neutral responses to the corresponding questions on the D&I survey (2b) (baseline 36%, Questions 2c. Baseline 44%. Increase in "Agree" responses)

In effort to keep you all informed of the progress toward achieving these goals, below is a list of efforts made thus far:

• Concrete definition of cultural humility
• All-staff training re: cultural humility/understanding
• Conscious effort to have targeted discussions in individual supervision, group supervisions, and team meetings
• Monthly email from the D&I team regarding our monthly theme
• Targeted group activities in some meetings/PLCs
• Intentional implementation and review of the position rubric

 
Please be on the lookout for more from the D&I Workgroup and if you have ideas you would like to share or suggestions for activities, we would love to hear them! Lastly, you are always more than welcome to come to an All-In! Diversity and Inclusion Workgroup meeting. Our meetings are on the 2nd Monday of the month from 3-4:30pm at Rock.

Blog post written by:
Amber Fretwell, Director of School Partnerships/Director of Behavioral Intervention

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