Inclusiveness and Diversity Plan

Transcription

1 Inclusiveness and Diversity Plan Child Advocates, 2008 Introduction Since 1996, there has been a natural, personal effort on the part of the Executive Director to consider inclusiveness and diversity in management decisions. As of 2008, the Child Advocates staff is demographically diverse and the agency has embraced cultural competence as a core value. These goals were never contained in a written plan but were implemented. Inclusiveness and diversity goals were developed for the component when the current fulltime Director of the Program was hired in Child Advocates Board of Directors developed its own written recruitment and screening plan for Board members nearly 10 years ago; ironically, the board is the one component of Child Advocates that has experienced challenges in maintaining its diversity goals. By the end of 2008, it became apparent to agency leadership that memorializing our core values and our inclusive practice was a necessary step in ensuring that our current core beliefs will be sustained. A comprehensive Inclusiveness and Diversity Plan was developed at the end of 2008 to guide the agency in its three components to sustained and committed awareness and furtherance of National CASA Association s Standard 12: demonstrating that inclusiveness and diversity are essential components of quality advocacy for the children it serves. You will know you have gone far in life when you have been tender with the young, compassionate to the elderly, sympathetic to the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong because sometime in your life you will have been all of these. George Washington Carver Child Advocates Diversity Statement Child Advocates is committed to working with, understanding, and honoring the diversity of the children we represent and our children s families. Although racial and ethnic diversity may be most apparent, we also recognize and honor diversity in socioeconomic status, cultural background, sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, and viewpoints. We work to make this commitment apparent in hiring practices, volunteer recruitment and training, board recruitment, outreach, and in each employee s, board member s, and volunteer s everyday actions on behalf of the children that we serve. Outcome Child Advocates seeks to reflect the diversity of the children that we serve at all levels of our organization.

2 Cultural Competency and Diversity Awareness Training Pre-service training for Child Advocates volunteers utilizes the National CASA Training Curriculum and materials developed by the Director of the Training Program. Yearly diversity training for board, staff, and volunteers will be conducted using National CASA materials, materials developed and presented by the Director of the Training Program, United Way materials, outside consultants leading staff interactions Child Advocates Diversity Landscape Staff: 1996 Current Executive Director hired 8 employees: 8 Caucasians 6 Females, 2 Males employees: 19 Caucasians, 11 African Americans 21 Females, 9 males Board: Caucasian 1 Asian 1 African American 12 males, 6 females 9 Lawyers, 2 bankers, 1 CPA, 2 Corporate, 4 other s: 2007 Full time Director hired; directed to improve diversity training for volunteers Demographics: 22 % AA 74.2% Caucasian 1.3% Asian 0.9% Hispanic 1.6% Other Males 12.9%, Females 87.1% Demographics: 24.5 % AA 69.8 % Caucasian 0.8% Asian 0.8% Hispanic 4.4% Other Males 12.9%, Females 87.1 %

3 Measureable Outcomes by 2010 and Board Recruitment Goal: Percentage of African American volunteers within 10-15% reflection of the 60% African American children in foster care system in Indianapolis and will increase its percentage of male volunteers and Spanish speaking volunteers within 25% of the reflection of males and Hispanic children in the foster care system in Indianapolis. 1. The volunteer component of Child Advocates will increase its percentage of AA volunteers by 10% each year from 2006 to The volunteer component of Child Advocates will increase its percentage of Spanish speaking volunteers to reflect the percentage of 4% Hispanic children represented by Child Advocates in The volunteer component of Child Advocates will increase its percentage of male volunteers by 10% to reflect the percentage of 54% of male children represented by Child Advocates in The Board will rededicate itself to its Diversity Plan and increase AA and Spanishspeaking percentage of board membership. 5. The staff will maintain its diversity through monitoring future hires dealing with attrition and new positions. 6. Staff, Board, and volunteer training will reflect the agency s commitment to inclusiveness and diversity by presentation and attendance in meaningful cultural competency training.

4 Workplan Strategies recruitment plan adoption for board s implementation Agency s PR materials reflect Inclusiveness Accountable Person Board/staff focus group Mike Moon, President Tina Richards Program Comm Chair Individual committee members for each area October 2008 Janet Neighbours, Director of Development ED June 2007 Outputs Outcomes Evaluation Detailed plan with board member assigned to every area of recruitment strategy Talking points developed for board presentations Areas: Service clubs, UW, churches, businesses, fraternities/sororities, private citizens October 2008 Consistent, professional materials including language and images of diversity Distribution and use of materials in June 2007 present outreach to public awareness of CA and its mission Improved Board/staff interaction Commitment to diversity goals Community members identify CA as an agency with inclusive volunteer recruitment Monthly review at Board meetings Public accountability of Board members to each area volunteer prospect interest diversity of volunteers as measured periodically Language and diversity included in all materials interest from diverse, measured by Director s recruitment stats

5 Strategies involvement Accountable Person Gregg Ellis, Director of Juvenile Court Program Output Outcomes Evaluation Appointment and Participation on the Governor s Commission on Disproportionality staff knowledge of disproportionality issues and state plan for its reduction Development of CA approach to reduce disprop. acknowledgement of CA s focus on diversity Appointment by Governor Assigned and fulfilled tasks Communication of such to staff and targeted outreach LaDonna Wattley Director of Program and ED, Governance Committee and Board President 2007 (hiring of fulltime Director) to present Monitor and identify under represented groups Participation at company fairs, events, churches, Indiana Black Expo Target media associated with under represented groups Develop and conduct on-site volunteer training to be used at area churches or other sites Board monitor of own recruitment efforts More knowledgeable and media Prospective volunteers contact CA More interest from diverse candidates for board prospective volunteers from under represented groups diversity on board 2007-present

6 Strategies PR Campaign Cultural Competency and Diversity Training Accountable Person ED Janet Neighbours, Dir Development ED, Gregg Ellis, Director Juvenile Court Program, LaDonna Wattley, Director, Program Output Outcomes Evaluation Use of media for stories, TV featured stories, radio ads Partnership with St. Vincent Health (In Kind contributions to increase PR) Use of Board Members company newsletter Annual training for staff Continued training in pre-service Annual training for board Training by national speaker offered to staff, volunteers, board, and stakeholders in partnership with Juvenile Court Judge outreach to public awareness of CA Improved Board commitment to Diversity goals interest in CA board Improved competence and recognition of diversity issues by board, staff, and volunteers Improved approach to systemic disproportionality in CASA representation Prospects (monitored monthly) diversity of volunteers, increased numbers of volunteers Children s culture honored Disproportionality monitored and introduced as issue to court in individual cases CASA systemic reminder of disproportionality issues in all cases Decrease % of AA children in longer foster care, placed in families more often

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