Category Archives: Authors I-Q

ADR Authors by last name I-Q

Catalyze Change and Empower Your Community – by Julie Morris

Try These Purposeful Actions

Are you driven by the desire to create a positive impact in your community? Whether your focus is on social justice, environmental sustainability, or educational reform, there are countless avenues to make a meaningful difference. Engaging in community initiatives not only empowers you but also inspires those around you to contribute to lasting change. By taking deliberate steps, you can transform your passion into tangible outcomes that benefit your community and beyond.

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Building a Future Workforce – by Julie Morris

Proven Strategies for Building a Diverse, Inclusive, and Thriving Workforce Environment

Building a workforce that reflects diverse perspectives is essential for any organization aiming to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Diversity in hiring enhances creativity and innovation and strengthens the organization’s ability to connect with a broader customer base. By implementing inclusive recruitment practices, companies can create an environment where employees feel valued and empowered to contribute their best work. This article explores practical strategies to foster diversity and inclusion in the workplace, ensuring that your organization remains dynamic and forward-thinking.

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Workplace Diversity in 2025: Top 5 Trends  – by Delaney Norvor

As we move into 2025, diversity in the workplace continues to evolve, shaped by technological advancements, demographic shifts, and policy changes. Organizations are not only rethinking how they support diverse employees but also addressing systemic challenges that impact workplace equity. This report identifies five key trends influencing workplace diversity in 2025: increased funding for digital accessibility tools, the prioritization of upskilling older employees, efforts to deregulate DEI policies under the Trump administration, the impact of return-to-office mandates on minorities, and the regulation of AI tools across industries. Together, these trends underscore the dynamic landscape of workplace inclusivity and the ongoing need for innovation and vigilance.

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Coming together in our climate crises – by Papa Balla Ndong

climate crises After a full work week, I am volunteering with my daughter to help people and villages impacted by the devastating floods in Spain’s city of Valencia, representing SIETAR Europa,  (a nonprofit organization: Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research) SIETAR España, and Valencia.

Intense rainfall in eastern Spain produced deadly and destructive flash floods in the province of Valencia. On October 29, 2024, more than 300 millimeters (12 inches) of rain fell in parts of the province, reported Spain’s meteorological agency, AEMET. In the town of Chiva, nearly 500 millimeters (20 inches) fell in 8 hours. ~ NASA Earth Observatory

But just days ago, I was in Madrid, participating in the United Nations International Day for Care and Support( October 29th), discussing the migrant diaspora in Spain. Little did I know that on my return, I would encounter such profound evidence of climate change in my own community. Due to road closures, I spent two nights in my car just 80 kilometers from home, witnessing firsthand the growing intensity of our planet’s climate crises.

These experiences have brought questions to my mind that I’d like to share with you:

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The Profit Potential of Bilingualism – by Andres Moreno

How Language Skills Drive Growth

In today’s global market, businesses that fail to invest in bilingualism are leaving money on the table. Language gaps cost opportunities—and profits. A study by the An American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) revealed that nine out of 10 U.S. employers rely on employees with language skills beyond English. Yet, many face a critical gap between the skills they need and what their employees can offer.

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Impact of AI on Diversity in Financial Accounting – by Rose Joneson

As ignoring technology is no longer an option in the workplace, various fields and businesses are leveraging digital transformation for diversity, innovation, and empowerment.

A previous post illustrates how the online registration software company Regpack was able to build a diverse and inclusive workplace with the help of technology. The company used digital tools to promote creativity and collaboration, while also embracing remote work opportunities to accommodate unique needs, especially among tech professionals of color.

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Affluent LGBTQ+ Community – with Toni Peterson

Prioritize Living Fully

Overview of Research: In January 2024, Merrill Wealth Management published three studies examining the financial challenges, concerns and successes of the affluent Black/African American, LGBTQ+ and Hispanic-Latino communities in the United States. “Diverse Viewpoints: Trends Reports” builds on past research and uncovers how these groups navigated a tumultuous economic environment created by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation.

Bank of America partnered with Ipsos who gathered these insights using qualitative and quantitative techniques, including a 2023 survey of 1,000 members each from the affluent Black/African American, Hispanic-Latino and LGBTQ+ communities.   

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Civil Rights: A Most Righteous Hangover – by Ashok Panikkar

How Outrageous Successes of the Civil Rights Movement Weakened Minorities
and Destroyed Liberal Society  

The Nineteen Sixties promised a new chapter in US history, with the election of a young charismatic President, John F. Kennedy. However, the perfect storm of the Vietnam War, multiple assassinations (JFK, RFK, MLK, MX), the Cuban missile crisis, and continued segregation in the South, turned it into an extremely turbulent decade. Taken together, the failures of the Reconstruction (1865–77), Brown v Board of Education (1954), and President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, shattered America’s self-image as “The City Upon A Hill”, destroyed faith in the political system, and forced the nation to question its foundational assumptions.  

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Jewish Allies in African-American History – by Terry Howard

Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer are some of the many leaders who paved the way through the rocky history of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. But the movement would not have succeeded without the contributions of people from all races, among them philanthropist Julius P. Rosenwald, whose name is associated with hundreds of schools for Black students throughout the south.

But first, we should remember the many largely unreported Black/Jewish American partnerships in that history. Case in point is the relationship between Dr. King and close friend and advisor Stanley Levinson, a Jewish American.

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Peacebuilding: Growing Strawberries on Coconut Trees – by Ashok Panikkar  

The Nature of Peace and Peacebuilding in a Collectivist and Illiberal World

This article was originally published in Beyond Intractability 

The only reasonable prediction we can make about the 21st century is that we don’t know what’s coming our way — except that it will be bad.

While triggered by the Israel/Palestine situation, this article is a critical reflection on the role of ‘peacebuilding’ (my umbrella term for all non-adversarial dispute resolution processes) in the 21st century.

To understand why the peacebuilding field has failed to live up to its lofty ambitions, we have to unpack the world we inhabit today. After the heady optimism at the end of the Cold War, the conflicts of the new century have forced Westerners to rethink their short-lived assumptions about abolishing war, making the world safe for democracy and capitalism, and world peace. Hence, I won’t give you a two-point off-ramp for Russia, a five-point plan for the Syrian embroglio, or a seven-point approach for the Israel-Palestine mess. Of course, we should try to make the world safer. However, our attempts should be rooted in hard-nosed realities, not skewered by wishful thinking.

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