Category Archives: About Us

About the American Diversity Report

Advisors, Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity

Renewing Diversity: Part 15: Perspectives from Intercultural Pioneers – by Carlos Cortés

In August, 2023, two of my friends — Sandra Fowler and Daniel Yalowitz — set out to make a difference.  They envisioned a book on the field of interculturalism structured around individual professional autobiographies written by twelve people, mostly in their eighties, whom they deemed to be intercultural pioneers .  I was one of the dozen selected, also the oldest at 91 when the book — Creating the Intercultural Field: Legacies from the Pioneers — was published in 2025.

Within diversityworld, the field of interculturalism is not all that prominent.  It isn’t a widely-trumpeted diversity term like microaggressions or white fragility or critical race theory.   It doesn’t make headlines like DEI.  In fact, although its origins date back to the early twentieth century, interculturalism has operated effectively in the shadows without the widespread public recognition of hotter and more critically scrutinized fields like ethnic studies.

Continue reading Renewing Diversity: Part 15: Perspectives from Intercultural Pioneers – by Carlos Cortés →

DL Opinion columns

Women Storytelling for Women’s History Month – by Deborah Levine

originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Folks often cite famous women in history as their inspiration during Women’s History Month. The stories about Marie Curie, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are good examples. But here in Chattanooga, we have our own inspirational women who have spoken about Women’s History Month and its meaning. Let’s learn from the stories that they share.

Continue reading Women Storytelling for Women’s History Month – by Deborah Levine →

Authors R-Z, Writing

Creative Writing as a Tool for Mental Health – by Diane Storman

Writing Through It

Creative writing can be an effective tool for processing and regulating emotional responses. It can help writers enhance self-awareness, manage their mental well-being through daily writing practices, and foster connections within communities facing shared mental health challenges. (Author’s note: For the purposes of this article, creative writing refers to the practice of deliberately using narrative forms such as storytelling, journaling, and poetry to express thoughts and emotions.  Mental health is defined here as a state of emotional, psychological, and social well-being that influences how individuals think, feel, and act.)

Continue reading Creative Writing as a Tool for Mental Health – by Diane Storman →

Authors I-Q, Social Issues

Stable Money, Fair Credit, Stronger Communities – by Julie Morris

pastedGraphic.pngI

 Why the “Boring” Stuff Matters

When we talk about equity and inclusion, we often picture classrooms, workplaces, and voting booths. But equity is also built (or blocked) at the checkout counter, in the loan office, and at the kitchen table when a family is trying to plan next month’s bills. Access to stable financial resources and fair lending opportunities shapes who can take a risk, recover from a setback, and invest in the future—across every kind of community.

Continue reading Stable Money, Fair Credit, Stronger Communities – by Julie Morris →

Authors I-Q, Go Green

Community Coalitions for Effective/Equitable Climate Action – by Olya K-Mehri 

Climate and environmental challenges are often described as global problems, but their impacts are deeply local. From flooding and heat stress to air quality and biodiversity loss, communities experience environmental change in ways that are shaped by place, inequality, and existing social conditions. In this context, community coalitions and collaborative movements are essential to effective and just climate action.

Continue reading Community Coalitions for Effective/Equitable Climate Action – by Olya K-Mehri  →

Authors A-H, Healthcare

The Power of Collaboration – by Andrew Drasen

In tackling complex social challenges, collaboration is not optional. The National Coalition for Drug Legalization illustrates this principle at every level. Founded by Veronica Wright, the coalition brings together law enforcement veterans, educators, nonprofit leaders, and recovery advocates to create a unified platform for research-informed policy, public education, and actionable change.

Continue reading The Power of Collaboration – by Andrew Drasen →

Advisors, Authors A-H, Politics

Random thoughts on No Kings Day protests – by Terry Howard

“Sorry, but I don’t remember seeing many white faces during civil rights protests and marches in the sixties.
So, I’ll take a pass.”

That was one of the “no thanks” responses I got from “Fernando,” one of several Black folks I invited to attend the recent No Kings Day protest with me. Hold that for now because I want to leave with a full-throated response to “Fernando” in closing.  

Now in case you didn’t know, cared to know, or reside on another planet (and much to the chagrin of “someone” who is obsessed with crowd size), in the largest single day of protest in American history, over 8,000,000 people took part in some 3,300 “No Kings” rallies recently spanning every continent on Earth while millions more participated remotely by watching coverage on television or online.

pastedGraphic.pngpastedGraphic_1.png

       Georgia protesters                       Virginia protester

So, despite temperatures in the mid-forties, I made the short drive to a local No Kings Day protest.  It seemed that the only difference between that protest compared to the one I attended last year was a much bigger turnout, more young people in attendance and more creative posters, some with graphic images and language way too inappropriate to include in this narrative. Plus, given that this an election year a few politicians were there deftly working the crowd. And from what I could glean from some conversations, many protesters were there not necessarily to protest for themselves but for generations to come. 

Continue reading Random thoughts on No Kings Day protests – by Terry Howard →

Advisors, Authors R-Z, Politics, Social Issues

Pope Leo XIV is a Change Agent – by Mauricio Velásquez

A courageous voice in a wilderness of quiet conflict avoidance is refreshing, Pope Leo XIV’s regular critical comments of Trump’s policies are honorable and most important, necessary in today’s theater of hate and division.  Pope Leo XIV has been a “moral check” on our present administration, challenging them as not being even humanitarian.  He speaks  for so many – representing Catholics from all over the world.  

Most important to note is how Pope Leo XIV critizes policy, the administration’s actions and not Trump personally.  Donald J. Trump spews hate and suspicion every day and is a serial liar and it is Pope Leo XIV who cannot look the other way and “calls out Trump” constantly, regularly.  Pope Leo XIV has criticized Trump’s policies on immigrants (“inhuman”), Iran War (“atrocious”) and calls out Trump’s action as not Christian.  It is the right approach – separate the person from their actions and focus on their actions and consequences of their actions.

Continue reading Pope Leo XIV is a Change Agent – by Mauricio Velásquez →

Authors R-Z

The Fueling Of A Renaissance: Part 2 – by Regina Sën

Calm Heart, Clear Mind

This is the story of how, amid the world unraveling in catastrophe—uncertainty looming and megastorms colliding—one woman found her way to wholeness and back to functioning, determined to love come what may, and there lifted.

We live in a nation that is far removed from the wisdom that unfolded in the previous article “Fall of The Spiral Curtain,” and it is barren of the knowledge of emotion and energy hygiene, a necessary support in such a journey: to love come what may.

Continue reading The Fueling Of A Renaissance: Part 2 – by Regina Sën →

Authors R-Z, Social Issues

Fall of the Spiral Curtain – Part 1 – by Regina Sën

The fall of the iron curtain can never precede the fall of the spiral curtain. We are witnessing, in real time, the dangers of allowing citizens to rise in power before transcending the human spiral, in a land barren of emotional and energy hygiene, under fire, under pressure. In communities of old, regardless of faith or tradition, we encounter “the human spiral”: cycles of fear, judgment, shame, and misunderstanding that wound us—and others—in invisible ways. The following story explores the luxury of being sheltered, and patterns of reactivity that pass silently through generations, even when we are “raised with love.” Through the wisdom of a trusted elder (*do you have one?*)—a Guru, an ‘Aunty’, an ‘Old Soul’, whoever *your* people recognize as wise—we learn to bear witness to this spiral, to sit with another’s pain and misunderstanding, ultimately finding liberation: transcending through unconditional love, finding the hope of safety to grow in.

Continue reading Fall of the Spiral Curtain – Part 1 – by Regina Sën →