Category Archives: Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion

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.

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

The Art of Resilience. From Pain to Promise: Book Review – by George Simons

Art of ResilienceFar from being abstract research on the dynamics of resilience, Deborah Levine has provided us with a life story, and highly relevant biography, an ethnography if you will, of the struggle for resilience lived out, day by day. It is filled with the challenges to resilience from health, work, environments, and relationships. Today we speak of the cost of intersectionality on oneself. The term is extremely relevant here, as Deborah herself is bundled into her white female identity, her Jewish ethnicity, the cultural marks of her places of upbringing, her immigrant status, her health vulnerability, and her religious belongings. Each of these shows up repeatedly both as a liability and an asset in her resilience narrative.

Continue reading The Art of Resilience. From Pain to Promise: Book Review – by George Simons

Diversity and Speech No. 46: The Art of Turning 90 – by Carlos Cortés 

I never really thought much about turning 90.  That is, until April 6, 2023, the day I turned 89.  That’s when my daughter, Alana, asked me the life-altering question:  “Dad, what are you going to do special for your 90th birthday?”

“As little as possible,” I responded in my best bah, humbug voice.  “Maybe Laurel and I will go to Del Taco.”  Anything to avoid the deluge of obligatory phone calls and discordant group renditions of “Happy Birthday.” 

Continue reading Diversity and Speech No. 46: The Art of Turning 90 – by Carlos Cortés 

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.   

Continue reading Affluent LGBTQ+ Community – with Toni Peterson

Women GroundBreakers & STEM: Lulu Copeland

When Deborah asked me to be part of the Women GroundBreakers Storytelling panel, Serving our Diverse Communities, I knew I had to say yes. She had said yes many times when I reached out. This is my turn. So, here’s my story… (Deborah coached us on telling our story, starting with something easy to share and for others to absorb, consider something that might shock people…then try to blend into something somewhere between the two.)

Women GroundBreakers Storytelling: Serving Diverse Communities

On March 7, 2024 we celebrated Women’s History Month with a panel of Women Groundbreakers whose work locally and globally serving diverse communities will Inspire & Instruct. Facilitated by Deborah Levine and sponsored by the American Diversity Report and G100 Women Leaders, the panel shared their expertise and experience. CLICK to hear their WUTC interviews.

**CLICK for PANEL RECORDING**

Continue reading Women GroundBreakers Storytelling: Serving Diverse Communities

2024 Theme: Women’s History Month – Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Celebrating Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

pastedGraphic.png

Whereas, March is National Women’s History Month, and the National Women’s History Alliance has designated the theme for Women’s History Month 2024 as “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion”; and

Whereas, this theme recognizes the invaluable contributions of women who have dedicated themselves to advocating for equity, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of society; and

Whereas, women from diverse backgrounds have long been at the forefront of efforts to address systemic inequities and promote a more inclusive and just society; and

Whereas, the courageous advocacy of women for practical goals such as equity, diversity, and inclusion serves as a beacon of inspiration for all individuals and communities; and

Whereas, in 2024, we honor the women who have tirelessly worked to dismantle barriers, challenge prejudices, and create opportunities for all individuals, regardless of their background and attacks against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusions programs and training in our institutions; 

Now, therefore be it resolved, that the American Diversity Report does hereby proclaim March 2024 as Women’s History Month in Tennessee and 

Be it further resolved that, We encourage our communities and organizations to celebrate the achievements of women who have championed equity, diversity, and inclusion, and reaffirm our commitment to advancing these principles in our society. Let us honor the women who have dedicated themselves to advocating for equity, diversity, and inclusion, and let us continue to work together to build a more just, equitable, and inclusive world.

Sisterhood for Women’s History Month – by Deborah Levine

Is Women’s History Month still relevant today? Is the need for sisterhood activism over as some say? We look back at the first group to advocate for women’s right to vote nationally and see that it was ultimately successful. The Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention was held long ago in1848. But the words of its organizer Elizabeth Cady Stanton still hold true and yet are still controversial, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.”

Diversity and Speech Part 44: Generations of Gender Talk – by Carlos Cortés

Keeping up with the ongoing changes in diversity language has become a matter of lifelong learning.  For a near-nonagenarian  (I turn 90 on April 6), this means continuous learning as well as relentless unlearning.  That is, trying to unlearn old uses of language that decades of repetition have deeply wired into my brain.

Take gender.  Growing up in 1940’s Kansas City, Missouri, I learned that men were men and women were women.  I inhabited a world of man talk and woman talk, men’s jobs and women’s jobs, men’s clothes and women’s clothes.  It wasn’t much different in college during the 1950’s.   We were men and women, not cisgender or transgender men and women. 

Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 44: Generations of Gender Talk – by Carlos Cortés

Why not a “Sully” Sullenberger for President? – by Terry Howard

Some voters are burned out on outrage!” 

That’s the recent headline in a national publication. That outrage? The eyebrow raising rancor, silliness and general awfulness surrounding the upcoming presidential election.

And the truth is that if we strike out the first four letters in the word “outrage” what’s left are three letters many voters are particularly burned out on…. age…as in President Joe Biden’s age! Count yours truly among them. Shucks, if I had a dollar for every time Biden’s age is cited in the news, I could purchase a luxurious mansion in Miami, Malibu (or, eh, Mar-a-Lago). 

Continue reading Why not a “Sully” Sullenberger for President? – by Terry Howard