Category Archives: Intentional Communities

On May 6, the Biden administration unveiled a new, ten-year plan for how it intends to make good onExecutive Order 14008,which called for the conservation of 30 percent of our nations land and water by 2030. This number, which has beenbacked by scientists, is considered the critical amount of conserved natural areas necessary to help slow climate change and preventcatastrophic species loss.

Never before has a president outlined a goal of this kind, and certainly not this early in an administration, said Brenda Mallory, chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, on a press call. Let me be candid: nature in America is in trouble, and Americans across the country are seeing and feeling the impacts.

One of the key pieces of this new initiative will be establishing an interagency working group to create an American Stewardship and Conservation Atlas, a set of guidelines aimed at mapping out better benchmarks for what exactly constitutes conserved land. The administration was careful to use the word conservation when it came to talking about protecting natural spaces, rather than preservation, a linguistic choice that was intentional to highlight the importance of private lands serving in tandem with public lands to hit the target goal. At last Thursdays press conference, the administration placed high priority on the potential for working lands to pitch in as well, whether it be throughconservation easement programs or helping to create wildlife corridors.

Still, parks and recreational lands have a large role to play. According to a report published by the administrations task force, an estimated 100 million Americans do not have a park within a ten-minute walk of their home.Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, intends to change that. In the coming days, the National Park Service will announce a record $150 million in funding for the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program, which helps build parks in underserved communities, said Haaland on the call. We are eager to increase access to public lands and waters for outdoor recreation to stimulate the economy and to inspire the next generation of outdoor stewards.

With outdoor recreation contributing an estimated $460 billion annually to the nations economy, the Department of the Interior is eager to open up more opportunities for wilderness enthusiasts. This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to expand hunting and fishing opportunities across 2.1 million acres at 90National Wildlife Refuges. This is the largest expansion in recent history, said Haaland.

The Biden administration is also committed to ensuring that40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant Federal investments flow specifically to disadvantaged communities. And the new ten-year plan, the America the Beautiful Campaign, will further support locally led conservation and park projects in communities that disproportionately lack access to the great outdoors.

Protections for marine environments are getting a boost, too. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) just announced the expansion of theFlower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, which nearly triples the size of the protected area that includes 14 reefs and banks that are habitat for recreationally important fish. In Long Island Sound, NOAA is working to designate aNational Estuarine Research Reserve to create a living classroom for research, education, and recreation, making it the 30th estuary reserve in the national system.

While we may not be seeing any massive, newnational parks come out of this initiative, the steps the Biden administration is taking to address inequitable access to the outdoors by creating new parks closer to urban areas are historic, and funding to actually get things done is on the way. The proposal of the 2022 budget really does make investments in collaborative conservation, said Gina McCarthy, National Climate Advisor, on the call. Congress recently passed the Great American Outdoors Act, which is really a down payment on how we look at conserving our lands and waters.

After a pandemic-ravaged year in which so many of us took refuge in the outdoors, its heartening to see anofficial government report stating that nature is essential to the health, well-being, and prosperity of every family and every community in America and an administration that is setting up the groundwork and investment to protect more land, water, and wildlife within a set timeline.

Perhaps McCarthy put it best: This is an exciting start; its not the end.

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What Biden's New Initiative Means for the Parks | Outside Online - Outside

Posted: May 11, 2021 / 01:58 PM CDT / Updated: May 11, 2021 / 05:40 PM CDT

WACO, Texas Baylor University has announced an innovative partnership with Topgolf Entertainment Group a global sports and entertainment leader as the official education partner ofTopgolfWaco.

The sponsorship agreement is the first between a university andTopgolfnationwide at this partnership level.

After celebrating its grand opening on April 23,TopgolfWaco will onboard Baylor as its first corporate partner with the university taking advantage ofTopgolfs demographics and branding opportunities throughout the popular venue.

Added to the groundbreaking three-year partnership is a first-ever branding venture forTopgolf Digital Field Naming Rights. Baylor Field atTopgolfWaco will be integrated into the digital replays of guest shots traced through the Toptracer technology putting the university brand at the forefront for each of the thousands of guests who pass through the venue.

As a company focused on building communities around the globe, we are excited to be expanding our Waco location with the introduction of Baylor Field to students, faculty and alumni, said JF Prata, chief operating officer ofTopgolfMedia. Through our first-of-its kind partnership with Baylor University, we will continue to bring innovation and top-notch experiences to the Waco community and seek to showcase partnerships of this kind in future markets as well.

This multifaceted partnership allows us to extend the Baylor campus further into the Waco community not only for local residents, but also for people who visit the university from across the country, said Jason D. Cook, Baylors vice president for marketing and communications and chief marketing officer. There is great alignment with the Baylor andTopgolfbrands, and we saw the potential of such a partnership whenTopgolfLive visited McLane Stadium earlier this spring and our Admissions team invited prospective students to such a fun event and special environment.

After the successful pilot program for Undergraduate Admissions counselors to bring prospective students and their families to theTopgolfLive event at McLane Stadium, the new partnership will expand this opportunity. Baylor admissions counselors will be able to bring select prospective students and their families toTopgolfWaco on a daily basis during specified times, aiming to position the venue as an extension of the Baylor campus.

Baylor-branded event activations will be used for student recruitment events such as Premiere, building off of recent successful activations such as the Night at the Drive-In movie events.

Additional benefits for Baylors partnership will include static displays for four permanent Baylor-branded VIP bays, digital advertising, commercial spots on the in-venueTopgolfTV and to-be-determined discount offers for both current and prospective students and employees.

Alongside the exclusive agreement withTopgolfWaco, Baylor will have opportunities to explore additional partnership placements at otherTopgolffacilities across the country which align with key recruiting areas for prospective students.

The ongoing efforts to create an intentional and purposeful connection between the City of Waco and Baylor University will continue, Cook said, as theTopgolfpartnership will encourage members of the Baylor Family to live, work and play in exciting and growing areas throughout the Waco community.

We look forward to continuing to shine a light on all that Baylor and Waco have to offer, Cook said.

TopgolfWaco is a single-level, community-focused venue featuring 30 outdoor hitting bays powered byTopgolfs proprietary Toptracer technology, which is the same ball-tracing technology seen during major golf tournaments on television. The new venue offers Topgolfgames, virtual courses, a chef-driven menu, backyard-style lawn areas with fire pits and a mini golf course. The open-air concept is new toTopgolf, following similar successful designs and layouts launched in Augusta and Chattanooga earlier this year.

Source: Baylor University

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Baylor University announces exclusive education partnership with Topgolf Waco - KWKT - FOX 44

An online directory for small businesses, Intentionalist, celebrated its third anniversary virtually including an intersectional four-course meal with food from Salare, Frelard Tamales, Terra Plata and Hood Famous Cafe + Bar. The owners of the four local businesses participated in a panel discussion led by Laura Clise, the CEO and founder of Intentionalist. The night ended with an interview between Clise and Seattle University professional in residence at the communication department, Ruchika Tulshyan.

Intentionalist was created when Clise wanted to eat at Black-owned restaurants with her wife during Black History Month, but finding restaurants proved to be challenging. Information regarding the owners of the restaurants in her community was not readily available, which was surprising to Clise.

Clise moved away from Seattle for 20 years and noticed that a lot changed when she came back.

I quickly became aware of an underlying tension between rapid growth, development and change and questions about who still had a physical place and who still felt a sense of belonging, Clise said. As I started to think about that, and then think about what my role and responsibility ought to be, I kept coming back to small businesses and the incredible impact that they have on the social, cultural, and economic fabric.

Tulshyan was excited about interviewing Clise because she felt Clise was more reflective of her.

Its really nice to be in a space where I feel like I can be a lot more vulnerable too. As a younger journalist, and a journalist of color and woman of color, I would sometimes walk into these interviews and be really nervous and feel oh my gosh can I ask the questions I want to? So, Im excited that I get to be more myself, Tulshyan said.

Since growing from a list of small businesses that Clise wanted to support, Intentionalist is now a comprehensive directory of brick-and-mortar businesses owned by women, people of color, indigenous people, members of the LGBTQ+ community, veterans, families and people with disabilities. On Instagram, their community has grown to over 16,000 people.

The number of businesses listed on their website has also grown alongside help for the community, as Haley Witt, the marketing and communications coordinator at Intentionalist, explained.

A lot of the way our database has grown is via social media and by the site itself from user-submitted businesses of people in their communities that theyre really excited about. Particularly, outside the greater Seattle area, we have a lot of awesome users who have submitted businesses in their own cities and communities which really helps us to grow, Witt said.

Witt emphasized that Intentionalist does more than act as a directory. The Intentionalist has a gift certificate marketplace where businesses who usually only sell physical gift certificates can sell online. They also have a blog that helps provide other resources to people looking to be intentional with their spending.

These resources include gift guides and blogs for different heritage months. Witt put together a guide of businesses around Seattle U including the owners names for each business listed and if they are women-owned, Black-owned, LGBTQ+ owned, etc.

With an abundance of growth happening, Clise shared her vision for the future of Intentionalist. She talked about the possibility of a national and then global directory that allows a user to pay on the same platform.

What I envision is a world where I have a resource at my fingertips, wherever it is that I am, that allows me to be intentional about who benefits from where I choose to spend my money, Clise said.

Clise added encouragement to shift a bit of personal monthly spending to small businesses.

A lot of a little is a lot. What that means is, the power to shift our consumer culture doesnt take a lot of dollars from any one individual. If you think about the 100 (plus) million people who participated in Small Business Saturday last year, if we can help just those people shift $10 a month in their spending to diverse, local businesses, the aggregate impact is tens of billions of dollars, Clise said.

While the third anniversary has passed by, Intentionalist continues to move forward with both consistent growth and strong hopes for the future.

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Intentionalist Celebrates Three Years of Spending Like it Matters - The Spectator

Many progressives have been pleasantly surprised by President Joe Bidens sweeping proposals to repair the United States failing infrastructure, expand health care coverage and address the climate crisis. Some have suggested that one way to pay for such things would be to cut the military budget, especially since Biden has announced that he is ending U.S. involvement in the Afghan war.

Were dumping billions of dollars into a bloated Pentagon budget. Dont increase defense spending. Cut it and invest that money into our communities.

But hopes for a peace dividend were dashed when Biden came out in April with a proposed military budget of $753 billion a $13 billion increase to Trumps already gargantuan sum and one that includes more than $30 billion for new nuclear weapons.

Congressional progressives have long complained about runaway military spending. In 2020, 93 members in the House and 23 in the Senate voted to cut the Pentagon budget by 10% and invest those funds in critical human needs. A House Spending Reduction Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), emerged with 22 members on board, including all four members of the Squad but also more moderate or mainstream Democrats.

Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, one of the largest caucuses in Congress with almost 100 members, also want reductions in the military budget.

Were in the midst of a crisis that has left millions of families unable to afford food, rent and bills, Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told The Nation magazine. But at the same time, were dumping billions of dollars into a bloated Pentagon budget. Dont increase defense spending. Cut it and invest that money into our communities.

Bidens military and non-military budget resolution, a package deal, is expected to hit the floor in June or July. If Republicans refuse to support it, the president would need every Democrat in the Senate and almost all Democrats in the House to win approval.

In the House, Biden needs at least 212 of the 218 Democratic seats (allowing for current vacancies in both parties. But what if at least seven members of the House voted no or even just threatened to put their foot down because the budget calls for increased military spending and a plan to modernize U.S. nuclear weapons and maintain 800 overseas bases?

Now is the time for congressional progressives like the Squad Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Presley (D-Mass.) to unite with Jayapal, Lee, Pocan and others in the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, to stand as a block against a bloated military budget.

During a pandemic, it makes no sense to approve a military budget that is 95 times the budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The billions saved from right-sizing the Pentagon could also provide critical funds for addressing the climate crisis.

And it would be applauded by the Democrats base. Polls show that 70% of Democrats favor not just cutting nuclear weapons, but actually eliminating them. This is in line with the newly passed U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, as well as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires nuclear states to pursue disarmament to avoid a catastrophic accident or intentional nuclear holocaust.

Will progressives in Congress play hardball to threaten Bidens entire budget by insisting he reduce military spending and scrap plans for a new nuclear arsenal? Will they have the courage to unite behind such a noble cause as saving the planet from an existential nuclear threat?

Odds will improve if their constituents flood them with messages insisting that now is the time to finally put an end to the cycle of exponential military spending and invest, instead, in the needs of the people.

This column was produced for The Progressive magazine and distributed by Tribune News Service.

Marcy Winograd of Progressive Democrats of America is a coordinator for CODEPINKCONGRESS, where she spearheads Capitol Hill calling parties to mobilize votes for peace.

May 10, 2021

9:32 AM

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Let's Unite to Cut Military Spending - Progressive.org - Progressive.org - Progressive.org

ByHub staff report

Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg Philanthropies today announced the launch of a $150 million effort to directly address historic underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, and to prepare a new, more diverse generation of researchers and scholars to assume leading roles in tackling some of the world's greatest challenges.

The Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative at Johns Hopkinsnamed for one of the institution's most celebrated figures, a Black surgical laboratory supervisor best known for his work to develop a lifesaving cardiac surgical techniquewill create new pathways for students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions to pursue and earn PhDs in STEM fields.

"STEM fields play an increasingly important role in developing innovative solutions to a wide range of pressing challenges, yet STEM PhD programs don't reflect the broad diversity of our country," said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, 108th mayor of New York City, and a Johns Hopkins alumnus. "So creating more equitable opportunities for more students is critical to our country's future in so many ways.

"By supporting JHU's world-class STEM program, and by partnering with historically Black and minority-serving schools that have a strong record of educating students who go on to get STEM PhDs, we will help increase diversity in industries that will pioneer advances we have not yet even imagined, and shape the lives of generations to come."

Multiple studies dating to the late 1990s have shown that STEM PhD programs do not reflect the broad diversity of talent and perspectives that other fields of study have cultivated, nor have they effectively recruited scholars from diverse undergraduate institutions. National Science Foundation data show that in 2019, there were more than 30 fields of scienceincluding multiple disciplines in biology, chemistry, physics, math, and engineeringin which fewer than five PhDs were awarded to Black or Latinx students in the U.S. While Black Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population and Latinx people 18%, in 2019 they received just 3% and 7%, respectively, of new engineering, math, physical sciences, and computer science PhDs, according to the NSF. The deficits in STEM diversity extend beyond Black and Latinx students; the percentage of science or engineering PhDs awarded to Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander students has been stagnant at about a third of their share of the population for a decade.

Ronald J. Daniels

President, Johns Hopkins University

"Scientific discovery that continually advances human flourishing and creates a healthier, safer world must be fueled by the expertise and insights of people of differing perspectives and ideas," Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels said. "Yet decades of data and our own experience show the persistent truth that PhD programs, particularly in the STEM fields, do not reflect the full spectrum of available talent. We cannot hope to produce the best science nor ensure that our faculties are truly representative until we increase the diversity of our PhD programs. Through the Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative, Johns Hopkins now has the opportunity and imperative to invest ambitiously, think ambitiously, and act ambitiously to begin correcting the longstanding inequity in PhD education."

Johns Hopkins has made significant strides in increasing the percentage of undergraduate students from underrepresented minority backgrounds, and a number of programs throughout the university have made important advances on the graduate level. Still, historically underrepresented minorities make up just 11% of students in Johns Hopkins' STEM PhD programsslightly higher than the average of 9% reported by JHU's private research university peers but still far from representative of the overall population.

Students recruited to the university through the new program announced today will be known as Vivien Thomas Scholars, in recognition of the man who developed and refined a corrective cardiac surgical technique to treat "blue baby syndrome" at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1940s. Despite conducting years of lab work to demonstrate that the procedure could be performed safely on a human patient, Thomas did not receive due credit for the lifesaving advanceknown as the Blalock-Taussig shuntfor decades.

Image caption: Portrait of Dr. Vivien Thomas

Image credit: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Thomas grew up in the Jim Crow South and enrolled as a premedical student at Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial College, a historically Black college in Nashville, but was forced to drop out due to the Great Depression and was never able to enroll in medical school. Despite his lack of an advanced degree, Thomas spent his career as a pioneering research and surgical assistant who trained generations of surgeons at Johns Hopkins. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Johns Hopkins University in 1976 and named instructor of surgery in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine until his retirement in 1979. Thomas died in 1985, at age 75, of pancreatic cancer.

The $150 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies will provide permanent funding to add a sustained cohort of approximately 100 new positions for diverse PhD students in JHU's more than 30 STEM programs, representing disciplines ranging from neuroscience to physics to engineering. The initiative will engage in active outreach to applicants from HBCU and MSI institutions, a group that encompasses more than 450 four-year colleges and universities nationwide. Each scholar will receive up to six years of full tuition support, a stipend, health insurance and travel funding, along with significant mentorship, research, and professional development opportunities. Initial pathway programs will begin this summer, with the first cohort of Vivien Thomas Scholars entering Johns Hopkins PhD programs in the fall of 2022.

"Capturing diverse talent in STEM is critical to maximizing the creativity, excellence, and innovation necessary to create the best science and to apply that science to improve the human condition for all," said Damani Arnold Piggott, assistant dean for graduate biomedical education and graduate student diversity at JHU, who has been tapped to lead the institution's new effort as the inaugural associate vice provost for graduate diversity and partnerships. "We believe there is a wealth of untapped talent out there, and that through sustained outreach and support, we can encourage more students from diverse backgrounds to seek PhDs in these fields and become the next generation of transformational leaders in STEM. We are going to be privileged to have this cohort of scholars spend time with us on their journeys, and to be able to contribute in some small way to the amazing things they are going to do for the betterment of our society."

More than $15 million in funding will be dedicated to strengthening pathways for talented undergraduates to pursue STEM PhDs at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere. Those efforts will begin with direct funding of programs at an initial cohort of six partner HBCUs and MSIs with an exceptional record of accomplishment in graduating students who advance to STEM PhD careersHoward University; Morehouse College; Morgan State University; Prairie View A&M; Spelman College; and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

"Spelman is eager to develop the partnership with Johns Hopkins, one of the world's great research universities," said Mary Schmidt Campbell, PhD, president of Spelman College. "The goals of the Vivien Thomas Scholars initiative align completely with our own and that is to continue to increase the number of underrepresented minorities who earn PhDs in STEM fields. With Spelman graduating more black women who obtain doctorates in STEM than any other college or university in the country, per the National Science Foundation, we believe that our faculty have a great deal to contribute in terms of recognizing the assets that our students bring and, with effective pedagogical strategies, building effectively on their strengths."

Damani Arnold Piggott

Assistant dean for graduate biomedical education and graduate student diversity, Johns Hopkins University

Each partner institution will receive flexible funding to support its effort to attract and prepare undergraduate students for STEM graduate training and STEM careers. Inaugural partners will be critical in advising the Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative as a whole, engaging additional MSIs, and identifying the optimal programming for scholars participating in the initiative.

"I commend Mayor Bloomberg and President Daniels for making this commitment to diversity in STEM graduate education," said Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. "We know that transformational philanthropy can produce more STEM researchers from underrepresented groups. The Meyerhoff Scholars Program, established with a visionary gift from Baltimore philanthropist Robert Meyerhoff in 1988, has resulted in UMBC becoming the top U.S. producer of African American graduates going on to earn MD/PhD degrees, including STEM professionals and researchers around the country."

The funding will also support the creation of new and expanded undergraduate summer and post-baccalaureate experiences for talented, diverse undergraduates to build connections with Johns Hopkins faculty and students, and provide exposure to the university's research and scholarship, building on the success of existing pathways programs at Hopkins. All summer pathways programming will be fully funded, including housing and stipends for participants.

"Over the past decade, and through the enduring support of Mike Bloomberg's philanthropy, Johns Hopkins has been intentional about building one of the most diverse and academically talented undergraduate student bodies in the country," Daniels said. "We must take a similarly expansive approach to moving the needle in PhD education. We need such diverse leadership in all spheres of endeavor, and especially in our universities where bold ideas take shape and are brought to bear on the world's great challenges. We are truly grateful for Mike Bloomberg's vision and commitment in pushing us to new heights."

Bloomberg has long focused on increasing equitable access and opportunity across higher education and last year launched the Greenwood Initiative at Bloomberg Philanthropies, an effort to accelerate the pace of Black wealth accumulation in the U.S. and address decades of systemic underinvestment in Black communities. The Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative is the third investment made by Bloomberg Philanthropies' Greenwood Initiative since its launch in September 2020. The first investment was a $100 million partnership with the nation's four historically Black medical schools to help ease the debt burden of approximately 800 Black medical students. The second investment was more than $6 million to those four schools to increase their mobile unit COVID-19 vaccination efforts and help ensure equitable access to vaccines within Black communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Since Bloomberg's historic $1.8 billion gift for undergraduate financial aid at Johns Hopkins in 2018, the university has seen meaningful increases in the diversity and excellence of its undergraduate programs. With 32.5% self-identifying as a member of a racial or ethnic group that is historically underrepresented at the institution, Hopkins' most recent entering class is the most diverse in the university's history and also among the highest achieving in the nation in terms of grade point averages and standardized test scores.

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Johns Hopkins, Bloomberg Philanthropies announce $150M effort to fuel diversity in STEM fields - The Hub at Johns Hopkins

It will take 333 years for minority-owned businesses to achieve revenue equity with white-owned businesses in the United States, the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council said.

President and CEO Michelle Sourie Robinson said increasing supplier diversity remains a significant challenge, and achieving parity would bring a significant boost to the overall economy.

Robinson said Black-owned and white-owned businesses would add $290 billion in overall wealth.

New MMSDC research shows increased corporate commitment to minority businesses could close the gap in 15 years.

She said a key solution to shortening the timeline is a deliberate and intentional focus on minority firms access to and spending from corporations.

"This research makes it crystal clear that the current path is one we cannot continue if we wish to achieve economic equity for people of color in our lifetimes," Robinson said.

A report commissioned by the MMSDC assessed the growth rate of minority business enterprises and determine the gap that remains in revenue parity for MBEs. View the full research findings here.

MMSDC reports that by 2045, people of color are expected to make up more than 50 percent of the U.S. population. Companies that are not responsive to this growing customer base are more likely to be left behind, which is another incentive for MBE spending growth.

"After decades of stagnation, it's time for corporations to go beyond words, and take actions that help create lasting wealth within communities of color," Robinson said. "By doing so, ALL communities will benefit."

In the study findings, the "Path to Parity" recommendations include:

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Report: It will take 333 years to erase equity gap for minority-owned businesses - WXYZ

Readers may recall back in February, I announced my intention to create a community advisory board at the Enid News & Eagle.

I was thrilled that more than a dozen people reached out to me for consideration on the board. Over the last several weeks, I have had the opportunity to personally visit with most of them. Even though it took longer than I planned to put together the advisory board, I am pleased to announce that five individuals have been selected to serve in this role for the next 12-18 months.

An announcement about the new board will be forthcoming soon, but I wanted to let readers know why the Enid News & Eagle is asking members of the community to work with us in providing the best news, entertainment and marketing products possible.

I want to thank everyone who reached out with interest. Every person I visited with talked about how much this community means to them, and they agree that having a strong local news product is important to the community. Some of the applicants expressed concern or criticism about local news coverage.

This is exactly what I needed to hear because I strongly believe that when people criticize or get mad at the local newspaper for whatever reason it is because they actually have a passion about the newspaper. Its personal to them.

Think about it. How many times have you been upset or angry at business, but you never complained or told them your concerns? You simply stopped patronizing that business.

The news business can sometimes be complicated, and in the case of news coverage, its impossible to please everyone. We understand that, and frankly, have to let some criticism roll off our backs. However, most every concern or criticism I hear can be addressed in some form and improvements can be made.

We have been intentional in selecting this first board to represent various demographics and communities. We want diverse perspectives and people who are willing to listen to each other and provide great ideas.

Our goal is for the community advisory board to be a reality check of sorts for our newspaper. Just as we all operate in our own bubbles in our daily lives, the newspaper business can also operate in a bubble. Our community advisory board will help show us ways to reach beyond that bubble. They will act as informal advisers for us.

We are excited to get started with this new endeavor. As always, if you have ideas or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to me at callen@enidnews.com.

Allen is publisher and editor of the Enid News & Eagle.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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OAKLAND, Calif., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Shield of California today announced $300,000 in community investments to nonprofit organizations that advance the health and well-being of youth and communities of color. The funding supports initiatives focused on youth development, social justice, and health equity.

Twelve organizations six in the San Francisco Bay Area and six in the Inland Empire region of Southern California will each receive $25,000 for a range of initiatives, including art programs, mentorship, technology training, housing, and social justice activism.

The announcement coincides with today's National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, as well as May's Mental Health Awareness Month, and builds on the work of Blue Shield's signature BlueSky youth mental health initiative. Blue Shield created BlueSky because youth mental illness is a pressing issue that demands early intervention: it's the number one reason California children are hospitalized, and half of all lifetime cases begin by the age of 14.

"These organizations are taking on hard challenges and finding new, innovative ways to inspire Black, Hispanic, Asian and foster youth to live their healthiest, most productive, and fulfilling lives," said Kimberley Goode, senior vice president of External Affairs, Blue Shield of California. "As a nonprofit health plan whose goal is to help improve the health and well-being of all Californians, Blue Shield is honored to collaborate and provide our support.

"Local nonprofits are key to building a healthier California as they work to break down barriers to well-being and economic opportunities and reduce stigma around mental health," Goode added. "Blue Shield selected this diverse group of organizations, who are trusted experts, working on the ground in their communities to drive meaningful change."

The organizations receiving funding are:

San Francisco Bay Area

Inland Empire Region

"Most foster youth in California have no source of income when they 'age out' and are expected to make it on their own," said Dontae Lartigue, CEO and co-founder, Razing the Bar in San Jose. "We have to be proximate, intentional, and be able to invest time in young people -- the way we would provide for our own children. When we do this as a community and as a system, that is when young people will thrive. We are grateful for Blue Shield's support to help us reach even more youths in need."

"This funding couldn't have come at a better time," said Pepi Jackson, president of the Riverside County Black Chamber of Commerce, which supports the Building Resilience in African American Families organization. "It will immediately help usto increase the character building services we provide to our young girls and boys who live in some of the most vulnerable communities in the Inland Empire. Thank you, Blue Shield!"

Blue Shield Takes Action for Mental Health Awareness Month

In addition to funding these community organizations, Blue Shield of California is engaged in several initiatives during Mental Health Awareness Month that are aimed at raising awareness about resources and reducing stigma. Activities include:

Today's announcement and the BlueSky program also embody Blue Shield of California's shared commitment to youth mental health with our state and local government partners. Our investments can synergize with Governor Newsom's $400 million state budget proposal for Medi-Cal to fund infrastructure and capacity to increase the number of K-12 students receiving school-based behavioral health services.

Since Blue Shield's BlueSky initiative launched in 2019 it has funded more than 6,700 youth counseling sessions in 20 middle and high schools in San Diego and Alameda Counties, and supported Youth Mental Health First Aid training for more than 2,000 educators statewide.

About Blue Shield of California

Blue Shield of California strives to create a healthcare system worthy of its family and friends that is sustainably affordable. Blue Shield of California is a tax paying, nonprofit, independent member of the Blue Shield Association with over 4.5 million members, over 7,500 employees and more than $21 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 in San Francisco and now headquartered in Oakland, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid and Medicare healthcare service plans in California. The company has contributed more than $150 million to Blue Shield of California Foundation in the last four years to have an impact on California communities.

For more news about Blue Shield of California, please visitnews.blueshieldca.com.

Or follow us onLinkedIn,Twitter, orFacebook.

CONTACT:

Mark Seelig

Blue Shield of California

510-607-2359

[emailprotected]

SOURCE Blue Shield of California

http://www.bcbs.com

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Blue Shield of California Provides $300,000 to Support Youth Development, Social Justice, and Health Equity in Communities of Color - PRNewswire

The Henrico community thats proven the most difficult to vaccinate is the one that sits within eyesight of the regions most successful vaccination hub, where more than 150,000 doses of vaccine have been administered.

That irony, though, may not be surprising.

The communities adjacent to the Richmond Raceway, where Henrico and Virginia Department of Health officials have been holding mass vaccination events for more than three months and which just this week surpassed that 150,000-vaccination mark, are among the most vulnerable in the county.

Overwhelmingly, residents of Census tract 2008.05 (a 1.9-square-mile area that extends from just south of Laburnum Avenue near the raceway north to encompass the raceway, St. Luke Apartments and the Forest Lawn Cemetery, among other pockets of homes) are young, single, poor and Black, according to U.S. Census American Community Survey data from 2019.

More than 41% of the 3,700 or so residents there are living below the poverty line, earning an average of just more than $22,000 annually per capita. Two-thirds of residents are 39 or younger. Eighty-five percent of those 15 or older are single. About 87% are Black.

Taken separately, most of those demographics present clear challenges for health officials seeking to vaccinate as many people as possible.

Together? They create a perfect storm of vaccination resistance even if that resistance isnt entirely intentional.

A shift in strategy

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts serve both localities, which include a total of 130 Census tracts (64 in Henrico, 66 in the city). The Henrico tract that includes the raceway is the only one in the county that ranks among the bottom 20% for vaccinations within the RHHDs territory, according to data provided to the Citizen by the districts; the others are all in Richmond.

That reality that people within walking distance of the raceway are being vaccinated at a lower rate than those in every other Henrico community exemplifies the challenge facing health officials as they move into the next phase of vaccinations.

Henrico residents who wanted to be vaccinated as soon as possible now have had that opportunity. RHHD officials had offered vaccination appointments to nearly everyone on their pre-registration list a week ago. Now, they must be proactive and strategic in how they reach out to those who havent yet gotten a shot.

They hope that increasing access to the vaccine will be a good starting point but that doesnt just mean physical location of vaccination sites. After all, physical proximity isnt an issue for residents who live near the raceway, but time and availability might be.

With so many single adults and such a high percentage of children living in the raceways Census tract an estimated 30% of its population is younger than 16 working parents struggling to make ends meet simply may not have the time or ability to schedule a vaccination during a work day even if they want to.

Those who are younger than 16 arent eligible to be vaccinated yet anyway (though emergency use authorization for children and teens 12 to 15 could come within days for the Pfizer vaccine). That reality may be partly to blame for the low vaccination totals among residents near the raceway in particular, too.

Walk-up appointments, like the ones available on select days through the end of the month at the raceway, Virginia Union University, George Wythe High School and 342 CVS locations in Virginia, among others, should make it easier for some to get the vaccine.

But theres also still vaccine hesitancy statewide and nationally among some in the Black community, leery of previous vaccine and medical mistreatment of the community throughout U.S. history. In Henrico, Blacks account for nearly 30% of the population but only about 19% of all vaccinations, as of April 26, according to RHHD data. By contrast, whites compose about 54% of the population bu tmore than 61% of those who have been vaccinated.

RHHD community health worker Ivy Bell has heard other explanations while working in local communities to administer vaccines about why some people are choosing not to get the shot.

The most shocking was people who were wanting to get it but were listening to other people who didnt want to get it on why they shouldnt get it, Bell said. A number of others told Bell they were waiting to get the vaccine to ensure that it was safe.

But, she said, some younger people were interested in being vaccinated.

They were asking were they old enough to get it, she said.

In general, though, plenty of young, healthy adults simply havent made vaccination a priority because they are at a much lower risk of poor outcomes from COVID-19 if they get the virus. In Henrico, only about 10% of those who had been vaccinated through April 26 were in their 20s, according to the RHHD. (The median age of residents of Tract 2008.05 is about 28.6.)

Addressing social vulnerabilities

In addition to the Census track surrounding the raceway, officials from the RHHD have flagged 11 other tracts in Henrico as areas of vaccination concern either because they rank high in social vulnerability categories that put residents at greater risk for negative consequences from the virus or hinder their efforts to be vaccinated (6); have experienced a high COVID-19 case burden (3); or both (2).

One of the latter two tracts sits adjacent to the raceway tract, just to the west; the other is a bit farther east, also along the Richmond-Henrico line (north of I-64 and south of Creighton Road, bisected by Dabbs House Road).

RHHD officials are spending time in each of those Census tracts in Henrico (and in 27 in Richmond), working to have conversations with residents to answer their questions about the vaccine.

Some folks really appreciate that one on one, wanting to talk to a person in person, said RHHD Health Equity Director Jackie Lawrence. We always try to pair our staff in communities with folks who have cultural relativity. In some communities, door-knocking is ok. In other communities, its maybe not the best to knock on doors.

In the latter instances, officials may visit laundromats or other places that attract people instead, she said.

We know that hesitancy is a big player here, Lawrence said. By no means is the health department trying to force anyone or persuade anyone we want to provide information, so that way people can make their own decisions.

Weve found that when people have way more information, we notice a shift. We believe [information] is the main pillar of empowerment.

At the same time, health workers continue to encounter a steady stream of misinformation as they talk with people.

There is so much going on that is not factual, Lawrence said.

She and RHHD Nurse Manager Amy Popovich encourage people who have been vaccinated to share their experiences honestly good or bad with those who havent been.

If today someone is not ready, thats ok, Popovich said. You can invite them back to talk to you later about it. If folks are not ready, there will be time later, too.

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Original post:

In the shadows of Richmond Raceway, vaccination irony becomes evident | The Henrico Citizen - Henrico Citizen

May8, 202115+ min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The United States is currently facing an important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. Many of us see the news and ask how we can help. What are the steps that each of us can take to help heal our county, in our own way?

Authority Magazine recently ran an interview series asking close to fifty influential business leaders if they can share their 5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society.

Here are some highlights of these interviews.

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The challenge with DE&I initiatives is that most organizations want the quick fix or what I call the just add water approach. To be effective and authentic, one must do the work to better understand the challenges that we face with race in our country. To answer the question more directly, context is key. We all have bias we bring everywhere, but these steps can be important for eliminating roadblocks for DE&I:

1. Ensure leaders arent perpetuating the sense of inequity, discrimination, or systemic challenges.Often, employees of color have white leaders. If we can come to terms with the fact that we all have bias and challenge these notions about who is being burdened versus helped, we can go far.

2. Examine your organizational purpose and align DE&I strategy to that.You need to build the why. Be clear about what you want to accomplish, and why. For example, at CUNA Mutual Group, we believe a brighter financial future should be accessible to everyone. Inclusion is built into our purpose.

3. Build a baseline level of training and education for front-line leaders.This dictates how DE&I is embraced and will most directly address how systemic racism is dismantled in the community. If youre trying to build an anti-racist organization, it starts with front-line leaders to influence overall culture.

4. Be deliberate about your recruiting efforts.Move beyond the usual suspects and think about where diverse talent that without your usual pedigree might be, because those pedigrees probably dont have enough diversity.

5. The most important step of all is to have a CEO who is on board.Having a CEOwho is a champion for DE&I andbelieves it is linked to success and isnt afraid to talk about it,sets the tone for DE&I to be successful.

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1. Change hearts as well as policies. Racism is a social norm, a cultural attitude, a personal opinion. It cannot be legislated or regulated. But it can be changed.

The fight for same-sex marriage equality offers a powerful example. In that movement, reformers deliberately set out to first understand where most people in America stood on LGBTQ marriage. National polls in the 2000s showed that while a handful of respondents were adamantly opposed to gay marriage, whether for ideological, religious or other reasons, the vast majority did not have a strong opinion. They werent for it or against it. Many said they didnt understand why gay people wanted to marry. So, the Freedom to Marry campaign and its allies set out to convince this silent, if confused, majority of persuadable people to support their cause through widespread social media campaigns and targeted efforts to change the attitudes of influential individuals. Dismantling deeply-rooted social and cultural norms is more challenging than changing laws or regulations. But it is possible.

2. Have a national strategy and a federal strategy. The most successful movements of the 21st Century focused on state and local policy reform, and only later attempted more sweeping federal changes. This worked for anti-smoking crusaders, gun rights proponents, and gay marriage advocates alike over the past two decades, even though these different causes appealed to opposing political parties. Advocates and allies for Black lives should focus their firepower on state and local policy reform now, while they have the nations attention and empathythey can generate the momentum needed to achieve nationwide changes in the future. But if, instead, the movement pushes for sweeping federal changes too soon, they could squander this historic opportunity.

3. Data doesnt matter, emotions do. People respond to events with their reptile brains, its primal and subconscious. But even the most well-intentioned advocates rely too often on statistics and try to use data and numbers to argue for their cause. For instance, people in America knew as early as 1964 that smoking was dangerous to your health thats when the US Surgeon General first warned about cigarettes, but it took more than several decades of non-smokers rights and tobacco control advocacy and social norm change campaigns to prevent youth smoking and cut adult smoking rates to their current historic lows. It wasnt because the data wasnt available or known. It was the way advocates and people with lived experience of smoking-related diseases shared their stories that change happens.

In this moment of racial reckoning, the more leaders can create places for people to share their personal stories with race and racism, the more understanding and empathy will grow. CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, churches, and more can promote the sharing of stories to build affinity for causes.

4. Break from Business as Usual. Business can be a vector for change, not just a donor to causes or a target of activist ire. And whether by choice or by default, companies today are becoming more involved with social movements, with seemingly every corporate CEO now speaking out against racism. Companies can play roles in social movements that are much more complex and far-reaching than self-promotional advertisements or corporate statements promising racial solidarity. Corporate leaders who want to demonstrate support with Black Lives Matter can start by reforming internal policies around hiring, retention, promotion, and pay equity, and also reviewing their supply chain through a lens of diversity and inclusion, among other ways to take meaningful action against racism.

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1. Expand our view.I believe the first step in this journey is recognizing we see the world very narrowly and all of our experiences are not universal. We cant even begin to have a conversation about equity until we acknowledge where there are inequities.

2. Learn to unlearn. There are assumptions, behaviors, and patterns of thinking that we all have internalized and need to unlearn. Working toward inclusion will require us to interrogate the various ways we craft policy and distribute opportunity. Until we have the framework to implement a more inclusive way of thinking, we will continue to perpetuate the same outcomes.

3. Name the oppression.You can not solve a problem that you can not identify. We must get comfortable naming systems, policies, and people that have contributed to the marginalization of some communities. We must be honest about the issues to create the right solutions.

4. Make restitution.The past is always with us in the present. We need to reckon with our history if we want to make our nation whole. This request often is interpreted as asking people to atone for the sins of their ancestors, which is not the case. We do, however, need to critically examine the lingering impacts of our early history and work to neutralize them.

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1. Embrace vulnerability. Seven years into my career as a public accountant, I had just had my second child and was thriving personally and professionally. One of my managers took me aside and told me that having any more children would hurt me from progressing in my career. Two months later, I was pregnant with my third child and now I am the CEO of John Hancock. These types of experiences really stuck with me and reinforce the value of making sure my employees (and really anyone) feel they are in a judgment-free environment and can bring their whole selves to work, or anywhere else.

2. Recognize accomplishments. It is important that people are recognized for their accomplishments and rewarded as such, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, age, and ability. I would never want someone to credit my gender for my success. I want people to recognize that I got to this position for being me, for working hard and for doing the best that I can.

3. Create space for diversity of thought. People think differently. Thats a good thing. Being able to recognize the value in different perspectives is key to creating an inclusive environment. Diversity of thought gives us the opportunity to see new and innovative ideas and understand different ways of doing things, and it comes from having people of different races, genders, sexuality, geography, work experiences, etc. at the table.

4. Join forces with others. At John Hancock, we benefit from having many thoughtful community partners and we participate in industry groups like the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, American Council of Life Insurers, and CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion. This allows for consensus-building beyond our own walls to help drive systemic level changes that are needed.

5. Listen and learn from experts. We have benefited greatly from a guest speaker series during our remote work that has brought in third-party voices and experiences to help keep our team engaged. From a NASA astronaut to a presidential historian listening to and learning from those outside our team is so helpful to broaden our perspective.

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1. Ongoing investment of resources. In order to open doors and support the shifts that we need to see in leadership, we have to make diversity and equity a fiscal priority. To this end, education is one of the most critical areas we must invest in.

2. Commit to the long game. I mentioned earlier that the challenges and frustrations that we are seeing did not happen overnight. Many have committed their lifes work to advancing equity, inclusivity, and justice. If we are going to sustain progress here, we have to be just as committed to long-term monitoring, evaluation, and course correction when needed.

3. Change culture and practice. We live in a society where things like inequity, bias, and various injustices are systemic and deeply embedded in our very identities. While very difficult, changing this from a cultural, policy, and practice stance is necessary if we are going to create an inclusive and equitable society. I think as the conversation has turned to being anti-racist, we are headed in the right direction here. Ibram Kendi, author of How to be Antiracist clarifies the concept:To be antiracist is a radical choice in the face of history, requiring a radical reorientation of our consciousness.

4. Open the door and share the stage. This is about sharing power, opportunity, and influence. Too often diverse voices are muted, resulting in one-sided dialogues that are not representative of the most heavily impacted communities. Sometimes opening doors to advance diversity means actively seeking out expertise and skill in spaces where we might not typically look.

5. Face the difficulties with hope and optimism. Make no mistake, what we are facing today is difficult. It is heavy work and emotional labor is real. To get through the tough times, it is important to remain focused on the goal which is a thriving society where everyone is valued and equity is the rule, not the exception. We are not aiming for a utopian ideal, but instead an attainable reality. Tapping into the creative potential of building equitable systems reminds us of why the labor is well worth it.

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As a global convener of the worlds space community, we launched our Center for Innovation and Education at Space Foundation with the mission to provide greater access and opportunity for current and future generations of space contributors. Our approach is an all-inclusive strategy through collaborative partnerships that develop and deliver innovative and economic programming to build a sustainable workforce.

At the hub of the Center for Innovation and Education is our Workforce Development Roadmap, which lays the foundation for building the space workforce today and into the future. The roadmap consists of five core principles that address key issues in building a diverse and inclusive workforce. These principles can be readily extrapolated to build a representative and equitable culture in broader communities.

1. Awareness of space impact and the breadth of workforce opportunities. Raising space industry awareness and workforce opportunities has been a focus of Space Foundation since the beginning. There is a misconception that the space industry is for a select workforce of astronauts, scientists and government contractors. This could not be further from the truth. Today, there is an opportunity for everyone, in virtually every community in the world, to participate in the space economy. How? People with a STEM background can build rockets, yes, but there are also opportunities for entrepreneurs to commercialize space-based technologies, for artists to create new designs, and for skilled trade workers to perform fiber laser welding. The future of space is extending into commercial technologies that not only benefit the aerospace community but also improve life here on Earth.

2. Access to jobs, careers and business ventures for all people. I have seen that it isnt just enough to be aware of opportunities in the space industry: We need to make those opportunities accessible. I remember a time during my 12 years at NASA, the Kennedy Space Center reached out to a local community college to train technicians to apply tiles on the space shuttle. This was not a skill that was taught at the college. It was a need, and through collaboration with the college, the skill was eventually taught and accessible to anyone interested in the space industry. Today, the space workforce is a collaboration of communities, public and private companies, government agencies, entrepreneurs and small business suppliers, educational institutions, and space enthusiasts. By partnering with like-minded organizations, Space Foundation is opening the door to expanding access to all people interested in the space economy.

3. Training for lifelong learning of sustainable skills. In todays workforce, careers are not linear or set by unchanging parameters. Workplaces are more dynamic, and technology changes the way we work at an unprecedented pace. Traditional education is not keeping up with the needs or the workplace, and employers are not providing the continued job training workers need in light of evolving technology and automation. Department of Labor Statistics and Pearson surveys show that 64 percent of workers are in favor of job-hopping, often to pursue new challenges and higher salaries that are commensurate with their skill level. The average employee tenure is four point two years. This number drops to just two point eightyears for employees ages 2534. Employees around the globe report a need for further education every two years because their jobs have changed. Training for me has been a lifelong pursuit, and likewise, Space Foundation endeavors to enable lifelong learners, from students to professionals at any stage of their careers. Through grants, sponsorships and partnerships, we provide a wide range of multimodal training, including hands-on camps, field excursions, self-guided online webinars, and collaborative regional workshops and virtual events for training as well as plans for reskilling or upskilling to grow and retain a vibrant space economy workforce.

4. Connections to a vast space network of people, businesses, and resources. Gaining entry into most fields is bolstered by ones network and connections. This is a major stumbling block for most underserved groups, and we at Space Foundation are working to open up our network and communities to new demographics. Heres how: Space Foundations annual Space Symposium is the leading international event for the space industry, attracting 15,000-plus representatives from the military, civil and commercial space sectors to examine space issues from multiple perspectives, promote dialogue, conduct new business ventures and partnerships, and focus attention on critical space issues. Space Foundation extends scholarships to teachers, students, young professionals, and space commerce entrepreneurs in order to build their networks. The New Generation Leadership program connects promising young professionals (ages 35 and younger) to space professionals that can provide real-world career advice, guidance, and job roadmaps. The new Swigert Society Young Leaders program connects tomorrows leaders with philanthropists who want to make substantial innovations a reality by providing funds that will jump-start promising efforts.

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1. Creating a safe space. The introduction of the topic and establishment of rules of engagement. Its important for a structure to exist as many of these discussions can and will explore traumas and challenge beliefs considered cultural norms. A good starting point is banning the phrase thats how weve always done it from conversation. How youve always done it previously by virtue of this discussion hasnt exactly promoted an inclusive, representative, or equitable society has it?

2. A discussion on the definition of racism and how institutional racism works. Inclusion addresses more than just the race issue, however, racism as a whole and institutional racism specifically is an excellent case study in how to silence and limit the progression of oppressed peoples. Remember the boiling water and pot lid analogy? Institutional racism is that lid.

3. Acknowledging culture clash in which the dominant culture cannibalizes or forces out diverse cultures (in hiring, evaluating, promoting, showcasing, etc of employees). Many organizations, unfortunately, will embrace DE&I efforts as an exercise to check off the box; where they will potentially hire a diverse staff, maybe create some affinity groups and have a yearly event with food and music and consider themselves done. These actions however can be interpreted as a sort of dog and pony show leaving the underrepresented feeling slightly offended. A good example of this is when democratic lawmakers wore African kente cloths to announce police reform legislation earlier this year. It was a publicity stunt that left many offended. In corporate organizations, this is difficult to address but necessary. Standards around dress, appearance, who gets promoted or hired, who gets a leadership role, etc are often exclusive in that to be embraced or accepted you have to speak a certain way, dress a certain way, look a certain way, prepare your hair a certain way, and sometimes have a name that is easy to say lest you be forced to accept a nickname. It makes the statement that you either assimilate or get out. That you should be grateful for being given this opportunity and not that we value you because of what you bring to the table.

4. Listening. Letting the underrepresented share their experiences, anxieties, fears, etc without interruption or fear of retaliation. This is something that may take time and span many sessions simply because a considerable amount of time is going to be required to undo trauma associated with having to fit in, be appropriate,"feeling the need to code-switch, etc. It can also be uncomfortable as sharing these experiences can be triggering on both sides of the table; as the dominant culture will feel the need to explain, defend, or justify, and the underrepresented may feel like its a losing battle not even worth engaging in. These sessions will likely require a moderator who is detached from the organization and who is willing to be provocative enough to pull some of the answers out while maintaining order to be effective.

5. Response and accountability. Letting members of the dominant culture react, respond, ask questions, hold each other accountable, and look for ways to dismantle organizational norms that stem from racism. Some would argue that its not something that can be solved overnight, and in some instances, I might agree. However, the speed at which you move to address these issues is going to correlate to the energy behind making it a priority and getting it done. When you hear the titles CEO, CFO, COO, you likely will immediately think of a middle-aged white man. Inversely when you think of the title Chief Diversity Officer, or Diversity and Inclusion Officer youll likely imagine a black man or woman, relatively young and full of energy. This is the type of programming that needs to be dismantled. Why are we surprised to hear that major brands with household names have c-suite executives who are black men, or women of any race?

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1. Listen. It is important to listen to peoples views and hear what they have to say. For example, after George Floyds murder, we held an all-staff forum for employees to share how they were feeling and to share their experiences. We wanted to create a safe space where people felt they could express their fears and voice their frustrations. We also set up a D&I steering group and a task force to lead this work.

2. Engage. Involve people as part of the solution. In Special Olympics, our athletes are the leaders and teachers of inclusion. They are Global Ambassadors, Health Messengers, Board Members and play an active role in all aspects of the organization.

3. Respect. Respect, value, and appreciate the talents and contributions of everyone. We have a unified school program where students with and without intellectual disabilities play sports together. Through this experience and the power of play, students without disability learn about the skills and talents of students with intellectual disabilities, and through this experience, they are more respecting and understanding of difference.

4. Act. Actions speak louder than words. We must not just talk about how we are going to be more inclusive, each of us must be part of the change that we wish to see and not stand on the sidelines and wait for someone else. We need to be active participants. Through our Global Youth Engagement Program, Special Olympics has inclusion leadership projects that create an opportunity for young people around the world to convene through local summits in their own countries and regions to learn and grow from each other.

5. Commit. The journey towards inclusion requires long-term, focused attention and everyone must be committed to staying the course in building a more equitable and diverse society for all.

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1. Know your why. Be willing to do the self-work to establish your own North Star, and ensure you are genuinely driven by a desire to leave our society better than you found it in whatever aspect or field that may be. Once you know your why and how to effectively leverage your natural gifts in your pursuit, be willing to sacrifice your comfort and push through barriers to drive change.

2. Respect others. See those who differ from you as equally talented and deserving of opportunities. There is so much intersectionality between our experiences that I feel there is always something I can learn from someone else no matter their age or station in life. The basic recognition that someone knows something that you dont is reason enough to respect them.

3. Practice empathy. Listen to one another. Dont dismiss stories of inequity. Although you may not be able to relate to the specific challenges of someone whose life experience may have differed from yours does not invalidate that experience. Take a moment to walk in their shoes.

4. Never stop learning. Constantly work to educate yourself on past issues and the history of our nation. Dont rest on your laurels and take everything that you learned in school or see online as fact. Crosscheck sources, research authors to understand their lens, and read books on various topics that challenge your thinking and perspective. Education is the antidote to racism and oppression. We are all products of our experiences and what weve been exposed to. Expose yourself to knowledge.

5.Help people solve problems. We as a nation are only as strong as our weakest link. We all must be willing to examine our systems to ensure opportunities are equally accessible for all. As Americans, we are ALL on the same team and need the best of the best to excel in all avenues. We have to see problems and barriers to success as our common enemy and not one another.

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1. Educate yourself. I may not be a racist, but I have most definitely done (or not done) things that perpetuate policies and frameworks that have helped racism thrive. I recently finished reading White Fragility and How to be an Antiracist. I was dumbfounded by how little I understood the issue.

2. Open your mind. As a 60-year-old white man of privilege, I cant possibly understand or appreciate what it means to experience racism. I am a gay man, so I have some secondary appreciation of some of the issues, but Id still have to characterize myself as naive, to be sure.

3. Listen and ask for help. I am deeply grateful to our employee resource groups for their advice and counsel on what to do and how to do it.

4. Empathy rules the day. Before you can possibly appreciate whats happening, you have to have truly acknowledged the feelings of others, and only through those expressions of empathy can the kinds of open conversations happen that will ultimately drive change. This was especially true the day after Rayshard Brooks death in Atlanta. We have a large facility in the city, and many of the employees there are Black. They needed to hear that we cared, that what happened was utterly unacceptable.

5. Commit to change with accountability. We published equality.namely.com as our commitment and we intend to revise it over time in partnership with our employees to drive long-term, systemic change.

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1. Inclusion.There is something special about inclusion, being a part of something, building something together. Everyone wants to feel a part of something and have that sense of belonging,"sort of like a brotherhood/sisterhood. For example, every couple of months, I host a Women, Conversation, and Cocktails, where I include several area business owners, as well as aspiring business owners. This is a forum where we discuss challenges, as well as the perks of being a business owner as well as how to effectively navigate through the challenging start-up years.

2. Strategy.In an effort to execute or to be successful in life, you must develop a strategy or blueprint that spells out how you are going to get there and the steps involved to get there. For example: As part of being a fitness coach, in order to help my clients gain maximum results and confidence, not only do I have to guide them one on one with every step of coaching, but I develop strategies that will help them continue to be successful, such as developing and customizing meal plans, work out routines, etc.

3. Diversity. We have to be mindful and take into consideration the many different cultures that breed talent. For example, when trying to be innovative, creative, and think outside the box, many challenges arise. I believe in motivating and encouraging my clients and partners to be open-minded by thinking outside the box in an effort to find solutions to the many challenging issues we face today.

4. Representative. You have to brand yourself and live by a code of ethics, which is all we typically have as humans first, then businesswomen/men second. As a representative of ethics, its importantto be honest and transparent no matter what you do. Its important that my client, team, and partners trust me. For example, to build trust, you must exude high standards, morals, and ethics. The trust comes into play, when I value my partners on the same level as myself, Im open, I listen, and I value their opinions no matter what when it comes to building, branding, strategy, etc.

5. Equitable society. In any industry, you never stop learning and educating yourself, what I mean by this is that, I oftentimes, find myself going to one of my many mentors, or my many other toolkits of resources for the answers sometimes, because I dont always have them. You have to trust your community, your circle, your vested colleagues, and partners to discover and learn the most valuable best practices.

We must be transparent, open, and willing to not only be a voice but hear the voices of those who have a strong desire to be included or belong in such brother/sisterhoods. We have to be the voice when our society isnt strong enough to be a voice. We have to be the blueprint for our culture and generation by demonstrating how to effectively build an innovative and creative, sustainable business from the ground up. As a coach, I mentor women who want to become entrepreneurs. But many are afraid of stepping into their greatness because they worry about being judged or not having the support of friends and family.

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1. Have discussions with people who are different than you. This means talking to people who have different opinions than you and talking to people about what those opinions mean. These discussions are not about proving you are right: They are about educating and informing yourself and others. Do a lot of that. You will also find those conversations are way more interesting than the same old conversations with the same like-minded people.

2. Every fight is worth it. If you feel like something is an issue, have the fight and get through it. Do not hide those emotions, do not push them down, and do not walk away from the problem. I am known for being someone who will have arguments with people in my office and this isnt because I dislike them or think they are wrong. It is because I believe we need to have a steam valve for our anger. Fights help us work through things. We need to learn how to have them and then move past them. Conflict and friction are not bad things. Complacency is though. I cannot tell you how many arguments I have had that I felt convicted about but ultimately was wrong and left the conversation changed for the better and learning. I also promote having disagreements in my team and working through them.

3. Hire lots of people unlike yourself. You are you. Thats awesome but hire other people who are not just like you. These people bring new ideas, new talents, and new perspectives to the table for you to ingest. Thats important. Without a diverse group of people,you miss things. I have a number of employees in NYC. During the global healthcrisis, they were going through way different emotional and social issues than we were in Texas. Having them on the team meant I was able to see how things were happening across the country and problem-solve for our business in very different ways than if I just had a Texas only view on the crisis.

4. Push the envelope. Its not enough to do whatever people are saying you should do today. Do one better. Figure out what other people need to do. Yes, we need to hire more diverse people. But, we also need to ensure our education systems are training more diverse hires and we need to ensure kids arent hungry so they can go to school and get good grades. And, to do that, we need to make sure that kids are taken care of in their homes and their communities. So, yes, we can hire more diverse people but also we need to do the work of the future and make sure we are creating a safe, more just, and better educated America.

5. Step down. If you are a business leader who does not think it is your job to create a better world for your employees and your community, step down. Dont hide. Dont think you can ride it out. Step up or step aside because the best business leaders arent the richest, they are the ones who run businesses that change the world.

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1. Equality.Champion equality, even in its lowest forms, and speak up whenever you see something that is unjust.

2. Empowerment. Empower marginalized groups so they can acquire the resources to build themselves up and attain a greater standing within society. This may include supporting organizations aimed at uplifting members of these groups, as well as spending/buying from these groups as well as spending/buying from these communities.

3. Education. Educate yourself and the people around you so that your interactions, attitudes, and behavior towards people from marginalized backgrounds are intentional and enlightened.

4 Communication. Integrate with these communities so that you fully understand their stories, cultures, and experiences.

5. Promotion.If youre in a position to uplift others, be sure to promote and recommend individuals from underrepresented groups. This will go a long way towards leveling the playing field and ensuring equality of opportunity.

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1. Listen. Try to actively identify an issue by hearing what is important to others. We were producing action sports events for several years where women were primarily on the periphery. We spoke to many female athletes about their frustrations around having little to no voice or respect.

2. Think. Understand the circumstances and determine how you can help make a difference. Our platforms were events and content creation, so we wrestled with how we could use those assets to make a difference.

3. Plan. Devise a plan of action to institute change. We developed the idea behind the Super Girl Pro Series as a platform for the women in action sports and decided to commit both time and resources to the project.

4. Motivate. Inspire others to support your vision as nobody can make a significant change on their own. We spoke with hundreds of top athletes, brands, media partners, and venues about the idea and created a network of key partners to help us bring the whole Super Girl Pro Series concept to life.

5. Act. Be bold and take action. It took several years and considerable financial resources to actually execute the plan, but we committed to the venture (despite the high risks) because we knew it was incredibly important to lead by example.

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1. Bring on investors who will give you a representative POV. As I said above, I believe diversity starts at the cap table, and recruiting investors of color/women can be a powerful way to ensure you do this. I started by ear-marking at least 30 percentof my round for this type of investor. And then I made it known, to whoever was willing to help, that that was a key metric for me.

2. Make it part of your core business thesis. From my work in social entrepreneurship, one of the key takeaways was that impact should be tied to your business at its core. For example, Toms Shoes gave a shoe for every shoe they sold. Impact and revenue went hand in hand. Similarly, find a way to make a strong case for how diversity impacts your bottom line (and vice versa).

3. Pick a diversity metric and constantly measure it. Theres a famous quote by Peter Drucker that says what gets measured gets managed."Select a metric that makes sense for your organization and then create a cadence to measure it (regularity) and share it publicly (accountability).

4. Once you have a diverse team, obsess about how to help them thrive. Some advice I got early on was to find the areas where diversity typically breaks down (for example: pay gaps) and actively create systems to fight those biases. For example, in early-stage startups, theres often not a formal process for compensation (and sometimes not even a clear pay scale). As such, forcing yourself to create one (even if youre just creating it for yourself) is a good way to gut check the offers youre making. Then create a cadence for everyone around promotions and bonuses so you give equal opportunity to everyone on your team rather than just the loudest voices.

5. Find people to hold you accountable. Sharing weak metrics might feel daunting or unproductive. Find a group of people who can hold you accountable, even if its behind closed doors. Just make sure theyre willing to ask you hard questions if youre not performing against the goals you set.

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1. Ask questions. Dont assume someone else in the room doesnt have the answer you need. Ask questions that promote brainstorming and involvement from all stakeholders. Some of the best ideas are simply questions that have never been asked of the right person.

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18 Business Leaders on Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Society - Entrepreneur