The BCC Compass – February 2022
Understanding change – how it happens and why it’s needed – can be hard.
As humans, we naturally crave what’s familiar to us. While we can stretch ourselves, leaving our comfort zones is, well, uncomfortable.
That’s why true, long-lasting change takes time.
One of our goals in the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan 2022–2025 is to enhance engagement and intercultural development.
We have laid the foundation for this goal over the past few years, hosting events like our Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations and conducting trainings around bias and LGBTQ issues.
These events and trainings have built upon each other and created uplifting and enlightening experiences for our community. But to achieve deeper intercultural engagement, we need to do more.
Over the next three years, we have committed to sponsoring quarterly, “all staff” professional development events, educational workshops and activities that will raise awareness of inclusion, diversity, equity, biases and microaggressions. One example of this is the anti-black racism workshop we hosted in 2021. More than 200 staff members participated in this workshop, and we look forward to seeing continued interest as we plan our events for 2022.
We will also add more training opportunities for leaders by partnering with EDI experts outside of BCC. These training sessions will benefit the entire organization, as leaders will share the knowledge gained with their teams. The sessions will also be recorded and loaded into our learning management system for all staff members to access.
As we collaborate with more partners, we will continue to curate our library of learning with course content and resources that highlight diverse perspectives, practices and methodologies by various cultures.
This work will take time, but it will be time well spent. Remember: long-lasting change doesn’t happen overnight. The change that sticks is the change that is persistent.
What ideas or topics would you like to see addressed during our professional development events or training? I welcome your feedback!
Warmly,
Laurie Anne “LA” Spagnola
President & CEO