April DEI SIG Meeting
The Maine Chapter of ATD is happy to announce the launch of a new Special Interest Group (SIG) on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)! The first meeting will be held on Friday, April 7, from 8:30 to 9:30, via Zoom. This will be a planning session, to determine the specific interests of participants and to agree on a meeting schedule. The purpose of Special Interest Groups, in general, is to allow participants to go deeper into topics that are covered in our monthly programs. For the Maine Chapter of ATD, we have had three outstanding presentations on DEI over the past year that provided many great ideas and tools but very little time to discuss how to apply them in our own organizations or consulting practices. The DEI-SIG will allow us to do just that!
Here are a few thoughts on why I think it is important for us to have a DEI-SIG. All three concepts--diversity, equity, and inclusion, plus the often-added "belonging"--are extremely challenging concepts, both for individuals and especially for organizations. To make a difference in these areas, people and organizations have to make changes, and change can be difficult at best, threatening at worst. At the institutional level, we have a tendency to do the DEI staff training and "check the box" that satisfies the minimal standard or requirement, if they even exist. And then we move on. Like posting a "Black Lives Matter" sign on your lawn, that's good but it's not enough to make a difference. We need to keep talking about DEI, or nothing will change.
For more information about the DEI-SIG, contact me: Jill Tabbutt-Henry, events@tdmaine.org. And I hope to see you on Zoom!
