Suggestions for Practice
Download this scavenger hunt to help you explore the J.E.D.I. Toolkit!
- Encourage diversity and inclusion at all times, in some way.
- Seek or deepen relationships with people different from you (race, age, background, political leaning).
- Regularly volunteer for career days at elementary, middle and high schools with the students we need in our professions (your professional association likely has some resources/materials).
- Employ VEN [Visualize, Examine and Normalize] to mitigate implicit bias:
- Visualize – if something automatically pops up, imagine a different option (ex: imagining a ‘pilot’ gives you a tall, white male, mentally replace with short, Native American person)
- Examine – Self-examination with candor
- Normailze – make diversity the norm in your life, challenge what you consider ‘normal’, surround yourself with people who do not look like you
Suggestions to Dismantle Discriminatory Systems:
- Set intentional goals, create a culture for candid discussion/feedback/ideas.
- Starting place: the heart, the head, the hands.
- Heart – safe space to share how they feel and WHY they feel that way.
- Everyone may not agree, but hear and endeavor to understand.
- Develop connection- meaningfully connect, if not possible…empathize, if not possible…understand, if not possible, sympathize…if not possible, appreciate
- Head – collaborate on ideas, strategies, options for actions.
- Hands – develop action steps for accountability, what we can do
- Heart – safe space to share how they feel and WHY they feel that way.
- Get data, accept it, address it
- Ensure collaboration and collective ownership
- Be explicit about the why (to sustain), consider a vision statement to revisit regularly
- Leverage the camaraderie of inclusion vs. fighting bias
- Involve students, many perspectives
- Regular Review:
- Admissions
- Curricula
- Policies
- Programs
- Practice re-framing questions
- Practice de-escalating without backing down
- Moving from examination (window) to self-reflection (mirror)
- Take responsibility as an entity and individual
Suggestions for Cultural Humility
- 3 Things to Know: Cultural Humility
- Cultural Competency A Paradigm Shift in the Cultural Competence versus Cultural Humility Debate
Self-talk: Set or reset yourself
- I can be uncomfortable to make all students/colleagues/people we serve and EVERYONE comfortable.
- I want to be inclusive and have much to learn.
- Correction and error will help me get to my goal of inclusivity.
- This is not about me and my intent.
- Am I in a learning posture? Or defending something (what?)?