Tools for Attracting a Diverse and Culturally Competent Applicant Pool (Part 2)

By: Dionardo Pizaña

There are several other additional intentional strategies, tools and processes an organization can implement when looking to diversify its workforce.  Some of these strategies, tolls and processes may already be reflected in your recruitment and hiring processes, however, they may not have the intentional focus on equity and inclusion needed to yield a more diverse candidate pool.  In addition to intentionally implementing these strategies, tools and processes, organizations also need to have strong and accountable leadership helping to guide the decision making and organizational culture change processes necessary to not only hire a diverse and culturally competent workforce but to also retain these individuals.

Below are a few examples of strategies, tools and processes that can be implemented to support your organizational commitment to diversifying your workforce and supporting an inclusive and equitable organizational culture:

Assemble a diverse search committee – Be intentional and strategic in assembling a search committee that is as diverse as possible across race, gender, position within the organization and other differences especially those pertinent to the position.  If your organization lacks diversity within staff, this may provide you with an opportunity to engage community partners in your search process.  Inviting a diverse individual from a community organization not only helps to diversify your committee, it may also strengthen the relationship you have with this organization and bring a perspective and insight not found within your organization.  This may also provide an opportunity from a diverse partner to learn more about your organization and hiring process so this individual can provide insight to colleagues or community members for future employment opportunities.

Develop and nurture a diverse network – It is no surprise that many vacancies are filled by individuals who know someone within the organization.  It may not only be that an individual is familiar with someone within the organization, it may matter just as much that a current employee can provide support and advocacy for a prospective candidate.  This is why it is imperative that leaders within an organization develop and nurture a diverse network of community, state and national contacts and partners, at all times, not just when a vacancy occurs or is anticipated.   This diverse network can be developed and nurtured by being engaged with local and national organizations like the NAACP, local chapters of historically black fraternities and sororities, local diverse agencies, and diverse faith based organizations, among others.  At a national level, organizational leadership should be engaged with and attend professional conferences and organizations such as the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education, the Society for the Advancement of Hispanic/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), National Association for Multicultural Education, the White Privilege Conference, and Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRSS) among others.  Attending these conferences and professional organization gatherings will expose leadership to emerging issues with these diverse constituents, learn about and meet emerging diverse leaders or potential employees and show a visible top level, organizational commitment to diversity and inclusion.  Additionally, many of these professional conferences and organizations have job posting options available through their websites and journals for searches conducted at a national level. 

Develop a diversity informed, intentional hiring process – It is essential that your organization develop a process that intentionally prioritizes inclusion and diversity when recruiting and hiring new staff.  Some ways in which this can achieved might be developing a “candidate evaluation grid” for committee members to evaluate written documentation from candidates related to the job responsibilities.   This option suggests that the job posting has skill/desired qualities or responsibilities that explicitly highlight issues of inclusion, equity and diversity like, 1). Spanish/English language proficiency desired 2). Experience working with culturally and linguistically diverse U.S. communities, 3).  Proven record of building and sustaining culturally and linguistically networks and partnerships, 4). Evidence of ongoing personal and professional development related to issues of inclusion, equity and cultural competence, as a few examples.  Including these explicit desired or preferred candidate qualifications, among other qualifications for the position, will allow committee members to assess a candidate’s written materials through a lens of diversity, inclusion and equity. 

Providing more than one opportunity to interview a prospective pool of candidates by phone or other teleconference medium, can help to build a relationship with candidates while digging deeper into the candidate’s knowledge of the job, interest in the job and knowledge of the organization they have applied to.  Adding this extra step may feel time consuming and unnecessary; however, it may be helpful to slow down the hiring process even in the midst of the urgency to hire someone and may help committee members in their discernment of individuals to keep in the candidate pool.  It may also provide an opportunity to ask additional questions related to issues of diversity, inclusion and equity.

Throughout the interview process it is also recommended that behavioral based, reflective and open ended questions be central to the engagement of the candidate as you assess their skills and competencies for the position.  Part 3 of this blog series will provide examples of these types of questions.  Additionally, if your job description has a desired or preferred language proficiency qualification, you may choose to set up a separate conversation between a prospective candidate and a staff or community member who is proficient in the language you are looking for in a candidate so that they can have a conversation and the results of that conversation, to assess their proficiency, can be shared with committee members as a part of the candidate’s search portfolio. 

Nurture and develop an internal pipeline of diverse employees – One of an organization’s most valuable assets is its current employees.  Prioritizing a vibrant professional development and mentoring program which allows employees to develop new skills and competencies and gain valuable insights into future employment tracks or positions is a must.  This process should be available to everyone across the organization and intentional recruitment of employees who are diverse is needed in order to use these opportunities to prepare the next generation of leaders within your organization.  Nurturing the future potential of diverse employees can also be an important tool to help retain this important pool of employees while supporting a message of inclusion and equity.

• What other intentional processes or policies are you implementing to recruit and retain a diverse employee workforce?
• How have you supported staff in developing diverse networks that can help in recruiting future diverse employees?
• How have you used staff professional development and mentoring to support you desire to employ and retain a diverse workforce?

Part 3 of this blog post in March will explore developing and using behavioral based, open ended questions centered on cultural competence during the candidate interview process to support outcomes centered in equity and inclusion.

Tools for Attracting a Diverse and Culturally Competent Applicant Pool (Part 1)

By Dionardo Pizaña
This is part 1 of a 4 part series. Stay tuned for the next 3 parts to come.

One tool to invite job applicants from diverse backgrounds to consider applying for openings within your organization is to be intentional in the job announcement or posting about your organizational commitment to inclusion, equity or multicultural organizational change.  Using only the standard Affirmative Action statement or compliance language is simply not enough to indicate the importance of these issues at an organizational level or to capture a prospective employee’s attention that may be looking to work for an organization that supports inclusion.

Below are a few samples of language that can be integrated into a job announcement or posting to support your organizational commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity:

1. ________ University is seeking creative, adaptable individuals who enjoy working for an organization that promotes cultural diversity and multicultural education.

2. ________ University is committed to excellence and actively supports cultural diversity.  To support this commitment, we invite individuals who contribute to such diversity to apply including people of color, women, GLBT, persons with disabilities and other differences.

 
3. ________ University is committed to developing in well trained professionals the talents and skills necessary for visionary leadership, organizational change, community empowerment, inclusion and social equity.

4. The successful candidate for this position will have the ability to work effectively and collegially with a broad range of internal and external constituencies, the ability to think creatively and a commitment to or experience in supporting or implementing programs or initiatives that foster and sustain inclusion and equity within their research or programming area.

5.  Candidate must have a demonstrated ability to work with individuals across an organization or in a community who are of a diverse socioeconomic, cultural, sexual orientation, religious, disability and/or ethnic background. 

6. Dedicated to organizational excellence, ________ University supports and encourages the development and implementation of multicultural perspectives across programming areas, the celebration of diversity and the assets that inclusion and equity brings to our organization.

7.  The successful candidate must be able to support our organizational mission as it relates to inclusion, equity, multicultural organizational change and the organizational excellence that diversity fosters.

8.  _______ University is seeking bilingual/bicultural (i.e., English/Spanish or English/Arabic) individuals to meet the needs of our diverse constituency.  Programming focus and outreach will have a successful candidate working effectively to program and build networks and connections with these community members.

These phrases and additional information on a job posting will not, in and of themselves, guarantee a diverse pool of applicants. However, this language can serve to put “front and center” your organizational desire to support such values as inclusion, equity, multiculturalism and leverage diversity as an organizational asset, thereby attracting individuals of diverse backgrounds or individuals who have demonstrated multicultural skills and competencies – both of which can support your organizational commitment to multiculturalism.

What other strategies has your institution utilized when advertising positions to attract a diverse applicant pool?

What other information might be important to highlight in position advertisements when seeking to attract a diverse applicant pool?

If the decision is made to use one of the statements above in your advertisements, what additional steps could be taken in the recruitment and hiring/interview process to explore issues of inclusion and equity more intentionally?

 

Adapted in part from “Hiring for Cultural Competence: Practical Methods and Strategies to Get What You Need,” by Chris Cullinan, PhD., June 2004.

Structural Racism and Food Inequity

By: Chiquita McAllister

We are excited at NC A&T as a part of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems to lead a planning effort to address structural racism in the food system. We are currently a part of national efforts as a member of the Inter-Institutional Network for Food and Agricultural Sustainability (INFAS), a part of the Good Food Network led by the Union of Concerned Scientists along with other institutions and organizations like the Center for Social Inclusion (NYC) and the Rural Coalition and the National Farm to School Network, among others. Our initial efforts, which are funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation, include the development of a cross-campus initiative that engages students, faculty and staff across colleges and departments to address strucutural racism in the food system. We are also compiling resources and research that has taken place around this issue, and reaching out to other universities and institutions of higher learning to learn more about other efforts that are taking place on this topic.

 

This initiative coincides with the release of a report released by the Center for Social Inclusion (CSI) and written by NC A&T Extension Associate and 2013 CSI Food Equity Fellow,, Shorlette Ammons, that examines efforts by women of color around the South to address food systems inequities. Here's info about the report along with a link to the report:

 

 “Shining a Light in Dark Places: A Policy Brief”.

 

CSI Food Equity Fellow Shorlette Ammons describes the realities of current and past food systems from the perspectives of Southern women of color. Shorlette draws from her personal story, U.S. history, and the legacy of women of color food workers and activists, to show we can create racial equity in the food system.

 

Interviewees include former Congresswoman Eva Clayton, who brings a needed perspective based on her global anti-hunger work and passion for rural communities; Tavia Benjamin and Hermelinda Cortes, who both offer millennial insight on the intersectionality of issues that lead to economic and health disparity; finally, Daa’iyah Salaam and Greta Gladney offer a grassroots perspective that provides a direct link between what is happening on the ground and the policies that are needed to impact change.

Some videos on the topic:

Intro to Wayne County: http://youtu.be/3ncA71ivcyQ

History of the Wayne Food Initiative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ncA71ivcyQ

SWARM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JewHeAeF9A&feature=youtu.be

Wayne County Library Garden: http://youtu.be/nzjtaLVEBpc

There will be a webinar on this topic coming soon!

Utilizing Technology to Reach Diverse Audiences

By Terrence Wolfork

In a recent webinar entitled “Utilizing Technology to Reach Diverse Audiences”, presenters Anne Adrian, Terrence Wolfork, and Yolanda Surrency, promoted the use of smartphones as just one way that Cooperative Extension could extend its reach to reach Hispanic audiences. Hispanics are the fastest growing demographic in America, currently accounting for approximately 17% of all Americans with a future projection to reach 24% by 2025. While their ownership of desktop computers (72 percent Hispanic, 83 percent White), is lower than Whites; their ownership of smartphone, (49 percent Hispanic, 46 percent White) is more than Whites according to a Pew Research Study. The same study also states that Hispanics assess the internet at a higher percentage than Whites (76 percent to 60 percent), and use social media sites at a higher percentage than Whites (68 percent to 66 percent). So if you have a desire to expand Cooperative Extension’s reach, here is just one tip on how to utilize technology to reach the Hispanic audience.

• Enhance your outreach efforts through the use of social media. Social Media is not just another communication technique. The traditional Extension communication technique is one way, resource intensive, and subject matter expert focused. Social Media offers Cooperative Extension the ability to enhance client participation and to disseminate information quickly to a growing Hispanic audience who may not know what Cooperative Extension is. Like any communications technique however, social media is not a one size fit all, but rather the focus of Cooperative Extension should be to utilize the social media application that their clients are using.
   
  As stated, 68 percent of Hispanics use social media sites; however this category differs across language demographics of Hispanics. English is the dominant characteristic in usage of social media sites with 60 percent of Hispanics saying they use English mainly. This leaves an opportunity for Cooperative Extension to reach the additional 40 percent of Hispanics by hiring a bilingual specialist/agent to assist in new communications techniques to not only the Hispanic audiences, but to our existing Cooperative Extension personnel as well. Cooperative Extension has to change focus from the workshop being taught to one of focusing on the learner. This constructivism mode of learning can be replicated to not one particular demographic, but to any demographic allowing new Extension programs to be more flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of the clientele.

This is just one tip on how Cooperative Extension can utilize technology, specifically social media, to reach the Hispanic audience. Post some of your thoughts in the comment section below. Our next blog will focus on another technology and communication technique to reach the Hispanic audience.

Cultural Humility as a Tool for Change

by Dionardo Pizana

In an article that appears in the Journal for Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, authors Melanie Tervalon and Jann Murray-Garcia advocate that the work of individuals, and the support they receive from their institutions around issues of inclusion, equity and social justice, suggest people should support the development of cultural humility rather than cultural competence when working across differences.  The authors define cultural humility as “a lifelong process and commitment to self-evaluation and critique, to redressing the power imbalances in the caretaker-patient dynamic, and to developing mutullay beneficial and non-paternalistic relationships and partnerships with communities on behalf of individuals and underrepresented populations.” Components that support the development and sustainabilty of cultural humility include:

* Prioritizing self-reflection and a lifelong learner model in one’s personal and professional lives – It is imperative that there be a simultaneous process of self-reflection and ongoing self-appraisal as it relates to addressing one’s own culture and how that impacts a person’s ability to work authentically across differences.


* Recognizing and challenging power imbalances for respectful partnerships — while working to establish and maintain respect is essential in all healthy and productive relationships, the root of effective practices is in acknowledging and challenging the power imbalances inherent in our practitioner/client dynamics.

* A movement from the “expert” model to the “student” model – Individuals with power need to be flexible enough and humble enough to “say that they do not know when they truly do not know,” and become students with their clients to better understand when one’s culture is at play and when other issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia, classism or other larger issues are impacting one’s health.

 * Community-based direction and advocacy – Practitioners of cultural humility work toward optimal health in their communities addressing the physical, mental and social well-being of their communities.  They work toward being nonpaternalistic, mutually engaged and mutually respectfull and build on the assests and adaptive strengths of communities - including those who are too often disenfranchised. 

* Institutional accountability — organizations need to model these principles as well (from micro, to mezzo and macro practice)

Although this model and way of being was developed within a medical community and framework, I believe that it can be applied in many of our personal and professional settings.  Questions that may help us to reflect on the concept of cultural humility in our personal and professional lives, include:

 -          How does the notion of cultural humility connect with your work in building authentic and sustained relationships across differences?

-           What is my professional responsibilty to build the skills and approaches connected to operating with cultural humility and what is the cost to me personally or to those that I work with if I don’t operate from a place of cultural humility? 


-          How does/could operating with cultural humility strengthen or support my work with diverse communities? 


Post some of your thoughts in the comment section.

 A video providing further information on cultural humility can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaSHLbS1V4w

Being Sensitive - Being Open - Being Authentic: Considerations for Mentoring Across Differences

Mentoring relationships provide opportunities for growth and learning by all individuals who are involved. In order to build caring, respectful, trusting relationships across differences, it's critically important that mentors reflect deeply on how they've learned about cultural differences and commit to unlearning inaccurate information they've learned about others based in assumptions, bias, prejudice and stereotypes.

 

Cultural differences refer to people's beliefs, values, standards of beauty, language patterns and styles of communication. Many of these cultural aspects are connected to group’s racial background, gender, class, spiritual or religious affiliation – and other differences. Simply stated, who we are “culturally” reflects all of who we are and the wholeness of ourselves which includes our race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation and other aspects of our identity.

 

Becoming culturally sensitive includes learning more about the "impact of differences" – the reality that people are treated differently, oftentimes as “less than” – based on cultural differences.  Building a mentoring relationship that supports and nurtures respect, openness, and affirmation and helps to build and sustain trust, can provide a foundation for an authentic relationship across difference.  Other important considerations for mentors include:

 

● Remember that everyone brings a different cultural lens, world view and set of experiences into the relationship -- including you! These factors and differing realities can provide both challenges and opportunities within the relationship.

 

● Be aware that we all enter into relationships across differences with information and misinformation about differences – much of which is grounded in stereotypes, assumptions, prejudice and fear.

 

● Make a commitment to more fully recognize, understand and appreciate differences and the impact of differences in your mentoring relationship.

 

● Notice power imbalances and commit to understanding how power and privilege impact your mentoring relationship. Explore how to be an ally to support an authentic relationship across difference.

 

● As a mentor, recognize when you move toward providing assistance that is grounded in well intentioned, “savior mentality” that may lead to dysfunctional rescuing or other unhelpful behavior in the relationship.

 

● As a mentor, commit to being a navigator to your mentee - helping to connect your mentee with others in the organization, problem solve collaboratively with your mentee to address issues, and making visible organizational processes and procedures (written and unwritten) - that supports your mentee’s success. 

 

● Remain open and humble and welcome the gifts and opportunities for learning that mentoring across differences will provide you.

 

● Be aware the issues and identities such as race, gender, sexual orientation, class, disabilities and other differences are always present in relationships across differences.  These factors and issues may or may not be primary to the interaction or situation, but work not to deny that these differences exist.

 

● Be aware when denial, disbelief, defensiveness or other unhelpful behaviors show up in your mentoring relationships across differences especially when discussing difficult or complex issues related to differences. 

 

What other attributes or characteristics would you list as important to successful mentoring relationships across differences?

 

What have been some of your important things your have learned about yourself when engaging in mentoring relationships across differences?




Written by Dionardo Pizaña

Safety- Is it Possible?

At a recent dialogue on race that I was asked to co-facilitate with a white, male co-facilitator, we asked the group to introduce themselves and share one thing that they needed in order to do their best work during the two days that we were spending with them.  The group was overwhelmingly white, 16 of 18 participants, and as  each participant went around the circle and shared their names, almost all of the participants who identified as white/Caucasian or European-American, said they needed safety in order to do their best work.  Safety to make mistakes, safety to share thoughts and beliefs that may be counter to other’s beliefs/thoughts and safety not be seen as ignorant or called racist for what they expressed.  It certainly was an interesting start to the workshop and it was a marker for me that several things needed to be tended to as a co-facilitator.  I needed to work with my co-facilitator and the group to build an environment that could hold these voiced concerns, be aware that there were unhealed hurts from previous interactions across race present with this group and that the need for safety expressed by dominant groups, in this case white people, can sometimes be a cover for maintaining privilege or at the minimum, being unwilling to challenge themselves to do critical and hard self-examination around issues of race and racism.

The opening of this workshop reminds me of questions (and internal struggles) that inevitably come up for me and my colleagues about issues of safety or the need to ensure that individuals engaging in these complex and transformative dialogues feel respected.  Across race, the question may sound like, how do we make sure that whites are not made to feel guilty or shamed or that the lives and realities of people of color are not solely put on display for whites to legitimize or give support to their existence?  Is this even possible?  If it is possible, where do we even start to develop both a process and content that helps address these and other concerns related to safety?  As an educator/facilitator committed to creating engaging and transformative dialogues across differences, I continue to struggle with these same questions and concerns. 

As I have struggled with the issue of safety, several interesting concerns arise. For some individuals, usually the individuals with the most power and privilege in these interactions, safety means comfort or comfortableness.  I don’t want to be made to feel uncomfortable, to be challenged or to hear the truth of someone else’s reality.  In these cases, safety becomes another form of maintaining privilege and a barrier to authentic and transformative change.  In some other cases, safety is about not letting things get so out of hand, where we envision “emotions getting heated” and the conversation “gets out of hand.”  Issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, disabilities and other differences are difficult, complex and joyful and to believe that these conversation can be absent of emotions is naïve and unrealistic.  Emotions are a part of every aspect of our lives and too often we are told, directly or indirectly, to “keep emotions out of it” asking individuals to leave behind one of their most important assets in life – their emotional intelligence – to help create change.  When safety is a tool used to maintain privilege, silence people’s voices and invalidate realities, it will only work to maintain the status quo and oppression. 

So if not safety, then what?  More and more, I have found myself describing the spaces that I work with others to create as welcoming and inclusive and supportive and challenging as an alternative to describing these spaces as safe.   For me, these words strung together help me to consider that I want all participants to feel welcomed and included - to bring their whole selves into the space - AND that they will be supported at whatever place they come into this dialogue across differences - based on their experiences (or lack thereof) - AND they will be challenged to grow and hopefully transform from where they entered this space. 

Here are some suggestions on how to create welcoming, inclusive, supportive and challenging spaces for people to engage in difficult, transformative, joyful and life giving conversations across differences:

- Establish guidelines or working agreements – Work with the participants to identify guidelines (or provide pre-established guidelines) or working agreements that will serve as a reminder of how the group will interact with each other.  Post the guidelines in the room and ask the group to agree to uphold the guidelines, to the best of their ability, throughout the time together.  A few guidelines that may be helpful include, “It’s okay to disagree, but it is not okay to shame, blame or attack yourself or others,” “Be aware of intent and impact,” and “Practice both/and thinking.” 

- Welcome and recognize emotions – Acknowledge that emotions are part of the human experience and can be very helpful as a tool for change.  Also acknowledge that emotions are always present when we are in relationship with others discussing complex issues or issues that are seen as “taboo” to talk about in public.  Ask participants to recognize and express what they are feeling (mad, sad, scared, peaceful, powerful or joyful) as a way of connecting the intellectual with the emotional that will support transformation and spiritual/emotional health. 

- Practice what you teach – If you co-facilitate with others, take the time to build a relationship with that individual that can be a model for participants on how to authentically work across differences.  As much as possible, try to have facilitation teams that are diverse so that when there is a need to challenge an idea or thought, facilitators can be supportive of each other and share their experiences related privilege and change, while not undermining the voice or power of anyone on the team. 

- Model being authentic and vulnerable – For participants to feel comfortable being vulnerable or expand their comfort level, it may be inspiring to hear facilitators share their thoughts and experiences of when we have made mistakes or taken risks,Safet or when we were stuck in beliefs or actions that were hurtful or oppressive.  Modeling authenticity and vulnerability around these issues may help others to move through a similar process of growth and change.

We may never be able to create a space that is totally safe for everyone, however, I do believe that we can create spaces that can hold the various emotions, insights, experiences and identities that we and our participants bring into these interactions, holding all of these with respect, support and the opportunity to grow and change. 

What have you done to create spaces that are welcoming and inclusive, supportive and challenging around complex issues around differences?

Dionardo Pizaña

Diversity and Personnel Specialist

Michigan State University Extension