State of Inclusion

What can we do in the face of hate?

Today, we talk with Patrice O'Neill from Not in Our Town. Our discussion with Patrice reminds us that we are the authors of our own stories, and we are the authors of our community's stories. We have the ability to take events, warning signs, hatred that we and others see in our community and reframe our community's narrative.

Join us as Patrice shares just how communities across the country are joining together to respond to hate and write a different story for their own community.

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 We all have the power to be more inclusive. How about starting with the next meeting you are hosting or attending? In this episode we'll discuss the art of creating more inclusive meetings. This episode defines what it means to have an inclusive meeting and also includes practical information about how to make your next meeting more inclusive, whether you are a host or a participant.

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In this episode we talk with Dr. Nika White about how to build diversity, equity, and inclusion at the intersection of community and business.  If you are a corporate leader, is your corporation showing up in your community? Are you thinking outside the four walls of your corporation? If you're a community change agent, are you partnering with the corporations in your community to advance community diversity, equity, and inclusion? Join us for this episode as Nika helps us understand how companies and communities across the country are working hand in hand to build a more inclusive world, starting with their own community.

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Joel Dock, of Louisville Kentucky, shares how owning the history of their city's planning process and the harm done from that process helped inspire his city to take action to make their community more equitable and more inclusive. Joel also shares about the process his team used and introduces us to a visualization and communication tool called StoryMaps. This conversation with Joel, reminds us that it is often not one big thing but a series of many small things layered over time, one on top of another, that helps us change inequitable systems, procedures, and policies. 

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In this episode, we lean into Community Equity with Kimberlee Archie.  We touch on complex topics such as reparations, sharing power, and confronting community history. Join us as we continue our journey to learn more about how individuals and their communities are taking on this challenging and difficult task of building a more inclusive world, one community at a time.

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In this episode we interview Alaina Lavoie, Program Manager for the nonprofit, We Need Diverse Books. Why do we need more diverse books? What is happening in the publishing industry that is helping to drive inclusion and what are some of the barriers that marginalized groups still face.  Alaina gives us peak behind the curtains of the publishing industry and the efforts to build a more inclusive world, one book at a time.

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Our public libraries are vital resources to our communities and, as citizens, we own them. In this episode, we interview two librarians: Sarah Voels, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Karin Michel, from Chapel Hill, NC.  Sarah and Karin give us an introduction to the work that libraries are doing in support of diversity, inclusion, and equity. Join us and learn more about how our public libraries can make their community a more inclusive and equitable place. This is a particularly timely discussion as Congress debates infrastructure funding and the Build America's Libraries Act (H.R. 1581).

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In this episode we discuss diversity and inclusion in art with Suzanne Thomas. Her organization, Inclusion in Art, seeks to build opportunities for artists of color in Oklahoma.  My discussion with Suzanne is a reminder of how art and community culture play a role in helping us build more inclusive communities. It may be through developing and supporting diversity and emerging artists. Maybe it's building a more inclusive artistic community, or it may be in celebrating the work of our masters, those mature and diverse artists in our community. We also talk about how partnering can be used by smaller organizations to increase their impact, their reach, and even help larger and more traditional organizations become more inclusive.

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In this episode we talk with De'Amon Harges to learn about the Asset-Based Community Development. De'Amon Harges also shares lessons learned from his 20+ years of experience with community development and the work he is doing within his own community to build a practice of abundance.

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In 2014, Charlotte faced a major wake-up call when it learned that it had the worst economic mobility among the fifty major cities in the country. The community responded by launching a community-wide, multi-year effort to help ensure that "within a generation, every child in Charlotte-Mecklenburg will have an equal chance to achieve social and economic success."  In this episode, we interview Sherri Chisolm, Director of Leading on Opportunity for Charlotte, NC, and learn what it means for a community to commit to making the American Dream a reality.   

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