tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post4416278968171532508..comments2024-03-26T11:50:32.354-05:00Comments on Youth Development Insight: Why equity matters in youth developmentUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post-91957960075556803442016-10-22T12:18:56.311-05:002016-10-22T12:18:56.311-05:00Dale, thank you so much for pointing out these gre...Dale, thank you so much for pointing out these great resources. Indeed, empathy is at the heart of so much of equity work--and is especially important in building the motivation to make the challenges changes necessary. Thanks for sharing these practical resources that we all can use to help move ourselves and our organizations forward. Kathryn Sharpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06875039923921709325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post-21459889802246736742016-10-20T17:19:11.531-05:002016-10-20T17:19:11.531-05:00Kathryn and Beki - great comments on a critical is...Kathryn and Beki - great comments on a critical issue facing youth organizations and communities. Working on equity and inclusion is critical and your strategies make great sense though are difficult to implement. Part of the preparation of an organization is an intentional effort to develop empathy skills and an understanding of others perspectives. The work by the Susan Crown Exchange in their SEL challenge and resource materials on empathy are particularly worth noting. Learn more at https://www.selpractices.org/Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10552093938663357487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post-12129900247436743422016-10-19T15:53:53.206-05:002016-10-19T15:53:53.206-05:00Thank you for your reply, Beki. Indeed, we as pub...Thank you for your reply, Beki. Indeed, we as public institutions have a particular mandate to be truly serving all people. I agree that by engaging more diverse and representative people as participants, volunteers, and staff, it helps to catalyze important conversations about how to make the organization more equitable and welcoming. Something that many of us run up against, however, is how can we create an organizational culture where more (multiply) diverse people feel welcome if we are not yet diverse? I think that is where it is critical for all of us to do the "pre-work" of examining our implicit biases, consulting about our policies, and engaging in conversations about addressing systemic forms of discrimination. This is important so that we can create an environment that marginalized people can feel welcomed into when they do get hired, join the youth group, or decide to volunteer. What experiences do you have in how to make those critical conversations that arise as constructive as possible? Kathryn Sharpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06875039923921709325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post-81298666708752604982016-10-19T13:38:22.884-05:002016-10-19T13:38:22.884-05:00I couldn't agree more Kathryn. Youth organizat...I couldn't agree more Kathryn. Youth organizations, especially those that are publically funded like 4-H, should have a mandate that they reflect the broad range of diversity within their community. Adequate reflection includes their participants, their staff, volunteers and leadership. Having diverse people involved at multiple levels through the organization will help to diversify programming, outreach and broader social and community impact. Certainly simply diversifying staff to reflect the community is not enough but it is a start. Implicit biases will inevitably become more explicit--a process that is often difficult, hard, sometimes painful--but this is how individual change leads to changes in social beliefs and norms. Thanks for raising the issue Kathryn!Rebecca (Beki) Saitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09425228216151109085noreply@blogger.com