While partaking in a national service program, AmeriCorpsVISTA, that builds capacities in nonprofit and human service organizations, I, along with a cohort of service members, developed a set of DE&I programs aimed at smaller to midsized organizations. Based on the principals of human-centered design, this project builds and maintains professional and personal relationships between employees in service and worksites.
The project started with a ‘how might we’ question 
From DE&I training with an emphasis on cultural immersion to corporate and organizational governance. 
While imagined as a whole package each program can stand alone. 
Goal-based DE&I training that builds real skill. 
Utilize different delivery methods of DE&I training. 
Imagining better language translation 
Easy to accomplish programs that are fun and tasty. Cheesy but they are popular in offices everywhere. 
Diverse programs led by employees built to maintain relationships. 
Emphasis on ’employee-led’ to build ownership and participation. 
An inclusion team of rotating members possibly supported and led by a paid success coach. 
Mentoring, circles, tutoring, working pairs, and language sharing led by employees supported by the inclusion team. 
An Inclusion team to build and support employee-led capacities. 
Governance and norms like cultural holidays and time-off, and forced office lock-outs to encourage life-work boundaries.
Aside from extensive training through AmeriCorpsVISTA and my host site, this was the first attempt at understanding and expanding DE&I training. We wanted to create the space to put into motion DE&I and sensitivity training with employee-led programs that lead to strong relationships, an equitable ‘office’ culture, and a healthy environment for everyone.
This project was completed pre-CoVID19. August 2019.
