As winner of our first ever Black Business Patronage Challenge, hosted during Black History month, the Hendrickson Family donated the Raffle Prize to the Hutton Settlement.

As we deal with brutal attacks on various communities across the US, we must remember that we cannot let fear, anger, or manufactured division keep us from action. Action. Our mantra for 2022.

This quarter at Net at Work, we:

• Celebrated Women’s History Month with events and speakers.  The month gave us all the opportunity to reflect on the challenges women have faced and continue to face in society and to reflect on how we can support the women in our organization, families, and communities.
• Rallied organizational support for efforts to support victims of the ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. To date, over $20,000 has been raised. You can still donate here.
• Celebrated the confirmation of the first Black Woman appointed to the US Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
• Celebrated Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage. See our presentation here.
• Marked the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, an act that brought attention to the ongoing issues of police misconduct, systemic racism, and white supremacy and which was the catalyst for the creation of our D&I Committee and so many others across the country.

Women at Work recently featured speaker Carolyn McCall to introduce the subject of Unconscious Bias to help employees recognize and be more intentional about dealing with bias, which all of us have. More to come.

June was Pride Month and the Diversity and Inclusion and Women at Work committees worked to bring you interesting, informative, useful content, including a feature on effective allyship. We also celebrated Juneteenth, celebrating when the last freed slaves in Texas were notified of their emancipation.

Looking ahead, we maintain our strong commitment to cultivating change in our organization and communities to benefit everyone. We again remember the “curb cut effect,” where making an improvement to help people with wheelchairs has also been helpful for many other people. When we uplift one segment of our society, we assist others in the process.

The D&I Committee continues to strive to highlight the diverse voices of our colleagues. We celebrate the valuable role everyone plays in creating a more inclusive workplace, community, and world. How will you take Action to further this goal?

Have questions? Email the committee.