Inter-Program Diversity Committee

Washington State Legal Services Providers - 030139

Abstract Number: 030139

September 2003

Northwest Justice Project (NJP), Columbia Legal Services (CLS), and TeamChild (TC) have come together to form an inter-program, collaborative committee on issues of diversity in the workplace and client services. The Committee is comprised of twelve members from three staffed statewide programs, who represent different geographic areas and staff members in each program. As part of a larger statewide effort to integrate principles of inclusion, diversity, and multicultural competence as a justice imperative, the Diversity Committee has created three respective workgroups that are charged with devising comprehensive strategies to achieve the following objectives:

1. Actively educate staff about diversity in the workplace - Strategies include: diversity trainings, a mentorship program, incorporate diversity as an integral part of program performance and staff expectations;
2. Ensure effectively service to diverse client populations - Strategies include: culturally competent community outreach to and access by all diverse client populations; identification of advocacy objectives that incorporate disparate impacts for ethnically, linguistically, and racially diverse communities;
3. Create a "safe haven" for staff to address workplace diversity concerns - Create an identified team of individuals who can help resolve conflicts or address workplace concerns relating to diversity.

This project was launched after a statewide civil equal justice retreat in 2000, where the advocates discussed the issue of promoting and integrating the principles of diversity in staffing and client services, and the need for an organized institutional resource to spearhead the initiative. Thereafter, a workgroup of advocates from NJP, CLS, and TC surveyed all staff in their respective programs to find out staff members thoughts on diversity. The responses from this survey indicated that more work needed to be done to educate staff about diversity, improve services to diverse populations, as well as setup an infrastructure to address workplace diversity issues. In order to address these issues, a formal inter-program Diversity Committee was created, which in turn developed the three initiatives outlined above. In addition to the creation of the formal committee, committee participants also underwent intensive diversity training facilitated by Dr. Leticia Nieto, a professor at St. Martin's College in Washington. The training focused on developing a theoretical framework and problem-solving skills with respect to diversity. To learn more about this project, access the Questionnaire and the Model Guidelines on Inclusion, Diversity, and Multicultural Competence as a Justice Imperative below as PDF documents.

Contact Information:

Aurora Martin
Columbia Legal Services
101 Yesler Way, Suite 600
Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: (206) 464-1122 ext. 608
Fax: (206) 626-5366
Email

Additional Information:

• Diversity Questionnaire (98kb, PDF)

• Draft Model Guidelines on Inclusion, Diversity and Multicultural Competence as a Justice Imperative (91kb, PDF)

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