BROOKINGS – Brookings will take a comprehensive look at workplace diversity and inclusion, and its findings and potential solutions could serve as a role model across the region.
The two-year Deliberating Diversity project, made possible with a $193,256 Community Innovation Grant from the Bush Foundation, is led by Rebecca Kuehl, an associate professor in South Dakota State University’s School of Communication and Journalism. The Brookings Inclusive Collaborative is a partnership between SDSU, the Brookings Economic Development Corporation, the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce, Vision Brookings and the Brookings Human Rights Commission.
Project leaders will use focus groups and public deliberation to draw solutions from community organizations and businesses most impacted by workforce cultural diversity. The initiative aims to identify community strengths and challenges for enhancing cultural diversity and inclusion, generate community-powered solutions and encourage people to become more engaged with other community stakeholders, said Kuehl, who also serves as coordinator of the SDSU women, gender and sexuality studies program.
“It’s difficult to talk about diversity and inclusion, and as a communication and public deliberation expert, I wanted to bring that expertise into our community,” she said. “I wanted to see what community change could come from bringing everyone into one proverbial room to just sit down and talk in a structured and direct manner.”
In its first stage, the Brookings Inclusive Collaborative will convene focus groups of business leaders, human resources managers, culturally diverse employees, faith-based community leaders, K-12 educators and Brookings residents to gather views, attitudes, beliefs and experiences connected to workplace cultural diversity and inclusion.
In the second stage, program leaders will host a public deliberation event to bring different stakeholders together to discuss and decide on approaches to change. In the third stage, program leaders will host a postdeliberation event with community, business and education leaders.
The insight gained during the process could inspire communities beyond Brookings that are struggling with how to talk about workplace cultural diversity and inclusion.
Al Heuton, executive director of the Brookings Economic Development Corporation, said that as Brookings grows, it is important that the city obtains a more complete understanding of the needs of an expanding diverse population.
“Developing our community’s diverse culture is an essential component of our workforce supply strategy and will create many future opportunities in identifying and recruiting new entrepreneurial talent, future business owners, scientists and engineers,” Heuton said.
Kuehl said the project’s impetus was her experience of seeing colleagues who identify with historically marginalized groups move from Brookings to other opportunities. She thought about key community organizations engaged in cultivating diversity and inclusion and decided it was important to widen the group participating in these community conversations.
