Oregon Diversity Institute 2009
Workshops
Dr. Frances Kendall,
Keynote speaker
Moving Boldly into the Future: Changing Our Organizations to Meet the Needs of the Times
Dr. Frances Kendall – Keynote -
Every system is exquisitely designed to produce the results it gets. As communities' needs change and demographics shift, our organizations must determine if their old ways of doing things are meeting new needs. Too often, if we want our organization to be different, we focus on changing the individuals with whom we work. We believe that if our director or manager or president were a better person, or if she or he "got it," change would occur. Actually, we have to look at both the systems that keep the organization as it is and at the individuals who participate in its static, un-changing state.
In this interactive keynote speech we will:
- Look at how systems work;
- Explore how we can better determine what is happening in the organizations; and
- Identify ways to apply that knowledge to our specific organizations.
Organizational Leadership for Diversity: The Oregon Context
Dr. Charles Martinez, Jr.
Oregon is undergoing rapid socio-demographic change. For example, all growth among Oregon's K-12 population over the past decade has been accounted for by students of color (particularly Latino students). As Oregon's communities become increasingly diverse, our organizational systems are often not built to effectively respond to such rapid change, resulting in a host of challenges including access barriers, institutional racism, and health and educational disparities that differentially impact communities of color. What is so unique about Oregon in understanding how to effectively lead our organizations through change while ensuring equity? Where do our organizational systems and the individuals within them get stuck? How do we move beyond "the next best thing" in trying to improve organizational diversity efforts and really make a difference? Utilizing research and practices from work on enhancing organizational diversity, and drawing from examples of our research promoting positive educational and health outcomes within Latino communities, this interactive presentation will begin to address these and other important questions and will focus on integrating promising practices that promote equity and multicultural inclusiveness from individual and organizational perspectives.
Session # 1
What Change Agents and Allies with Privilege Need to Know
Dr. Frances Kendall
Making a commitment to being a social change agent or an ally is serious business. It requires that we know ourselves and the organizations in which we work. A solid understanding of systems of privilege is also essential. Those of us with systemically-granted privilege, be it based on race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, religion, and/or ability, often dismiss the necessity to be strategic, to be aware of the patterns of behaviors of those who share our privileges, or to keep our goal for social change in mind. This workshop will address what it means to be a change agent and an ally with privilege. We will look at what we need to know as well as how we and our communities benefit from our making that commitment.
Session # 2
Crossing the Global Superhighway
Why did the chicken cross the global superhighway?
Johnny Lake
The historic and traditional relationship between America and other peoples on the global superhighway has been like a one-way street. We are now on a two-way street and the skills necessary to engage in successful cross-cultural interactions are more complex, challenging and needed. More than ever, we are finding it necessary to learn about, understand and work with cultures that are very different from our own. This session focuses on understanding, recognizing and practicing important cross-cultural interaction skills to successfully enter and cross the multicultural global superhighway. Come and see why the chicken thought it was worth it to cross the global superhighway.
Session # 3
Language diversity and language shifts in the U.S., Oregon, and Lane County: Are we ready?
Edward M. Olivos
Over 55 million people (or nearly 20% of the U.S. population) speak a language other than English at home. Spanish is the dominant language among these non-English speaking households; with 34.5 million people (or 12.2% of the U.S. population) using Spanish at home.
Linguistic diversity in the U.S. is a historical and present day reality, as is linguistic bias (discrimination) and restrictionism. This presentation will provide a brief history of U.S. language use and language politics as well as insight into common restrictionist ideals which favor English-only policies and target non-English languages (and speakers) in our society. The presenter will also discuss how institutions can prepare themselves to engage non-English-speakers, using the U.S. public school system as a case study of linguistic diversity and linguistic challenges.
Session # 4
Working Effectively with Returning Veterans and their Families
Gary Hunter and Michael Sámano
Everyone (regardless of era, branch of service, gender, etc.) who enters the institution of the military, experiences a resocialization process. Aside from the experiences of military personnel while on active (and/or to a lesser degree reserve or guard) duty, another common phenomenon experienced by all people in the military is that when they process out, they do not go through a resocialization process, or what I refer to as "civilian bootcamp." Add to this lack of a formal and structured re-entry set up, we now also find Iraq and Afghanistan veterans forced to serve multiple tours of duty overseas, an abbreviated rotation in and out of country, disabled veterans expected to not only stay in the military, but expected to be sent back to the "front lines." Service members whose veterans benefits are not clearly explained to them, the importance of psych. evaluations diminished, and so on.
Session # 5
Hiring and Retaining Staff of Color: The Courage to Say What Needs to Happen
Panel: Jim Garcia, Jason Mak and Hector Rios Facilitator: Tina Schmich
A panel of human resources professionals will share experiences and strategies to successfully infuse courageous conversations in the workplace. How do we establish a climate of understanding with stakeholders to facilitate the hiring and retention of staff of color (e.g. hiring teams, interviews, job postings, workplace climate).
Session # 6
What we need to know about immigration and how it will impact our systems!
Guadalupe Quinn
This session will be a discussion on the continued struggle for immigrant rights & immigration reform: Where we've been, where we are right now, and what needs to happen. In addition, the session will explore how this has, and will continue, to impact our community.