RMSHRM is dedicated to ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all aspects of our organization. This page will provide DEI resources and will be updated regularly.
Have something you want to include? Reach out to our Diversity Director, Ellysa Smith, at admin@raleighmetro.wpengine.com.
The 15 Actions Needed for World-Class Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Work
These 15 Actions in four groups are from Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Benchmarks: Standards for Organizations Around the World by Nene Molefi, Julie O’Mara, Alan Richter and 112 Expert Panelists.
Four categories 1) Drive the Strategy, 2) Attract and Retain People, 3) Align and Connect and 4) Listen and Serve Society with 15 actions to establish and connect your DEI strategy. The full article can be found here.
Privilege Is Not A Dirty Word
Understanding privilege and why it is the one word and topic that always elicits a strong allergic reaction. Full article can be found here.
LGBTQ+ Alphabet
What does LGBTQ+ mean, and when to use it. Full article can be found here.
This article discusses the different acronyms used to represent sexual orientations and gender identities.
SHRM: Together Forward At Work DEI Toolkit
In this toolkit you will find conversation starter cards, HR resource guides, and a collection of DE&I readings and research for practical equitable solutions, and an inclusion playbook. Toolkit can be found here.
It’s My Secret: Disclosing Neurodiversity and Invisible Illness at Work
In an effort to encourage inclusion of all people and identities — we wanted to shine a brighter spotlight on two forms of what is often called “hidden diversity” in the workplace: neurodiversity and invisible illness. Full article can be found here.
Say This, Not That: A Guide for Inclusive Language
Inclusive language means finding ways to name, honor, and value experiences and identities. Increasing the inclusivity of our language means striving to understand the ways that language often unconsciously makes assumptions about people and unintentionally reinforces dominant norms around gender, sexual orientation, race, class, ability and disability, age, and more. Full article can be found here.
Employer Guide to Hiring Veterans
This Department of Labor guide provides information about service members and veterans, helps facilitate veteran employment, and makes recommendations on how to attract, train, and retain veterans. Full publication can be found here.
The Recruitment, Hiring, Retention & Engagement of Military Veterans
This SHRM guide covers the business case for hiring military and veteran candidates, steps in successful transitions from military service to employment, evidence-based guidelines for practice (including practical case studies), and resources for programs and services to support hiring initiatives.
Ten Recruitment Tips to Attract People with the Disabilities
This article gives 10 recruitment tips to attract and hire individuals with disabilities.
Link here: https://www.miusa.org/resource/tipsheet/recruiting
Inclusion Starts with I — Accenture
#InclusionStartsWithI is a discussion around the importance of a positive, inclusive work environment. Starring a group of Accenture people, this video demonstrates that bias can appear in both expected and unexpected ways—and that each of us has the power to make a difference.
Watch the video here.
Ladder of Inference-Rethinking Thinking
Every day, we meet people and process our interactions — making inferences and developing beliefs about the world around us. In this lesson, Trevor Maber introduces us to the idea of a ladder of inference and a process for rethinking the way we interact.
Watch the video here.
Sometimes You’re A Caterpillar
Franchesca Ramsey explains social justice, privilege, and intersectionality through an animated story about a snail and caterpillar.
Watch the video here.
Taking Own DEI/What Does Your DEI Initiative Look Like — New Amsterdam ABC TV Show Video Clip
New Amsterdam video clip that shows what it loosk like when you have a new awakening to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). A zeal and passion to conquer all but not informed on how to begin. Can be used as a neutral resource to initiate DEI discussion.
Watch the video here.
Color Blind or Color Brave – Mellody Hobson
In this engaging, persuasive talk, Hobson makes the case that speaking openly about race — and particularly about diversity in hiring — makes for better businesses and a better society.
Watch the video here.
Power Privilege and Oppression – Graduate School of Social Work
This animation explains how social structures impact identity, power, privilege, and oppression and provides examples of how we can create transformational social change.
Watch the video here.
Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man – Emmanuel Acho
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, is a safe place to have the uncomfortable conversations about race that many people have never been able to have.
Watch the video series here.
We Can’t Talk About That At Work!
By: Mary-Frances Winters
This book was hand-selected for our very first DEI book club!
Purchase a copy of this book here.
The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth About Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations
By Robert Livingston
In helping us to better understand how effective discussion is key to resolving the problem of racism in society and the workplace, The Conversation is an essential tool for uprooting entrenched biases and transforming well-intentioned statements on diversity into concrete actions and measurable outcomes.
Purchase a copy of the book here.
Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit
By Mary-Frances Winters
Winters writes that “my hope for this book is that it will provide a comprehensive summary of the consequences of Black fatigue, and awaken activism in those who care about equity and justice – those who care that intergenerational fatigue is tearing at the very core of a whole race of people who are simply asking for what they deserve”.
Purchase a copy of the book here.
The Loudest Duck: Moving Beyond Diversity While Embracing Differences to Achieve Success at Work
By Laura A. Liswood
This book offers a set of practical tools to help managers and colleagues understand and respect different viewpoints. The author challenges readers to notice subtle inequities and overturn ingrained ways of thinking.
Purchase a copy of the book here.
Belonging at Work: Everyday Actions You Can Take to Cultivate an Inclusive Organization
By Rhodes Perry
A sense of belonging is both a universal human need and a major motivator. Employees perform to their full potential when they feel accepted and celebrated for being their authentic selves. This book provides a guide for creating inclusive workplaces and suggests simple actions leaders can take to make employees feel comfortable and capable on the job.
Purchase a copy of the book here.
How to Be An Antiracist
By Ibram X. Kendi
Antiracism is an transformative concept that reorients and re-energizes the conversation about racism – and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In this book, Kendi takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas – from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities – that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.
Purchase a copy of the book here.
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
By Robin DiaAngelo
The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.
Purchase a copy of the book here.
So You Want to Talk About Race
By Ijeoma Olu
In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life.
Purchase the book here.
Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man
By Emmanuel Acho
Following the death of George Floyd, Emmanuel Acho knew that he had to do something. So he did what he does best – talk to people. Acho sits down to have a series of “uncomfortable conversations” with white America, in order to educate and inform on racism, systemic racism, social injustice, rioting, and the hurt Black people are feeling today. This series of video conversations has recently been compiled into a best-selling book.
Find the book here.
JFF’s Language Matters working group has been leading conversations to examine our use of language through an equity lens since 2020. This guide presents our recommendations to date on how to write and speak about people in reference to race, ethnicity, skills, income, criminal records, disability, and gender identity. Because language is fluid, our Language Matters work is ongoing. Access this resource by clicking here.
21 Days of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (The Winters Group)
A daily calendar of actions to inspire reflection and action in service to diversity and justice. Check it out by clicking here.
21 Diversity and Inclusion Challenges (The Diversity Movement)
Simple daily activities that can be taken to help us explore different life experiences and expand our diversity horizon. (watch a movie, cook a cultural dish, attend diversity event, etc.). Check it out by clicking here.
Cultural Competence Self Awareness Tool
Use this checklist to reflect on your current cultural competence skill set, and to identify skills that you will actively work to develop. Check it out by clicking here.
Cultural Identity Exercise
(Diane J. Goodman and UBC Peer Program Training Modules: Diversity & Intercultural Communication 2008/09). Purpose of this exercise is to map out different domains of your social identity (i.e., social group membership) and to reflect on how these domains intersect with one another to shape your life experiences. Download the worksheet here.
Implicit Bias Test (Free)
Take a Harvard Implicit Association Test (IAT) to recognize your blind spots and personal biases. The IAT is commonly used to measure implicit bias in individuals. The IAT measures the strength of associations between concepts (e.g., black people, old people, or gay people) and evaluations (e.g., good or bad) or characteristics (e.g., athletic, smart, or clumsy). Take the test here.
Diversity Podcasts
By engaging in civil, thought-provoking conversations on difficult topics, we become more open to information that can sometimes be uncomfortable to hear. And through this better understanding of each other, we can be stronger and more thoughtful together in the workplace and beyond.
Top 10 Diversity Podcasts can be found here.
National SHRM- Together Forward @ Work
https://togetherforwardatwork.shrm.org/
EQUITY BEGINS WITH EMPATHY!
In 2020, SHRM launched Together Forward @Work to initiate open dialogue about racial inequity in the workplace. Now we’re taking the next step by providing tangible tools to construct equitable hiring practices and empathetic cultures—which is fundamental to the development of truly inclusive workplaces. Which is exactly what we need. Now more than ever.
The toolbox consists of conversation starters, an HR Resource Guide, and an Inclusion Playbook. It can be found here.
SHRM Foundation-Veterans At Work Certificate
This course leverages critical insights from subject matter experts and the latest research to equip you with the knowledge and actionable tools necessary to confidently adapt your workplace into one that attracts, hires, and retains both veterans and members of the military community.
Introduction to the Human Resources Discipline of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) function deals with the qualities, experiences and work styles that make individuals unique (e.g., age, race, religion, disabilities, ethnicity) as well as how organizations can leverage those qualities in support of business objectives.
Link: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/introdiversity.aspx