Towards a Culture of Inclusion – Calendar

This series has ended. Resources from all events in our series are still available. Next, the PLDIC will pivot to structural changes in our workplaces to advance the cause of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Third Conversation on Race: Where Do We Go From Here?
June 23
12-1:30 p.m.

The final program in the Coalition’s Towards a Culture of Inclusion series is our Third Conversation on Race, entitled Where Do We Go From Here? The program on June 23 from 12-1:30 p.m. will put in context everything we have done since kicking off the series last September and point us in the direction of next steps. Participants in our Ally-Ready Training Program will help guide the program, along with the Visions team who have been working with our ally trainees over the course of the series.

For those participating in our Ally-Ready certification program, this is a CONVERSATION ON RACE.

 

 

 

Know Thyself, Know Others: Discover the Power of Deep Connections to Create Engaging Work Environments
May 18 and May 20
12 – 1:30 p.m.

Is there anything more fundamental to creating a culture of inclusion in our workplaces than the ability to talk to each other, to share our experiences and value the experiences of others — despite our differences. These 90-minute sessions provided participants with the tools to build a greater understanding and appreciation of diversity, improve empathy, boost productivity, and teach methods for building greater and lasting cultural engagement across differences. This innovative diversity and inclusion training program was developed at the University of Pittsburgh by Dr. Abdesalam Soudi and Dr. Jeannette South-Paul, who will be our facilitators for these highly interactive programs.

For those who have signed up for our Ally-Ready certification program, this session is considered a TRAINING.

 

 

 

FORUM Webinar: From Bystander to Ally
April 15
10-11 a.m. EST

When anyone is confronted by any form of aggression, whether verbal, physical, social, or economic, it is natural to feel fear, doubt, and paralysis. This is important in assessing critical next steps if we happen to be a bystander. We must also look at our own fears and triggers as they, too, play a role in how we may react or respond to any potential conflict or confrontation.

During this webinar participants will consider some very important questions as they devise their own ways of responding to triggering situations. How does privilege impact decisions to engage in conflict and whether/how to respond? When is allyship an act of support, and when is it not? Who gets to decide? How do we deal with our own emotional responses to aggression and confrontation? How can one become an effective ally in a virtual work world and how does this differ from an in-person workplace?

For our Ally-Ready trainees, this program is considered an OUTSIDE OPPORTUNITY.

Covering: Including – and Retaining – the Diversity You Hire
April 6
12 – 1 p.m.

Kenji Yoshino is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law and the Director of the Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. He’s a graduate of Harvard, Oxford, and Yale and more important for Coalition purposes, a deep thinker and terrifically engaging speaker. Regularly interviewed on radio and television, you may have heard him on NPR, CNN, PBS and MSNBC. He has written a number of books, including one on the topic he will discuss with the Coalition, covering. As Yoshino points out, we all cover and so it can serve as a bridge of empathy between people of different races, genders and other identities that matter to us. Covering brings all of us into the inclusion paradigm.

For those who have signed up for our Ally-Ready certification program, this session is considered a TRAINING.

 

 

 

Lightning Training- Microaggressions: Small Acts, Big Consequences
March 19
12 – 12:30 p.m.

Think of microaggressions as mosquito bites. Just like with mosquito bites, some people seem to really get a lot of them and others, not so much. Mosquito bites are annoying, sure, but nothing more — as long as you’re not the person who gets bitten all the time. And as long as your mosquito bite doesn’t undermine your confidence and maybe even alter your career trajectory. Because many microaggressions are unthinking, it is important that we make the invisible visible and start to examine what leads us to say and do things we don’t really mean to be hurtful.

For those who have signed up for our Ally-Ready certification program, this session is considered a LIGHTNING SESSION.

Lightning Training: The Words We Use in the D&I Conversation
February 24
12 – 12:30 p.m.

Creating an inclusive environment requires us to be open to the people around us and willing to engage with the diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and views each of us contributes to the workplace. Maybe you’re thinking: but that’s not as easy as it sounds. I’m afraid I’ll say the wrong thing! For its first “Lightning Training” in the Towards a Culture of Inclusion series, the PLDIC presented a basic primer on the key terms swirling around the diversity and inclusion conversation.

  • First, we talked about diversity; then diversity and inclusion. Now I hear everyone talking about diversity, equity & inclusion. What’s it all mean?
  • LGBT? LGBTIA? LGBTIAP? Help!
  • Black? African-American? LatinX, Latino, Hispanic? Person of Color? How do I know when to use which term?

This 30-minute session, presented by Eckert Seamans Employee Relations and Inclusion Manager Danielle Munkedkis and PLDIC ED Susan Yohe, lays down the first piece in the cultural competency puzzle leading to our May program with University of Pittsburgh linguistics professor Abdesalam Soudi and physician Jeannette South Paul, which will demonstrate the power of getting to know each other.

For those who have signed up for our Ally-Ready certification program, this session is considered a LIGHTNING SESSION.

Second Conversation on Race: Race in the Legal Community
January 19
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

This was the second of three Conversations on Race that the Coalition held; this one examined Race in the Legal Community. Joining us was Michelle Silverthorn, who traveled the country talking about what it feels like to be a lawyer of color in a predominantly White legal world and what actions we can commit to as individuals to create a more inclusive work environment. Participants brought their questions for an open and honest discussion of Race in the Legal Community. Silverthorn is the Founder and CEO of Inclusion Nation, and a graduate of Princeton and the University of Michigan Law School. She practiced in two large law firms in Chicago and New York before transitioning to her current work.

For those who have signed up for our Ally-Ready certification program, this session is considered a CONVERSATION ON RACE.

Bias-Interruption Training by Dr. Will Cox
November 17 from 2:30-5:30 p.m. OR
November 19 from 8-11 a.m.

The Coalition offered two sessions of Bias-Interruption Training offered by Dr. Will Cox of the University of Wisconsin. The training was offered twice to allow for as many people as possible to attend this important program. Dr. Cox’s evidence-based approach is the only bias-interruption program which has proved effective to produce long-term changes in unconsciously biased behavior in over 20 randomized studies. Featured in The Atlantic, the training has been provided to public school teachers, judges, lawyers, graduate students, public officials, and many others.

For those who have signed up for our Ally-Ready certification program, this session is considered a TRAINING.

 

 

 

First Conversation on Race: Race in Our Community
October 14
8:30-10 a.m.

This was the first of three Conversations on Race that the Coalition will hold, this one examining race in Pittsburgh.

The program was introduced by Alcoa General Counsel and PLDIC Board Member Jeff Heeter and anchored by a presentation of the 2019 Report on Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Gender and Race by its lead author, Junia Howell, Assistant Professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s Sociology Department. Joining her was a panel to discuss ideas for responding to the report. Audience members also had a chance to engage in the discussion throughout the program.

For those enrolled in our Ally-Ready certification program, this session is considered a CONVERSATION ON RACE.

Ritu Bhasin, a global leader in diversity, equity and inclusion programming, launched the PLDIC’s ten-month series of programs entitled Towards a Culture of Inclusion with two dynamic virtual programs:

PLDIC Leaders Webinar — As an Ally, How Can You Interrupt Racial Bias in the Workplace?
September 15, 2020
8:30-10:30 a.m.
Ritu explained how racial bias lives in the bodies and minds of all of us and offer specific behaviors our leaders can employ to be more racially inclusive in how they live, work and lead.

PLDIC Lawyers of Color Webinar – The Internalization of Racial Bias: What Happens in the Workplace
September 15, 2020
1-3 p.m.
Ritu explored the neuroscience of how racial bias and trauma are linked and outline practical strategies to allow our diverse lawyers to thrive both personally and professionally. In order to create a safe space for sharing experiences, we request that only lawyers who self-identify as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color attend this webinar.

For those who have signed up for our Ally-Ready certification program, both of these sessions are considered TRAININGS.

Robin DiAngelo
September 10, 2020
2 p.m.
Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures presented Robin DiAngelo, author of the best-selling White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, live, virtually, with Dr. Valerie Kinloch, Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, on September 10 at 2 p.m.

For our Ally-Ready trainees, this program is considered an OUTSIDE OPPORTUNITY.