1. Sarika Bhakta, CDP
President
Nikeya Diversity Consulting, LLC
Greg Aguilar
Director, Talent Attraction & Retention
Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce
Katrina Neely Farren-Eller, PhD
Inclusive Dubuque Coordinator
Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque
Bethany Wilcoxon
Director
Capital Crossroads
Optics of Your Community/Region: From a Melting Pot to a Garden Salad Bowl
The Society for Diversity’s Annual Conference: Diversity 3.0 Conference
Chicago, il ** June 29, 2017

3. I say Iowa…You Think?

4. I say Iowa…You Think?

5. Are you thinking: my community or region is already diverse
Why am I at this session?

6. DIVERSITY strategies ALONE won’t result in impactful outcomes
equity
inclusion
engagement
DIVERSITY strategies ALONE won’t result in impactful outcomes
Equity + Diversity + Inclusion + Engagement = Empowered Results™

7. Community/regional Culture & Environment - Process
Increases:
Diverse Workforce Attraction/Retention
Economic/Community Development
Residential Growth
Tourism
Quality of Life
Regional Culture & Environment
Equitable
Inclusive
Engaging

8. define and label strategies… consistently and accurately
equity
equality
inclusion
engagement

9. University of Iowa: Big 10
Map Source: Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance
University of Iowa: Big 10
Home of Artist Grant Wood – “American Gothic”
Mother Mosque of America
Oldest in North America

10. Regional economic development strategy
Photo Source:
Source:

11. Statewide “Coopetition”
Eastern Iowa
Greater Des Moines Region
Dubuque
Quad Cities

12. Q2030
The primary purpose of the Q2030 Regional Action Plan is to facilitate the best environment possible for current and future residents so that we experience enhanced and equitable wealth and have opportunities to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for our region to thrive in a global economy.

14. a welcoming and inclusive Quad Cities
Make the Quad Cities region recognized globally by 2030 for growing and attracting talent and businesses; is energized by a culturally rich community, inspires innovation, and embraces lifelong learning.
Create a welcoming community in which all people are embraced, have an equal opportunity for success and know that differences are the are the foundation for our regions success

15. Engaged, diverse, inclusive, equitable

16. • Talent attraction and retention • Quality of life
Engagement
- Who participates in the meetings, activities, and decisions that affect our region?
Diversity
- What community representation is there from various groups in our community at the table of discussion and decision making?
Inclusive
- Have we expanded participation from the “usual suspect” to a broader perspective?
Equitable
- Are opportunities to participate and succeed in our community equal and just?
• Talent attraction and retention
• Quality of life
• Maintaining current workforce
• Attracting & retaining new and young talent
• Business Growth

17. GLOBAL DSM INTERNATIONAL TALENT STRATEGY
THE GREATER DES MOINES PARTNERSHIP & THE PARTNERSHIP FOR A NEW AMERICAN ECONOMY

19. Our region

20. Our areas of focus

21. CURRENT CONVERSATIONS ON WATER QUALITY
A PARTNERSHIP WITH AGRICULTURE’S CLEAN WATER ALLIANCE

22. Dubuque, IA

23. Dubuque in the 1920s

24. Inclusive Dubuque is a local network of community leaders
from faith, labor, education and government committed to supporting an informed, equitable and inclusive community where all people are respected, valued and treated fairly.

25. Anchor Changes in Corporate Culture: Vision is embedded in core values of partner organizations.8
Using Kotter’s Change Model to Implement Change Powerfully and Successfully
Build on the Change: Always working toward continuous improvement, analyzing what is working and not working, bringing in new change agents and leaders with fresh ideas. 7 6
Create Short-Term Wins: Publishing a yearly Advancing Equity Report. Using RBA to track progress.
Remove Obstacles: Continuous revisiting of processes, structure, or relationships that may impede the work. Hiring a full time coordinator to help move the work forward. 5 4
Communicate the Vision: Network launched publicly in October 2013, and continues to publish updates, utilize social media, and holds events that communicate the vision of a welcoming and inclusive community.
Create a Vision for Change: The group engaged an outside consultant firm to work on leadership and executive alignment to create values and strategies for the initiative. 3
Form a Powerful Coalition: In the spring of 2012, business and government leaders, including CFGD, began to meet regularly in order to discuss how they might work on inclusion efforts. 2
Create Urgency: In January of 2012, local business leaders began to recognize the need to create a more welcoming and inclusive community in order to attract and retain a diverse work force. 1

26. 3 levels of Network equity education goals and strategies
Individual Level: Foundational Shifts in Thinking
Institutional Level: Embedding Shifts in Thinking within Institutions
Systems Level: Institutions Collaborating around a Specific QOL Need
Building Equity and Inclusion Skills
Cultural Competency Training
Implicit Bias Training
Network Partner meetings
Speaker Series
Community Conversations
Media Campaigns
City’s ICC train the trainer
Institutional Self-Assessments
Toolkits
Speaker Series
Business Cohort
Partner Stories
Advancing Equity Report
Institutional Climate Survey
Sector groups
Network Health Survey
City-wide Climate Survey
Incident Response Plan

27. I’m a Dubuquer!

28. What do you want your communities/regions to be?