July Extension Connection Magazine 2023

Extension Connection Sullivan County

Upcoming Events & Programs

Upcoming Events & Programs

Discipline is Not a Dirty Word Series

Eat Healthy, Be Active Class Series

Virtual Family Caregiver Support Group

Agritourism Workshop - Virtual Series

Touch a Truck

What Are You Made Of? Block Party

Sullivan County Youth Fair

See more events and opportunities on sullivancce.org/events.

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Issue Highlights Issue Highlights ssue

Resources for Farmers Impacted by Recent Frost/Freeze Weather

Mid-Hudson CRAFT July & August Schedule

Combatting Summer Cooling Costs

6 Reasons to Shop at Your Local Farmers’ Market

The Wonderful, Wild, and Native Paw Paw Tree

How to Navigate Pushback to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts

10 Ways to Limit Sugary Drinks in Your Community

Sullivan County 4-H Livestock & Ag.

Products Auction

Check out page 10 for fun facts about Plastic Free July!

CCE Staff setting up the Community Growers’ Garden with flowers and vegetables such as lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, and carrots.

Welcome to the Issue! Table of Contents

Page 3 Message from the Executive Director: Sullivan County 4-H Livestock & Ag. Products Auction

Page 4 Resources for Farmers Impacted by Recent Frost/Freeze

Weather

Page 5 Mid-Hudson CRAFT

July & August Schedule

Page 6 Combatting Summer Cooling Costs

Page 7 The Wonderful, Wild, and Native Paw Paw Tree

Page 9 CCE Spotlights!

Page 10 Fun Facts!

Page 12 10 Ways to Limit Sugary Drinks in Your Community

Contents

WelcometotheIssue!TableofContents Welcome to the Issue! Table of

Page 14 6 Reasons to Shop at Your Local Farmers Market

Page 15 How to Navigate Pushback to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts

Page 20 It’s our favorite time of year!

The Extension Connection (USPS-525-100) is published monthly for $25.00 enrollment by Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County, located at 64 Ferndale-Loomis Road, Suite 1, Liberty, NY 12754-2903. Entered at Liberty, New York, as a periodical class matter. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 412, Act of February 24, 1925. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Extension Connection, 64 Ferndale-Loomis Road, Suite 1, Liberty, NY 12754-2903.

OFFICE HOURS

Hours: Mon - Fri | 8:30 am to 4:30 pm

Phone: 845-292-6180

E-mail: sullivan@cornell.edu

Website: www.sullivancce.org

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Instagram.com/ccesullivan

YouTube: bitly.com/ccesullivan

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dara Smith............................President

Denise Frangipane...............Secretary

Dawn Parsons.......................Treasurer

Nadia Rajsz.................Legislative Rep.

Adam Hughes..................Cornell Rep.

Alex Alorro

Freda Eisenberg

Lee Karasik

Amanda Langseder

Denise Luckman

Erika Malmgreen

Steve Marton

Gary Silver

Gary Silverman

Marcie Wild

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Heather Brown

Roberta Chambers

Robert Kaplan, Chairperson

Eugene Thalmann

Deborah Worden

EXTENSION CONNECTION

Produced by: Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County

Edited by: Erin Denman & Colleen Monaghan

Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County is an employer and educator recognized for valuing AA/EEO, Protected Veterans, and Individuals with DisAbilities and provides equal program and employment opportunities.

NOTICE: Official endorsement of advertisers and their products is not intended by the acceptance of their sponsorships for the Extension Connection.

STAFF MEMBERS

Colleen Monaghan..............................................................................Executive Director

Taylor Adam.............................................................Beginner Farmer Program Manager

Monica Ponce-Agrddano ...............................................................Ag. Program Assistant

Thomas Bosket....................................................................SALT/DFC Program Manager

SueAnn Boyd.........................................................Healthy Schools Program Coordinator

Fabio Campanati......................................................................Taste NY Market Manager

Lynn Colavito..............................................Community Cupboard Program Coordinator

Martin Colavito...........................................Community Cupboard Program Coordinator

Wanda V. Cruz...............................................Healthy Communities Program Coordinator

Erin Denman............................................................Association Operations Coordinator

Katie Gasior.................................................................Horticulture Program Coordinator

Christopher Jones..............................................................Taste NY Operations Manager

Joy Leon.................................................................Nutrition & Physical Activity Educator

Katie Rose Lugauer...................................................................4-H Program Coordinator

Erica Lynch..........................................................Catskills Kitchen Program Coordinator

John Mastrangelo............................................................................Assistant Ag Market Manager

Melinda Meddaugh.......................................................Ag & Food Systems Issue Leader

Vivian Monsanto...............................................................................Finance Coordinator

Barbara Moran................................................4-H Youth Development Program Manager

Bee Moser............................................................................................Senior Nutritionist

Vanessa Petrossian...........................Program Director: Operations and Community Vitality

Abyssinia Pla El...................................................................................Finance Coordinator

Michelle Proscia..............................................Agriculture Production Program Manager

Ann-Marie Sidtis............................................Drug Free Communities Program Assistant

Tara VanHorn.........................................................................................Finance Manager

Malinda Ware........................................................................................Program Director

Sean Welsh...................................................................Energy Senior Resource Educator

John Wilcox..........................................................................................Facilities Manager

Judy Arpadi, Vinny Bonizzi, Kayla Evans.................................................Ag Market Coordinators

Greetings!

The 4-H Ag Auction is right around the corner! Come out to the Sullivan County Youth Fair at the Grahamsville Little World’s Fair on Sunday, August 20th to support Sullivan County kids. Proceeds go to youth participants and the 4-H Scholarship Fund.

See you at the Fair!

Colleen Monaghan Executive Director, cm638@cornell.edu

RESOURCES FOR FARMERS IMPACTED BY RECENT FROST/ FREEZE WEATHER

Submitted by Taylor Adam, Beginner Farmer Program Manager

The USDA, through the Farm Service Agency (FSA), has disaster assistance programs available to help agricultural producers recover after damaging weather, including freeze events. Recent extreme weather conditions have impacted farmers in New York. FSA offers many programs to help producers recover from losses, including the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP), Emergency Forest Restoration Program and the Tree Assistance Program. Producers located in counties receiving a primary or contiguous disaster designation are eligible for low-interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses.

Compensation also is available to producers who obtained coverage through FSA’s Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, which protects non-insurable crops against damaging weather that result in lower yields, crop

losses or prevented planting. Eligible producers must have obtained NAP coverage for 2023 crops and file a notice of loss and application for payment on qualifying crops. Producers are also encouraged to contact their crop insurance agent for direct assistance as well.

Please contact your local FSA office for more information about disaster assistance programs or visit farmers.gov/recover.

In addition, NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets is gathering data on the impact it may have had on produce industries. It says it is hearing of potentially significant grape and apple crop impacts across the state.

Please keep track of

possible percentage of loss estimates and report to NYSDAM. The input will help the department brace for repercussions on the industry and help it prepare any eligible federal emergency declarations, in order to ensure all assistance programs are made available to those experiencing major loss.

Email loss estimates to William Shattuck, NYSDAM Program Manger, at william. shattuck@agriculture. ny.gov.

Adapted from:

June 8, 2023 - NYFB News Update. (2023, June 8). https://mailchi.mp/ nyfb/041323-nyfb-news-update6133212?e=d3e3528497.

DHI Report: May

COMBATTING SUMMER COOLING COSTS

Written by Sean Welsh, Energy Senior Resource Educator

To mitigate cooling costs and to stay cool in the spring and summer a number of strategies can be utilized when the weather is hot! If you have not yet, consider an energy audit to find out what kind of air sealing and insulation upgrades could be applied to help with cooling and heating costs year round! You may even qualify for a program that can help with those costs. If you are interested in an energy audit, email Sean at sw288@cornell.edu or call 845 292 6180 ext. 127. Here are some tips to stay cool:

• Service air conditioners, complete routine maintenance of air filters, and take a look a look at your air conditioner’s manufacturer’s information on checking the unit’s evaporator coil, which should be cleaned annually.

• Seal cracks and openings to prevent the summer’s warmer air from coming into your indoor spaces. Caulk and weatherstripping can be used to seal leaks around doors and windows.

• Open windows and use a window fan instead of

an air conditioner, and remember that fans cool people not rooms.

• Taking your cooking outside to the grill on warmer days can save on cooling costs and keep the indoor spaces we cook in from heating up from the use of stoves and ovens.

• Look for energy efficient window treatments to keep the heat of the sun from coming into the home. Use the window treatments during the warmest parts of the day, keeping the hot rays of the sun from overheating indoor spaces.

• Keep your air conditioning set to a higher setting. The smaller the difference from the indoor to the outdoor temperatures, the lower the cost of electric for use of the air conditioning unit. Whole home air conditioning can utilize a programmable thermostat to select a higher temperature when no one is home to help reduce costs. Shutting off AC units when no one is in the building and at night will save even more.

• When you shower or use the bath, use the bathroom fans to remove extra heat and humidity from your home.

• For homes with duct work, now is a great time to

seal and insulate ducts, which will help with costs during cooling and heating season.

• Swap out your most used light bulbs for energy efficient, Energy Star LED bulbs.

• Wash only full loads of dishes in the dishwasher. Use cold water and coldwater detergents to wash clothes, and consider hanging clothes out to dry. Contact Sean to discuss available programs for NYS residents and different approaches to clean energy projects.

Sources:

“10 Energy Saving Tips for Spring.” Energy.gov. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.energy.gov/articles/10energy-saving-tips-spring#:~:text=10 Energy Saving Tips for Spring.

“Low Cost and No Cost Energy Saving Tips” Accessed June 5, 2023. Reviewed by Kenneth Hellevang, PHD, PE Extension Engineer and professor, Carl Pedersen, former Energy Educator, https://www. ag.ndsu.edu/publications/energy/nocost-low-cost-home-energy-saving-tips.

THE WONDERFUL, WILD & NATIVE PAW PAW TREE

Written by Bruce Bordelon

Submitted by Katie Gasior, Horticulture Program Coordinator

The pawpaw is native to the eastern United States. The native pawpaw is botanically known as Asimina triloba. It is the only member of the Annonaceae family adapted to temperate zones. Several tropical and sub-tropical relatives, such as the cherimoya, atamoya, guanabana, and soursop, are important fruit crops. The pawpaw is of interest as a unique and unusual fruit, but it is not cultivated widely. Many varieties have been named, most being selections from the wild. Many of the named varieties in existence today originated in Indiana, which is possibly the reason for the common nickname “Indiana Banana.”

The fruit of the pawpaw tree has a unique and complex flavor, resembling that of tropical fruit, and a pronounced aroma that is fruity and floral. High quality pawpaws compare favorably to pears, peaches, bananas, and mangos. I’ve heard them playfully referred to as “hillbilly mango”.

The pawpaw is a tree of temperate humid zones, requiring warm to hot

summers, mild to cold winters, and roughly 32 inches (80 cm) of annual rainfall, with the majority falling in spring and summer. It is hardy to zone 5 (-15°F/-25°C). For best growth it requires a minimum of 160 frost-free days and roughly 2600 total growing degree-days to ripen the fruit.

Although the pawpaw is capable of fruiting in the shade, it performs best on sites with full-sun exposure, but with some protection from wind (because of its large leaves). Seedlings, however, will not survive under full sun conditions because the young shoot is extremely sensitive to sunlight. Shading for the first year, and sometimes the second, is usually required. It is for this reason that in the wild pawpaws are

primarily an understory tree.

Pawpaws grow best in slightly acid (pH 5.57.0), deep, fertile, and well-drained soils. Good drainage is essential to success. Pawpaws will grow in heavy soils but will not survive water-logged conditions.

In habit the tree is small, seldom taller than 25 feet (7.5m). Grown in full sun, the pawpaw tree develops a pyramidal shape, with dense, drooping foliage down to ground level. In the shade it has a more open branching habit, with few lower limbs and horizontally held leaves.

Though difficult to transplant, once established, the pawpaw is vigorous and easy to maintain. The key to successful transplanting from the wild lies in five

rules:

• Transplant seedlings for best results.

• Keep the roots and soil intact as much as possible.

• Transplant in the spring after budbreak, not in fall or winter.

• Plant in a well-drained site, and keep trees well watered the first year.

• Provide partial shading for the first year or two. The primary use of pawpaws is for fresh eating. The easiest way to eat them is to cut them in half and scoop the flesh

out with a spoon. The large seeds, scattered throughout the fruit, are easily separated from the flesh. In cooking, the pawpaw is best suited to recipes that require little or no heat. Because the pawpaw’s flavor compounds are very volatile, prolonged heating or high temperatures destroy the characteristic flavor. Pawpaw works well in ice cream, sorbet, chiffon pie, and mousse, and combines well with mint.

Adapted from: Bordelon, Bruce.“Growing Pawpaws.” Indiana Yard and Garden - Purdue Consumer Horticulture, 25 May 2022, www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/yardandgarden/extpub/ growing-pawpaws/.

CCE Sullivan Spotlights

Farm Spotlight

SPROUTING DREAMS FARM

Founded in 2016, with an emphasis on organic permaculture practices, Sprouting Dreams Farm aims to bring the community a variety of the most nutritious and delicious produce nature can provide. The 11 acre property we farm is nestled just outside the village of Liberty. With our discrete location and unique style, we are able to open people’s minds and reshape the thought of what a farm looks like.

With an extensive knowledge about health and wellness, the owners Leeanna and Eugene know that farm fresh produce is the healthiest way to eat. This knowledge led them to grow their own food and thus start their farm. Farming is a work of love but allows an individual to become more “one with nature.” Currently, they sell produce at three local farmers markets: Liberty, Narrowsburg, and Callicoon.

Eugene is a member of the Sullivan County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board, the CCE Beginner Farmer Program Advisory Committee, and the CCE Program Advisory Committee!

Staff Spotlight

MONICA PONCE-AGREDANO

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Ag & Food gram Assist

n Sullivan Coun was bor n and in Sullivan Coun graduated from er ty School an m attended th niversity of Rochester ear ned a bachelor’s in a conomics.

Monica is the Ag & Food Systems Program Assistant at Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County. Monica was born and raised in Sullivan County. She graduated from Liberty High School and from there, attended the University of Rochester where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Economics.

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inor Econo cited to hel s a

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m is excit he hasalw

She is excited to help in the county she has always called home.

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When she is not in the office, Monica can be found hiking, kayaking, watercolor painting, and reading.

Eugene Thalmann

Take a look at the products and greenhouse at Sprouting Dreams Farm!

July Focus: Fast Facts, Cool Tools, & News to Use

July is Plastic Free!

More than 2,000 animal species have encountered plastic pollution in their environment, and nearly 90% of species specifically studied are known to be negatively affected.

Want to make a sustainable impact

locally? You can learn how with growing Extension Education Center, at 301-537-

SOUL, a new organization based in the Extension Education at 301-5377422 or at www.growingSOUL.org ggg g

The Plastic Free Foundation is a not-for pro t global social movement of over 100 million people that stops around 300 million kgs of plastic polluting the world each year.

There is a strong connection between environmental and social injustice, racism, and classism and exposure to air pollution caused by waste incineration, land lls and illegal dumps; industrial water and soil contamination; heightened risk of accidents and explosions; and myriad other environmental injustices in the US and globally.

By 2040, under a business-as-usual scenario, plastic waste generation is expected to double, plastic leakage into the ocean will triple, and levels of plastic pollution in the ocean will quadruple.

By 2050, plastic production and disposal could generate greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to 615 coal plants annually and use up to 13% of Earth’s remaining carbon budget.

Sources:

Lokanoglu, Ender Ergün-Hakan.“Rising Tides II - Public Opinion Overwhelmingly Supports Global Rules to End Plastic Pollution.” Plastic Free July, November 2022. https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/wpcontent/uploads/2022/12/RISING-TIDESII_2022_v4-WEB.pdf.

The total social, economic and environmental costs of all plastic produced in 2019 have been estimated at $3.7 trillion over its lifetime.

Many wild animals mistake plastic for food, and in nature they must navigate a dangerous plastic obstacle course. Once ingested, plastic items and particles can inflict deadly physical injuries on animals’ digestive tracts, including perforation of stomach and intestinal walls.

Ninety-nine percent of all plastics are made from petrochemicals derived from fossil fuels—gas, oil, and coal—and drive the climate crisis.

“Read the Global Opinions Report: UNEA Plastic Treaty.” Plastic Free July, December 2, 2022. https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/ campaigns/un-plastic-treaty/.

6 REASONS TO SHOP AT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS MARKET

Written and submitted by Melinda Meddaugh, Agriculture and Food Systems Issue Leader

Farmers Markets are fun, socially fulfilling, and a great way for the entire family to eat healthier! They are also one of the best ways to support our neighbors – hard-working Catskills farmers! Here are 6 reasons to visit your local farmers market this summer:

1. You get to buy delicious food! The food you get at a farmers market could only be fresher if you were to pick it yourself from your own garden. Often, farmers will pick their produce that day, sometimes in the morning, before the market.You can really taste all the flavors of the produce you get with it being that fresh!

2. It encourages you to be a part of the community. Going to the farmers’ market is a great way to see all the folks in your community. After all, they are communityoriented events. Having interactions at the market are a great way to help create stronger bonds among you and your neighbors, as well as get in on what’s happening in your community.

3. You support local families. When you buy from a local farmer, you aren’t just supporting the farm. You’re helping to support the family that relies on income from selling the produce they grow. Knowing what your money is going towards is a great feeling. And knowing that you can help to feed another family just by feeding your own is even better!

4. There’s more than just buying stuff. Often at Catskills farmers markets there are cooking demos, live music, and a host of other booths! Going to the market is more than just buying your weeks’ worth of groceries. It becomes an experience that you can look forward to every weekend.

5. Learn new things. By just going to the farmers market, you can learn a bunch of new things when it

comes to food. Often the farmers have great recipes that you can try out, or new foods that you may not have seen before.You also get to learn when the produce you like are naturally in season. Who knows, something you learn there might stick with you for the rest of your life!

6. You get to know where your food is from. The best part about going to the farmer’s market is that you know where that food was grown. It could have been grown right down the road, or in the next town over instead of trucked from the other end of the country or, shipped from all over the world! There’s something to be said about knowing who produced the food you eat, and it’s a great reason to fall in love with your local farmers market.

TO OVERCOME RESISTANCE TO DEI, UNDERSTAND WHAT’S DRIVING IT

Written by Eric Shuman, Eric Knowles, and Amit Goldenberg

Submitted

by Erin

Denman, Association Operations Coordinator

Summary:

Employees often resist DEI initiatives, which of course hinders their effectiveness. The authors — experts in the resistance to socialchange efforts — write that the key to overcoming resistance to any effort is figuring out why people are resisting. When it comes to DEI initiatives, they argue, people resist because they experience at least one of three forms of threat: status threat, merit threat, and moral threat. Depending on the kinds of threat they experience, they then tend to engage in three kinds of resistance: defending, denying, and distancing. The authors explain these forms of threat and resistance and then offer suggestions for how to overcome them.

In recent years, we’ve seen tremendous growth in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Many people have eagerly embraced these efforts, but

some have criticized and resisted them, including Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, who recently announced plans to block state colleges from having DEI programs at all. This sort of external resistance to DEI initiatives tends to dominate the headlines — but at many organizations, there’s also significant internal resistance to DEI initiatives that leaders need to overcome.

We’ve done extensive research on why people resist social-change efforts and on strategies to overcome that resistance. If you want to make your efforts more effective, we’ve found, the key is to understand why people resist them. This applies to DEI initiatives, which engender several different forms of resistance, each of which demands a different strategic response.

In this article, drawing on some of our recent psychological research, we’ll identify those different forms of resistance and explain what psychological threats drive these modes of resistance. We’ll also offer guidance for framing your efforts in ways that will help you overcome that resistance.

Psychological Threats

DEI initiatives often involve significant organizational changes and thus can elicit threat and concern, particularly from members of majority groups, who have traditionally benefitted from being in the majority and may feel that their organizational status or resources are threatened. This is what’s known as “status threat,” and the people who experience it often perceive diversity initiatives in zero-sum terms. They assume that if members of minority groups make any gains — in opportunities, hires, the potential for promotion — members of the majority group will necessarily incur losses.

Some group members may also fear that DEI initiatives imply that their achievements are not the result of their skills and qualities but rather their group membership. We call this “merit threat,” in which advantagedgroup members feel that recognizing the existence of bias, discrimination, and inequality “explains away” their own successes. Merit threat is especially common among majority group members who are strongly committed to value

systems that prize hard work and individual merit. It’s also common when a DEI initiative has strong implications for decisions that are usually seen as recognitions of merit, such as promotion. Finally, majority group members can sometimes experience “moral threat.” This is the sense that if you acknowledge your privilege, you tarnish your moral image by linking yourself to an unfair system. This is most common when majority group members are generally committed to the moral ideal of equality. Because people are fundamentally motivated to see themselves as good and moral, those

committed to the ideal of equality may experience threat when a DEI initiative highlights how their group has violated this moral principle.

When majority group members experience one or more of these threats, they respond with three primary forms of resistance.

Defending

When members of majority groups feel that their status is threatened, they may try to defend (or justify) the current status quo by seeking to legitimize it. Defending the status quo can prevent changes that might be perceived as harmful to their group.

For example, at Google, an employee reacted to a DEI training by writing a memo in which he argued that gender gaps in the tech sector were not the result of discrimination but rather “non-bias causes.”

Among the reasons he specified were gender differences in prenatal exposure to testosterone, differing interest in people versus things, and levels of extraversion and neuroticism. The memo is a classic example of defending, in that it argues that existing inequalities are legitimate because they are based in supposed biological differences.

Organizational leaders should work to reduce

Photo by Mark Harris

status threat before trying to counter defending with evidence of inequity; otherwise, such evidence will likely be met with further resistance. To address status threat, it’s important to draw attention to the “win-win” aspects of DEI initiatives, particularly how increased diversity can drive long-term growth in the business and increase opportunities for everyone (often referred to as the “business case” for diversity). While some research suggests that business justifications can have problematic effects when incorporated into normative organizational statements, they can nonetheless be useful specifically in addressing status threat by helping shift people out of a zerosum mindset. In addition, some DEI policies can be framed as working to value the perspectives and experiences of all groups. These inclusive multiculturalism policies, which include the majority group, can help majoritygroup members feel that their group’s values and interests are not being neglected.

Denying

Some people resist DEI initiatives by downplaying inequality or bias, or even

denying that they exist at all. “I don’t understand why we need to attend these sessions,” one employee wrote in a feedback survey after a diversity training at L’Oreal, “because we’re not discriminating against any employees to begin with.” Denying is usually elicited when members of majority groups experience both status threat and merit threat.

Because denying is driven both by status threat and merit threat, it is important to address both. For status threat, as we noted above, the key is to reduce perceptions of DEI as a zero-sum game. Addressing merit threat, however, calls for an additional strategy: self-affirmation, in which people are invited to reflect on a personally important trait, value, or achievement, why it is important to them, and how it is expressed in their life. For example, someone who especially values loyalty and friendship might think about a time when they made a personal sacrifice to help a friend.

Self-affirmation has been shown to bolster positive self-esteem, allowing people to accept

information they might otherwise find threatening. In the DEI context, selfaffirmation can make it easier for deniers to accept evidence of ongoing discrimination. When we encounter someone who denies, our initial impulse might be to present them with overwhelming evidence of inequality, but engaging in affirmation first can help open people up to this information. So instead of beginning a meeting about the need for diversity training by providing statistics about the severity of the problem, consider first engaging people in an exercise allowing them to reflect and affirm themselves, or highlighting positives about the organization and its employees that provide this sense of affirmation. Only then move to discussing the problem that needs to be addressed.

Distancing

In some cases, members of advantaged groups are willing to acknowledge that there is discrimination and inequality, but they distance themselves from it personally, by arguing that they themselves are unbiased and have never benefited from discrimination. People who engaging in distancing,

which is driven by both merit threat and moral threat, often prefer to think in individual terms and work to disconnect themselves from groups, thus insulating themselves from accusations that they have benefitted from bias or privilege. For example, Spencer Owens & Co. thought they had made progress on diversity issues, because majoritygroup members at the organization increasingly made remarks such as “I don’t see people in color” and “We are all human beings here.” However, an inciting incident and subsequent companywide survey revealed significant racial tensions, driven in part by frustration from minority-group members about majoritygroup members’ refusal to acknowledge how race affected their views and work.

Because distancing is driven in part by merit threat, the self-affirmation strategy can be useful when trying to overcome it. The best strategy to use to counter moral threat, however, is to redirect it, by reframing DEI initiatives as a way for people to express their moral ideals and thus repair their moral standing. For example, researchers have found that when DEI

initiatives are framed as a way to express universal ideals (fairness, equality, and so on) rather than as an obligation that majoritygroup members must live up to, this increases support for DEI programs. So consider highlighting how DEI efforts present an opportunity for majority-group members to demonstrate their commitment to universal moral principles, and in doing so ensure that they are not automatically associated with discrimination and privilege.

resistance, you’ll have an easier time advancing DEI efforts in your organization.

Adapted from:

Shuman, Eric, Eric Knowles, and Amit Goldenberg. “To Overcome Resistance to Dei, Understand What’s Driving It.” Harvard Business Review, March 1, 2023. https://hbr.org/2023/03/to-overcomeresistance-to-dei-understand-whatsdriving-it.

Majority-group members who resist DEI efforts typically do so because they experience those efforts as threatening. To overcome their resistance, you first need to determine what kinds of threat they’re experiencing (the most common forms being status threat, merit threat, and moral threat), and then what kinds of resistance they’re putting up in response (the most common forms being denying, defending, and distancing). By understanding these dynamics, and by employing the targeted strategies we’ve described for overcoming these different kinds of