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Choosing to Change: The Junior League of Charlotte, Inc Ramps up its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts
Recently, the Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC) began focusing on change in a way it never has before. This is the first year the League has had an official Diversity & Inclusion Committee (D&I) and two slated D&I leaders. While the JLC has been on its D&I journey for 25 years, it really ramped up over the last three to five years. The JLC Board of Directors adopted its D&I commitment statement in 2018 and used this statement as one of the guiding principles when developing the current five-year Strategic Plan. In 2019, the D&I Task Force was approved by the Board as an official sub-committee to continue leading this important work. The 20202021 sub-committee was charged with developing a long-term sustainable plan to embed diversity, equity and inclusion into the day-to-day work and shift the JLC culture.
The team’s comprehensive plan was adopted by the Board in the spring of 2020. The full plan can be found by members in the members section of Digital Cheetah, but the highlights are summarized below.
The Plan has four high level goals:
• Attract and retain a committed membership with a desire to work in an inclusive and respectful manner with one another and with the Charlotte community. • Have a membership broadly reflective of the Charlotte community. • Create training, processes, policies, plans and programs that meet the diverse needs of the JLC’s membership. • Identify and address barriers to diversity, equity and inclusion within current organizational systems. The D&I committee is looking to recruit more diverse women to the League. The committee is working with the Human Resources Council and Membership Development Committee to accomplish this goal, but it starts with ALL of the League’s members. League members are encouraged to tell their friends, family members, colleagues, etc. about the JLC and why it’s a great place for them to be! The most basic goal is to ensure that diversity and inclusion is top of mind for all members, so it is second nature for them to think about D&I in our work and when making decisions.
The JLC is working to embed D&I throughout the League by:
• Creating intentional icebreakers to be used at monthly meetings throughout the League, giving all members the same questions. • Including a question in our partner application to assess an organization’s commitment to DE&I, for consideration in the Project Development and Evaluation process. • Ensuring diversity-related materials are easily accessible to current and prospective members and prominently displayed on the JLC’s website. • Recruiting at diverse events around the Charlotte area. • Including diversity, equity and inclusion questions in candidate interviews for the League’s slated leaders. • Maintaining a diverse Community Advisory Board to give a voice to different perspectives from the community.
Keep watching for what else the JLC accomplishes as the League continues advancing and advocating for DE&I in the organization and community!
