COMMUNITY
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION MAP How Our DEI Focus Areas Help Align Our Work by Dr. Paul Porter and Amy Seidelman
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n July 2023, the NSDA began a yearlong, threephase audit to assess the impact of our diversity, equity, and inclusion work and reflected on ways we can shape our programs and offerings to serve our participants better. In addition to inventorying our existing programs, we engaged in discussions with various staff and community members, solicited internal and external leaders, surveyed coaches, and analyzed archival data to determine where our time and focus is needed to guide our attention moving forward. We created the DEI Map to help align our work with the objectives outlined in our strategic plan by using focus areas when building new efforts and revising existing ones. Based on the findings from our audit, we determined that the successful completion of our strategic objectives will require attention in the following areas:
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ROSTRUM | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 |
Multicultural Competence Speech and debate serves diverse identities and ideologies. The activity should be a place for skill development, creative play, reflection, and joy for all participants. If we seek strategies that yield equitable outcomes, we must commit to building the knowledge, awareness, and skills necessary to successfully engage with diverse groups.
Wellness The wellness of our participants is critical to the success and sustainability of the activity our strategic plan seeks to build. The multidimensional factors of wellbeing (e.g., spiritual, emotional, social, mental, environmental, and physical) must be central to the growth and sustainability of this activity.
Access When the activity is perceived as inaccessible or restricted, our commitment to equity and inclusion and our growth potential are compromised. We want to ensure that existing programs maintain/increase access to participation while engaging potential new members to promote the benefits of speech and debate.
Our attention to the existing equity commitments will continue. Employing this map calls us to think about how the aforementioned focus areas are imbued in our programs and help us yield equitable outcomes. Currently, the DEI Map and its focus areas influence three of the NSDA’s primary strategic objectives. Below is a summary of those objectives and the scope of their work.
Objective: Build infrastructure to embrace advocacy focused on demonstrating the return on investment of NSDA-supported speech and debate to school leadership. The NSDA seeks to generate resources and work with school administrators to implement and grow speech and debate as both a staple in school curricula and a viable co-curricular activity. For speech and debate programs to exist, center on our core values, and have long-term stability, a strategic communication strategy to persuade key decision-makers is warranted. It is important to highlight the role of the NSDA in creating these benefits for fundraising purposes, to open up the benefits of membership and partnership to a larger audience, and to embark on a coalitionbuilding effort as a credible leader focused on educational returns.