On June 1, the Board issued a public statement expressing support of the Black community, condemnation of racism and discrimination of all kinds, and commitment to engage members in review of our policies and practices. We welcome member suggestion on ways to support the Black community and other underrepresented communities.

Fraternity and Leadership Foundation boards and Central Office staff have been collecting member concerns and discussing options to work with members to identify and prioritize ways to improve operations, education and training, communications and accountability to ensure our policies and practices align with our stated values and principles. This includes looking at how we can best engage experts to guide us on how to prioritize our efforts and best engage members in this work, while assessing opportunities for improvement and designing the path forward. We want to build a foundation for the items on our ongoing list of initiatives to be successfully designed and implemented.

On last week’s Virtual Town Hall for Chapter Leaders (viewable here), Board and Staff announced the following commitments to action:

• Adding a diversity and inclusion training event and action plan  under the Accredited CMP Tier
• Addition of DEI module to Tier 1 of Certified Deltasig Leader (CDL) training
• Additional staff-wide and elected leader DEI training
• Review of approaches to recruiting volunteers at all levels
• Exploration of Leadership Foundation funding for DEI education and training
• Review of LEAD DEI sessions to determine if updates are needed
• Development of 'how to' guide for writing proposals to better equip members to suggest changes 
• Appointment of Educational and Leadership Consultant Jasmin Flores as CO staff lead on DEI issues

The following are additional ongoing considerations and discussions as we consider next steps: 

• Establishment of DEI goals, metrics, and priorities and the systems and processes to monitor and evaluate progress
• Member task force(s) or focus groups to gather perspectives and input
• Additional training and development opportunities for members, staff, and volunteers with guidance from DEI experts
• Establishment of new staff, chapter, or volunteer DEI roles or activities
• Review of staff hiring and management practices
• Review of materials, events, and programs for barriers to participation
• Budgeting resources for DEI activities, events and initiatives
  

• Connect with your chapter/members across the country for dialogue, awareness, training and community action
• Email Jasmin Flores (jasmin@dsp.org) to volunteer to participate for DEI efforts
• Submit Bylaw, Policy or Ritual recommendations to Executive Director Bill Schilling (bill@dsp.org)
• Use the website "Contact Us" link to report incidents of bias or discrimination
  

As these efforts progress we will communicate progress and additional plans for action. We welcome member suggestions on ways to support the Black community and other underrepresented communities.