Dorla Bonner

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director | Kalamazoo, Michigan

The city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, defines equity as the guarantee of fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all, while striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups. The principle of equity acknowledges that there are historically under-served and under-represented populations. Addressing these unbalanced conditions is required to ensure the provision of adequate opportunities to all groups.

However, it is hard for me explain equity without including the concepts of diversity, inclusion, and belonging. These concepts complete the “full participation” requirement of the equity definition.

Diversity refers to the representation of different demographic groups with a range of differences, both seen and unseen, that make people unique. This asks the question who is in the room to receive this equitable treatment? While there are often under-represented groups, there is also often an over-represented group in the room.

Inclusion refers to the action of creating an environment that engages, respects, and values multiple perspectives, ideas, and individuals. This asks the question are those new folks in the room respected and engaged? Are their perspectives valued? If the answers to these questions are no, then why are they even in the room?

Belonging is the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for an individual within a group. When all three are present—diversity, equity, and inclusion—your organization exhibits high levels of belonging.

The easiest thing an organization can do is to focus on diversity and add the different folk to the room. But this alone doesn’t equate to fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement. And even if those things do occur, if those persons experience a lack of psychological safety due to experiencing unconscious biases, microaggressions, gas lighting, etc., they are still prevented from full participation.

Unfortunately, organizations fail to realize how much they lose when they do not have belonging for all as their goal. When staff do not experience belonging, they are less engaged, they don’t bring their whole selves to work, and they are more likely to look for work elsewhere, which results in a loss of creative thought, productivity, and longevity. Creating an atmosphere of belonging is not easy but it’s necessary for equity, diversity, and inclusion to be real and not just words. Creating this atmosphere takes strong leadership, patience, consistent effort, accountability, and awareness of what should change in the organization.

It takes the courage to not get caught in transactions such as creating a DEI position without providing that position the authority and funding to implement change, or hosting trainings without accountability that the training resulted in changed actions, or celebrating holidays but not respecting folks who are named in the holiday. The expectation of this work is that organizations will finally experience transformation, becoming workplaces where belonging is the norm for all.

Jason E. Stroud

Assistant City Administrator | River Falls, Wisconsin

Diversity is being invited to the party. Equity is being able to add your music to the playlist. Inclusion is being asked to dance. I realize that oversimplifies it, but maybe it’s an easy way to introduce the concept of equity to some.

I’ve come to learn that equity involves identifying and removing barriers that have marginalized groups or prevented groups from full participation. It’s ensuring fair treatment, access, and opportunity for all people—and realizing that some groups have barriers that others don’t.

Claudia María Menéndez

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer/Funcionaria de la oficina de Diversidad, Equidad e Inclusión | Fort Collins, Colorado

Equity for all, leading with race, is a multifaceted concept and approach. To be clear, being race explicit is not race exclusive; we are working to achieve equity for all. There is no one-size-fits-all answer and that is the beauty of equity for all. As we think about our city’s mission and how we work toward providing “exceptional service for an exceptional community,” we are already thinking about equity.

Approaching our work with an equity lens means thinking about how socioeconomic status, gender, age, linguistic abilities, physical and mental abilities, and especially ethnicity and race intersect to influence an individual’s ability to access and experience services, programs, and day-to-day life in Fort Collins in the best way possible. We all have equity needs and they shift and change throughout our life.

Our work and privilege as leaders in local government is to understand how certain intersections of social identities create disparity gaps, and with this knowledge we in turn develop policies and processes that result in equitable outcomes for our diverse community members.

Ashley Reynolds Marshall

Deputy City Manager for Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion | Charlottesville, Virginia

I define equity as the work we do to ensure every resident begins to run their race at the exact same starting line, at the exact same starting time, and with the exact same hurdles to jump. Equity work is getting everyone to that line before the starting bell, and then running in front of individuals who have artificial barriers in their lane. That does not mean that the race is smooth sailing, but it does mean that one person doesn’t have more barriers than anyone else just because of their gender, race, religion, sexuality, ability, or age.

Tamara Miller

Human Resources Training and Equity Manager | Lewisville, Texas

Equity goes beyond equality. Equity is not simply everyone receiving the exact same treatment and the same resources. Equity takes into account everyone’s individual needs and strives to meet those needs equitably.