The D&I Digest: April 2021
Featured in this issue: the Pride Tshirt Contest, Community Service Month, Arab American Heritage Month and Lead2Change Career Day with Jason Ludtke.
BR is committed to increasing and retaining diversity of thought, experience and background of our talent base at every level and function, and to actively creating a culture of belonging that embraces all of our employees as they are – because if we’re going to fully serve our clients, we need to show up as our full selves. Our goal is to develop a cross-functional team of employees and agency leaders that celebrates our people, delights our clients, better solves problems, and promotes a passion for diversity and inclusion.
Show your PRIDE at BR.
Remember last year’s Pride Shirts? To celebrate again this year, we had a t-shirt design contest. Some designs came on napkin, some came fully polished, but all are amazing. Now, it’s your turn to decide which one will be this year’s BR PRIDE shirt. Please vote before April 16. We will work with the winner to perfect and finalize their design, and all employees (with shirt size provided in Ultipro) will receive one before June.
Community Service/National Volunteer Month
Based on the D&I survey results, it seems like a lot of employees are looking for more opportunities to get involved. And as luck would have it, April is Community Service/National Volunteer Month!
What is Community Service/National Volunteer Month?
This holiday was established in 1974 and has grown each year. This month is used to recognize the impact of volunteer service as well as promote volunteering in your community.
Besides the many benefits to society, studies have shown that individuals who volunteer enjoy psychological and physical benefits, including: increased feelings of satisfaction, improved sense of belonging, lower blood pressure, increased protection from Alzheimer’s disease and decreased rates of mortality.
How can I get involved?
All 10 spots for the trash pickup April 30 have been filled! Thank you!
Check out other volunteer opportunities you can sign up for on the sign-up sheet or review the SharePoint ‘Give More’ page with local opportunities listed.
Tandem Tutoring— Shifts are available from 3-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.
- You would provide one-on-one homework help for elementary, middle and high school students (socially distanced and masked). Hosted at Owen’s Place.
- Must pass background check and then can register for individual sessions.
- No long-term time commitment needed; you can help just once or as often as you want!
Not comfortable volunteering in person yet? No problem! See below for some organizations that have some great virtual volunteering opportunities:
- PEARLS for Teen Girls has some great virtual volunteer opportunities.
- United Community Center also has some great virtual opportunities.
Passionate about some other cause related to D&I? Coordinate your own volunteer day! Reach out to the d&ileadershipcouncil@bader-rutter.com, and those can be promoted in the monthly newsletter.
Passionate about a volunteer opportunity that isn’t a D&I related cause? Please contact HR for assistance in how to promote it.
Arab American Heritage Month
During a time of heightened hate crimes, bigotry and misunderstanding, it is now more important than ever to remember that America is a nation built by immigrants. We can use this month to enhance understanding of the nuanced and diverse aspects of Arab American heritage.
Some quick info:
- The United States is home to over 3.7 million Arab Americans.
- Although Arabs are ethnically, religiously and politically diverse, most Arabs can trace their ancestry and traditions to the nomadic desert tribes of the Arabian Peninsula.
- The Arab world includes 22 countries stretching from North Africa in the West to the Arabian Gulf in the East.
- In the United States, many people conflate “Arab” and “Middle Eastern,” but linguistic and geographical factors mean that these terms are not fully interchangeable, according to the Arab American National Museum (AANM). The Middle East includes non-Arabic nations, such as Iran, Israel and Turkey. Similarly, not all Arabic nations are located in what is considered the Middle East — including Egypt, Algeria and Morocco.
- A common misconception is that all Arab Americans are Muslim. Approximately 24% practice Islam, 63% practice Christianity and 13% are other.
- Check out this list of notable Arab Americans here.
Get involved.
Free on April 11th, 18th, or 25th? Check out this online event celebrating National Arab American Heritage Month
If you want to learn more about Arabs/Arab Americans, check out the D&I SharePoint.
Lead2Change Career Day
Volunteer Contributor: Jason Ludtke
On March 20th, Jason Ludtke entertained and informed over 30 students during the Lead2Change Career Day programming. He discussed his journey into a full-time graphic design role; tips and tricks on creating your portfolio; finding inspiration and your voice; and the differences between full-time and freelance work. Jason wove in plenty of Bader Rutter projects and talked through how a design gets tweaked and fine-tuned before final client approval. The students started a steady stream of amazing questions in the chat within the first few minutes throughout his entire presentation. Check out his presentation below.
On May 1, Devin Martin, Megan Rouleau, Jess Ayala, Amber Williams and Cassie Bonner will be conducting a workshop on Personal Branding for Lead2Change.
Updates:
Also happening in April:
April 8 — Yom Hashoah (Jewish)
April 12 — Start of Ramadan (Muslim)
April 20 — Start of Rivdan (Baha’i)
April 22 — Earth Day
April 23 — National Day of Silence (LGBTQIAA+)
Did you know?
Bader Rutter’s client Corteva Agriscience has been named a “2021 Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). This distinction is achieved by scoring 100% on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI). The CEI assesses employment policies, benefits and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) employees. Corteva also earned top ratings in the 2021 HRC Equidad MX report, standing out as an employer in Mexico committed to creating LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices in its workplaces. These recognitions follow the late 2020 recognition that Corteva was named a 2020 Best of the Best Corporations for Inclusion by the National Business Inclusion Consortium (NBIC).
Check out the full news release here, or to learn more about Corteva’s commitment to inclusion and diversity, visit corteva.com/who-we-are/our-diversity.html.
Missed our last newsletter?
Every month moving forward, D&I will release a monthly newsletter, but the previous issues are always available for you. Check out last month’s issue here:
Want to help the D&I Leadership Council? Have an idea on something that should be highlighted next month? Send us a note.
Dig in further on our SharePoint site that highlights our four pillars.
Learn More: BR supports each employee’s process of self-discovery about topics related to diversity, inclusion and belonging. We do this by providing resources and opportunities for employees to educate themselves.
Listen Harder: BR leadership commits to listening to employees about topics related to diversity, inclusion and belonging, and encourages employees to have open and honest conversations with each other. We do this by providing a range of feedback channels and spaces for discussion.
Change Faster: BR executes on action plans to become a more diverse and inclusive organization that fosters a sense of belonging. We do this by providing training for our employees, implementing talent acquisition plans and tracking our progress.
Give More: BR gives of its resources to support diversity, inclusion and belonging, and encourages employees to do the same. We do this by offering our employees service days, partnering with local organizations on pro bono work and making monetary donations.
