The D&I Digest: December 2020
Featured in this issue: Human Rights Day, Food Insecurity and a D&I Recap.Â
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.Â
Human Rights Day
Volunteer Contributor: Breanne Rentschler
Human Rights Day is observed internationally every year on December 10 – the day that the Universal Declaration of Humans Rights was adopted at the United Nations General Assembly in Paris in 1948. Following the conclusion of World War II, the United Nations drafted the document in hopes of preventing atrocities like those committed in that war from ever happening again.
The full document includes 30 articles that outline universal rights that every human is entitled to – regardless of any status – establishing fundamental rights that are to be universally protected. It has been translated to over 500 languages, making it the Guinness World Record holder as the most translated document!
to learn more about the history of the day, read the articles of the document, and explore other resources provided by the United Nations.
Explore even further on our Diversity & Inclusion SharePoint site.
Food Insecurity
Among the many articles included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there is one that establishes the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and of their family. This includes the basic need of food, something particularly near and dear to those of us who work in the agriculture and food industries.
Food insecurity, a very complex social issue, is defined by the USDA as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life,” and refers specifically to a lack of household financial resources for food. According to research by the USDA, in 2018 it was estimated that 1 in 9 Americans were food insecure, which equals over 37 million Americans and includes more than 11 million children. COVID-19 has only amplified the underlying issues of food insecurity and has caused those numbers to grow as unemployment rates continue to flex. Learn more about how the pandemic is affecting hunger in America here.
Although the pandemic has made it harder for us to donate food in person, there are still ways you can help combat hunger this holiday season.
Please consider donating to Bader Rutter’s virtual food drive benefitting Hunger Taskforce. The virtual food drive is open from Dec 8th-Dec 20th.
Our Intel Distillery has tracked the topic of hunger for years, and while it is always a concern in food production, it is on track to be one of the most talked-about topics in 2020, largely due to the pandemic. Read more about the Intel Distillery’s coverage on hunger in America and how food companies are working to combat hunger on the D&I SharePoint site or in select issues of the Intel Distillery’s e-newsletter, Friday by Noon.
D&I Recap
In October 2019, Bader Rutter kicked off a strategic plan to increase and retain the diversity of thought, experience and background of our talent base while actively creating a culture of belonging. Little did we know how much we would come to rely on that plan as we navigated this disruptive year!
As we adjusted to the pandemic, our ten-person Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council, backed by executive sponsors Linda Hogan and David Jordan, sprang into action. Amid heightened national conversations around racial injustice, we supported employees’ desires to reflect and get involved by conducting a six-week agency-wide empathy training, facilitating vulnerable team-level conversations about race, and bringing in Corey Flournoy of Groupon to talk to us about being better allies – all virtually.
To further our mission, we established a public commitment to Learn More, Listen Harder, Change Faster and Give More. We launched a D&I SharePoint site covering 10 topics (and counting) to help us gain new perspectives, and we donated our time, talents and money to 19 organizations in our community and beyond.
Through all this, we partnered with our BBN colleagues from around the world to help create D&I programs that all BBN agencies can benefit from.
None of this would have been possible without the enthusiastic support and participation of colleagues across BR, who suggested resources, participated in training, volunteered their time and so much more. You all have had an immense impact on making BR a better place to work, create and collaborate. Thank you for that.
We’re just getting started, and we can’t wait to see what’s to come!
Updates:
Also happening in December:
Dec. 10-18Â Hanukkah
Dec. 21 Winter Solstice
Dec. 25 Christmas
Dec. 26 Kwanzaa begins
Dec. 26 Boxing Day
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.Â
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:Â 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:Â 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:Â 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.
