recruiting and hiring
Transforming a Movement: How foundations can support effective Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion capacity building efforts in environmental organizations
This report, compiled by the consulting group J.E.D.I. Heart, explores how funders and organizations can contribute to and more effectively engage in DEI efforts within the environmental movement. The report draws on research conducted with funders, DEI point people and staff of color at environmental organizations to analyze the limitations of ongoing DEI work and provide concrete suggestions for how to improve. Their findings suggest that environmental organizations view the act of beginning DEI efforts as a success in itself, rather than critically exploring the effectiveness of the work. For more read here.
On a Plate
This is a comic that illustrates the differences between growing up in a higher-income family and a lower-income family. It depicts well how socio-economic background can shape life opportunities and exposes the flaws in arguments about pulling oneself up by their bootstraps. For more read here.
relinquishing the patriarchy
This article is directed at people who identify as men and explores the impact that toxic masculinity can have on their relationships with people who identify as women. The author discusses reasons for toxic male relational approaches with women and offers a number of practices that can help “relinquish the patriarchy”. For more read here.
Hiring a Chief Diversity Officer Won’t Fix Your Racist Company Culture
This article discusses how while diversity, equity and inclusion are becoming parts of the mission statements of companies across America, many companies are failing or unwilling to address deeper issues of racist culture. Through a series of examples, the author exposes how people of color are often hired by companies to “solve their racism problem”, but are prevented from doing substantive work. For more read here.
Workforce Development Racial Equity Readiness Assessment
This is a tool put together by Race Forward, a racial justice advocacy organization, for the field of Workplace Development. It offers a toolkit to assess organizational approaches to racial equity on a number of levels and resources for how to improve racial equity within the organization. For more read here.
Let’s Get Real About Why Women of Color Are So Tired: Playing by the rules in capitalist America comes at the cost of our mental, physical, and emotional health
This honest article by a woman of color examines why women of color experience actual trauma and suffering working in majority-white nonprofits. Specifically, the article addresses the scarcity mentality and a culture of celebrity and competition that underpin the culture of most nonprofits, including in the environmental and conservation sector. For more read here.
WHITE MALE WORKERS RESPOND POORLY TO WOMEN AND RACIAL MINORITIES IN POWER AND TAKE IT OUT ON COLLEAGUES: REPORT
This article begins “How do white male executives handle it when a woman or person of color become CEOs of their company? Not well, a new study from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business suggests.” We like this article because though many conservation, outdoor, and environmental organizations may be succeeding in recruiting, hiring, and promoting women and BIPOC, these employees will still struggle without concerted efforts to address unconscious bias on the part of their peers. Read more here.
Toolkit on Implementing the President’s Memo on Diversity & Inclusion in Public Lands & Waters
We built this toolkit to help you implement the Presidential Memorandum issued on January 12th, 2017. The memo is available online here. The toolkit is attached.
DownloadBlindspot: The Hidden Bias of Good People
In this seminal work, the authors of the Implicit Association Test discuss the impetus for their research on implicit biases. The book is peppered with fascinating activities and stories. Because implicit bias is what fundamentally gets in the way of our doing good diversity, equity, and inclusion work, we recommend everybody read this book. For those who are more audiovisual, listen to the podcast we’ve posted with Mazarin Banaji. If you have some time to read, order the book online here.
Diversity Derailed: Limited Demand, Effort and Results in Environmental C-Suite Searches
In its most recent report (October 2016), Green 2.0 researches executive search firms and their approach to supporting the green sector with hiring. The upshot is that search firms—upon whom big green organizations are increasingly relying to fill leadership positions—have neither valued nor integrated diversity into their hiring priorities. Though this study is on search firms, the full report and the checklist contain some useful recruiting and hiring tips for all organizations in the conservation and environmental sector. Read more here.
Cluster Hiring and Diversity
The concept of cluster hiring originates in academia, where increasingly, universities hire multiple scholars into one or more departments based on shared, interdisciplinary research interests. Cluster hiring since been interpreted to mean hiring multiple people from a specific identity (women, people of color) at a time. This has been shown to increase gender and ethnic diversity. This article discusses the benefits of cluster hiring in academia. Read more here.
Green Leadership Trust Board-Led Best Practices on Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity
The Green Leadership Trust is a network of people of color and indigenous people who serve on environmental boards. We work to build the environmental movement’s power by diversifying its leadership through promotion of best practices and other resources and by driving the leadership pipeline. In December of 2014, the Green Leadership Trust launched the “Board-Led Best Practices on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.” Find their resources here.