At Hope Services, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are not just buzzwords but a core value that drives everything we do. We believe that a workplace that embraces diversity and promotes equality creates a stronger and more creative environment that delivers better results. That’s why our staff have collaborated closely over the past year to develop our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee. We are committed to creating a culture that promotes individual growth and a sense of value and acceptance for everyone.

DEI Committee

At Hope Services, our DEI committee is responsible for overseeing and driving DEI initiatives throughout the organization. Our DEI committee is made up of a diverse group of employees who represent a variety of backgrounds and experiences. This ensures that we have a range of perspectives at the table when making decisions and driving change.

DEI Vision

Our DEI vision is to continually reflect, inspire, and cultivate a sustainable culture that values wisdom, engagement, and lifelong learning. We are committed to building an inclusive culture that encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices of our community. Our goal is to engage individuals to promote equality, personal choice, dignity, and respect for all.

Successes

We are proud of the progress we have made towards our DEI vision. Here are some of our notable successes:

• Developed Mission and Vision statements that guide our DEI initiatives.
• Increased marketing efforts related to DEI initiatives, which have helped to raise awareness of our commitment to DEI.
• Developed a membership selection process that includes an application, interview questions, and a selection committee. This has helped us to increase our membership from 6 to 24 members and increase diversity within our committee.
• Developed and finalized a Committee Charter, which outlines our responsibilities, roles, membership teams, membership process, meeting protocols, norms and agreements, decision-making, and accountability and communication.
• Partnered with Inclusion Counts, a consulting firm, to assess our progress towards DEI initiatives. Based on this assessment, Inclusion Counts developed an equity report, published in February 2021. This report has helped us to identify areas where we can improve and prioritize our efforts.
• Developed a 3-year strategic plan that outlines our goals and objectives for DEI initiatives.
• Developed four subcommittees. Members meet monthly to discuss pending tasks and next steps. This has helped us to streamline our efforts and ensure that we are making progress towards our DEI goals.

At Hope Services, we believe that our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is not just good within our place of work, but good for society as a whole. By creating a culture that values and embraces differences, we are helping to build a better, more equitable world. We are committed to continuing to drive change and make progress towards our DEI vision.

Learn more about our DEI committee at www.hopeservices.org/dei