Coalition for Inclusive Communities

Coalition for Inclusive Communities
Nancy Van Milligen shares The Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque's workplace equity efforts with other community foundation leaders at the CFLeads 2019 Fall Forum.
The new Coalition for Inclusive Communities learning network aims to advance equity in the workplace and build community cohesion while serving as an interactive learning lab for participants.

Advancing equity in the workplace is one important step towards reducing the racial, social and economic disparities in our society. An equitable workplace creates a stronger sense of belonging for employees and has been proven to drive economic growth and increase employee retention.

Structure

Five community foundations have been selected to lead the design, launch, and recruitment of employer participants for the CIC learning network, ultimately establishing five engaged employer networks with a total of 150 participating business leaders.

Each Employer Network will:

  • work collectively to assess the greatest equity challenges faced in the workplace;
  • identify which activities to focus on; and
  • create an action plan to address these challenges.

Desired Outcomes

  • Increased understanding of the ways in which community foundations can effectively create or expand employer relationships to build more inclusive and equitable workplaces.
  • Increased understanding of the ways in which community foundations can more effectively advance inclusive workplace practices among local employers.
  • Increased peer connections among CIC participants, through which they can obtain ideas, resources and support.

Meet our Current Cohort

The five community foundations participating in this program were selected from CFLeads’ groundbreaking Community Foundation Equity Network:

Two of the community foundations, Greater Buffalo and Greater Dubuque, already have well-established workplace equity programs and serve as mentors for the other three participants.

Funders

Contact

The CIC is a project of CFLeads and extends grant resources to each of the five participating community foundations to carry out this work. If you’re interested in learning more about the CIC or other CFLeads learning opportunities, please contact Angela Brown at abrown@cfleads.org or 617-854-3544.

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