Conference: diversity inclusion is community's responsibility

Carissa WoytachThe Chronicle-TelegramELYRIA — Diversity and inclusion is the community's responsibility, according to comments made during the final panel of the YWCA's "Confronting Hate: Creating Community" conference Tuesday afternoon. Panelists Brian Frederick, former president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Lorain County; Kenan Bishop, chief equity and achievement officer for Lorain Schools; Jeanine Donaldson, YWCA of Elyria and Lorain executive director; and April Stoltz, co-founder of Teatime for Peace, discussed problems with hate in society and the workplace, and best practices each have found to promote equity in their lives.Frank Whitfield, president and CEO of the Lorain County Urban League, was the afternoon's moderator. "A lot of what we talked about all throughout the conference is that the community needs to decide what our standards are," Donaldson said. "And if we're OK being a community that doesn't value diversity and inclusion than that's what we're going to get. When I first started working in Lorain County, my husband started working in Lorain County, that was a time of affirmative action … but when affirmative action was in place, there were a lot more African-American teachers."Donaldson said over time, African-Americans in leadership positions have gone away, and it's the community's responsibility to make those inclusive practices a priority. Bishop shared similar sentiments, noting co-workers and community members have to work toward allyship with minorities, building relationships with those in their community.When asked what impact this kind of work is having on society, he likened it to seeing Marvel's "The Black Panther" in theaters and being able to see African-Americans depicted in a "beautiful context … it wasn't hood related, it wasn't buffoon related," he said. "I felt connections, I felt synapses in my brain growing because they were stimulated in a way that they hadn't been simulated before," Bishop said. "So we have this opportunity for conversations like this, things happening in schools and businesses where we provide mirrors for our children not just windows. I don't look at you, who looks different than me and see your success and say 'oh, that's good, maybe one day' I look at somebody who looks like me and I say 'Oh gosh, it can be done.' I think we're having the right conversations."Frederick said the Community Foundation of Lorain County has long been aware of inequities and has strived to be an inclusive and diverse group — mainly with its board of directors composed of someone other than just older white men. The foundation was the first in the country to have an African American Community Fund and one of the first to have a Hispanic Community fund. "We tried to figure out how best to use this tool called philanthropy to best make it work for people," he said. "It was great, we constantly talked about diversity and inclusion and equity."Stoltz, whose group recently held the 20th Teatime for Peace, said her group's answer to confronting hate around Islamophobia was to create an event to bring Muslims and others together to get to know each other. Teatime for Peace invites members of different religious groups to sit together and recognize the similarities between them and answer questions about each other's religions, in the hopes of creating a better understanding — especially of Islam.She said groups need to connect with Middle America, and invite rich and deep conversations. Speaking to the Caucasian members of the audience, Stoltz said it is the job of people in positions of privilege to have these conversations and recognize that equity is about sharing. "We can live in a world together with shared resources for everyone and in the end we were be greater emotionally and spiritually and more connected and less isolated as we grow in love with each other."Contact Carissa Woytach at 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.