Monroe Harding is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion.
Our employees are the most valuable assets we have. The collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities and talent that our employees invest in their work represents a significant part of not only our culture, but our reputation and company’s achievement as well.
We embrace and encourage differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make people unique.
Monroe Harding’s diversity initiatives are applicable—but not limited—to our practices and policies on recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits, professional development and training, incentives and promotions, transfers, layoffs, and terminations, etc. Monroe Harding is committed to the ongoing development of a work environment built on the premise of gender and diversity equity that encourages and enforces respectful communication and cooperation between all employees. Monroe Harding promotes teamwork and employee participation, permitting the representation of all groups and employee perspectives.
Monroe Harding is committed to protecting the rights of each service recipient and to maintaining a culture of diversity and inclusion with all we serve. It is the policy of Monroe Harding, Inc., that all individuals served by the agency will be provided services without discrimination. Clients may not be denied services due to age, race, ethnicity, gender, religious preference, political affiliation, sexual orientation or gender identity, physical or mental disability, or health or medical needs, or any other status protected by law.
Monroe Harding complies with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as all EEOC regulations, and embraces the goal of Title VI that no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity for which MH receives Federal financial assistance.
All employees of Monroe Harding have a responsibility to treat others with dignity and respect at all times. All employees are expected to exhibit conduct that reflects inclusion during work, at work functions in or out of the office, and at all other company-sponsored and participative events.
Each employee shall refer to service recipients, resource parents, stakeholders, community volunteers, and each other using appropriate names and courtesy titles. Discriminatory, offensive, violent, or harassing language toward others is prohibited.
Any employee found to have exhibited any inappropriate conduct or behavior against others may be subject to disciplinary action.
Employees who believe they have been subjected to any kind of discrimination that conflicts with the company’s diversity policy and initiatives should seek assistance from a supervisor or Human Resources.
Complainants may raise concerns and make reports without fear of reprisal. Any person who is the subject of a complaint and attempts retaliation in any manner shall be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
OTHER Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Statements
How does Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice inform the work that you do? This could be internally with staff and board or externally with the people/environments you serve.
While Monroe Harding has a long history of serving diverse populations through a diverse staff team, in the past two years we began an intentional process of using Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) principals to elevate our work. For example, our CEO and VP of programs attended the Introduction to Systemic Racism workshop in 2019 conducted by the Center of Nonprofit Management and Crossroads Antiracism Organizing & Training. Our goal is to become an agency known for DEIJ and to challenge oppression in the community.
We have a diverse and inclusive staff (59% female, 55% people of color), reflecting the demographics of the youth/families with whom we work, However, we recognized that our board composition also needed to shift. This process began with our board chair and CEO completing the Governance Catalyst in fall 2018, which prioritized board equity/inclusion. The board held their annual retreat in February 2019 with a priority focus on board development. We created a needs matrix to identify skills/perspectives gaps and to maintain a list of candidates that supported our desire for inclusion. We currently have 16 board members, and our board make-up is now 10 women and 2 people of color.
Cultural sensitivity and identity training is integrated into all new staff orientation and existing staff continuing education. Training encompasses topics such as acknowledging implicit bias, addressing systemic racism, using preferred pronouns, celebrating cultural diversity, understanding intersectionality, LGBTQIA issues, etc. MH also provides training for staff on generational differences and how to work effectively with people from multiple generational cohorts. Staff members are sensitive to the issue of “adulting” service recipients (e.g., treating them as needy, dependent, ill‐informed, subordinate individuals who lack the knowledge and ability to make good choices for themselves). Our Youth Council of current participants is heavily involved in program development to ensure that all services are relevant and culturally appropriate.