Heather Latter
The local Celebrating Diversity committee is launching its “Respect Campaign” publicly with a session at Boston Pizza tomorrow morning (Feb. 16).
Committee chair Trudy McCormick noted a presentation, developed by three committee members and entitled “Six Steps to a More Respectful Community,” will be offered up, with the goal being to initiate conversations about diversity.
Organizers are hopeful many local businesses and organizations will send at least an employee or representative to the presentation to learn what the campaign is all about.
“If they have heard about it or are curious about it, they can come and see what it is and then from there hopefully we can arrange to do [the presentation] for their business or organization,” McCormick explained.
“It’s all about raising people’s awareness of the issues around diversity and the importance of respecting difference,” she stressed.
“And hopefully by having conversations about it, then when people are in a situation the next time, they’ll have some ideas of how to handle it better,” she reasoned.
McCormick acknowledged the definition of diversity is very broad, noting it includes gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, religion, people with disabilities, people with mental illness, race, age, etc.
Up until now, they’ve done the presentation for members of the committee in order to test it out, work out the bugs, and see where they can go with it.
“Now we’re ready and we’re looking forward to launching it across the district,” enthused McCormick, adding they have a group of volunteers who are trained and able to deliver the presentation.
“We try to always have two people presenting, so there are different experiences and different background shared and we have found that very effective,” she noted.
McCormick said the presentations given so far certainly have garnered positive results.
“It’s been absolutely magic,” she enthused. “The energy and discussions that come from the group is just wonderful to see.
“I’ve done a number of them now and I’ve learned something new in every one that I’ve presented.”
She said the participants all have come away with something.
Businesses and organizations that take the workshop will be provided with visible identifiers, such as lanyards and door signs, so anyone going into these organizations immediately will know they can expect to be treated with respect.
The first public session tomorrow at Boston Pizza will begin at 9 a.m. and only last about an hour.
“We don’t want the presentation to take up too much of people’s time so that later we can easily offer it within their workplace,” McCormick said.
Those interested in registering for the free workshop can do so by calling 274-5327.
Registrations will be taken right up until tomorrow morning.
“We want it to be inclusive, we want people to enjoy doing it, and we hope everyone will benefit from it,” she remarked.
