United Way's Diversity and Inclusion Work
Improving Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity is the quality of being different or unique at the individual or group level. It can include work style, parental status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, skin color, language, age, mental and physical abilities - and more.
Inclusion is a strategy to leverage diversity. Diversity always exists in social systems. Inclusion must be created. To leverage diversity, an environment must be created where people feel supported, listened to, and able to do their personal best.
Diversity, inclusion, and living united. At United Way of the Columbia-Willamette we take these to heart. We envision a world where everyone feels valued and included. Unfortunately, in our region and all over our country, there are those who have not been included or had a voice in decisions that affect their lives.
As our country has become more global, we have experienced social, economic and demographic shifts. Social service, education, government, business and other institutional systems have not been prepared to keep up with those changes, and consequently some have suffered the effects of exclusion, intolerance and discrimination.
We recognize this challenge, and our responsibility to be more diverse and inclusive as we strive to help people and change lives in our community.
We are working to make United Way of the Columbia-Willamette a learning organization that seeks input and adapts to changes in the community, our donors and staff. We can no longer cling to old ways of doing business, but must be innovative, creative and courageous to move diversity and inclusion to the next level.
We seek to work in partnership with you, members of our community, to address inequities, bias and discrimination that interfere with true inclusion in our region.