Resources for Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in the Plant Conservation Community

[Katie Heineman]

During our June 2020 Conservation Officer call, we discussed the response of the plant conservation community to the Black Lives Matter movement and strategies for increasing opportunities for underserved communities in our field. Below I am sharing statements on this topic from CPC organizations brought forth during our chat. I also am listing (just a few) organizations that may help do the much needed work of improving our diversity in our field and workplace. Please feel free to comment to add statements you found helpful from plant conservation orgs or additional resources for improving inclusion in botany, ecology, and conservation:

Statements on Diversity, Inclusion, & Black Lives Matter:

• University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (http://arb.umn.edu/content/message-about-death-george-floyd)
• North Carolina Botanical Garden (https://ncbg.unc.edu/2020/06/03/black-lives-matter/)
• University of Washington Botanic Garden (https://botanicgardens.uw.edu/about/)

Resources for Improving Workforce Diversity 

• Greening Youth Foundation (https://gyfoundation.org/): Jennifer Ceska & Emily Coffey have worked with this nonprofit to connect underserved communities to opportunities in the environmental sciences
• The Collection 180 (https://www.thecollective180.com/): Atlanta Botanic Garden has completed training with this group to improve organizational approaches to inclusion and diversity.
• Naomi Fraga from California Botanic Garden offered to share her experiences in enlisting the help of community college professors, local career fairs, high schools in building a diverse intern program and workforce at CalBG.

[Johnny Randall]

Katie and others: At the North Carolina Botanical Garden we formed a Diversity and Inclusion Comittee a couple of years ago, which has been very active. One outcome is that our institution and each staff completed a rather comprehensive Intercultural Development Inventory (see https://idiinventory.com/). Each staff met with the UNC Chapel Hill IDI coordinator to go ove the specifics of their personal assessment and determine ways that they can make improvements. 

Also – please have a look at this very powerful video from my friend and colleague, Justin Robinson, who is curently an inventory botanist for the NC Natural Heritage Program.

See https://t.co/n0aUrQYpUD?amp=1 

 

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