[bright music]
- Announcer: The following program is
a PBS Wisconsin original production.
- Angela Fitzgerald: As the name of this series suggests,
topics related to race and racial justice remain important
to many of us who work hard towards a more diverse world.
But with the 2023 Supreme Court decision to eliminate
the use of affirmative action in college admissions,
and with legislation being passed across the United States
to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion,
or DEI initiatives, many are left wondering
what the future holds for diversity
in the workforce and schools.
Let's find out why race matters when it comes
to diversity in workplace climate and culture.
On June 4, 1965,
during Howard University's commencement ceremony,
President Lyndon B. Johnson stated
that "...freedom is not enough.
"You do not take a person who
"for years has been hobbled by chains, and liberate him,
"bring him up to the starting line of a race,
"and then say, you are free to compete with all the others,
and still justly believe that you have been completely fair."
Those words came before his signing
of Executive Order 11246 on September 24, 1965,
which established requirements
for non-discriminatory practices in hiring
and employment on the part of U.S. government contractors.
President Johnson's words come approximately one year
after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law,
and approximately four years
after the term "affirmative action" was used
for the first time by President John F. Kennedy in 1961,
when he issued an executive order mandating
that federal contractors "take affirmative action to ensure
"that applicants are treated equally without regard to race,
color, religion, sex, or national origin."
Now, affirmative action is designed to identify barriers
to equal employment opportunity
and eliminate them through action-oriented programs.
And despite these efforts
to create a more diversified workplace,
employment and workforce disparities remain.
For example, recent data
from the United States Department of Labor
show that for every dollar earned by a white worker,
73 cents and 76 cents are earned
by Latinx and Black workers, respectively.
Wisconsin earning data shows a slightly larger gap,
with Latinx earners earning 69 cents
and Black workers earning 74 cents
for every dollar earned by a white worker.
Affirmative action remains a hot topic of discussion,
largely driven by the 2023 Supreme Court decision
to effectively eliminate the use
of affirmative action in college admissions.
Workplace culture strategist Chevon Bowen
provides her perspective on this important work.
How are you doing today, Chevon?
- I am doing wonderful, thank you so much for having me.
- Appreciate you coming to join us.
So tell us about the work that you do
as a workplace culture strategist.
- Yeah, there's actually quite, I feel like there's a lot
that is embodied by my role, but there's a few key areas
that I feel that I focus on.
So one of the main areas is in regards
to professional development
around the various equity and inclusion efforts
that we're trying to implement at Madison College.
And so we have a lot of different workshops
that deal with topics like how to create a sense of belonging
for students and employees, how to deal with some
of those frustrations that employees
and students of color may have to deal with
in the workplace.
We will tend to dive into things like microaggressions, right?
And how to create psychologically safe spaces.
And so I really, and that's where my passion is,
that's really the heart of the work that I do where that is,
and so I spend a lot of time working with other colleagues
in different units across the college
to design these workshops to find ways to make them engaging
for our employees so that it doesn't just feel
like another check in the box type of training,
but something that's actually meaningful,
and they're gonna get some really good information
out of it and also learn from each other.
I feel like that's a critical thing.
I like being able to teach different concepts,
but I know that a lot of the learning comes
from those engagements that they have with each other,
so we really try and create those environments
in the different workshops and trainings that we develop.
- Wow, your area of work sounds so interesting
and like it could take so many different paths.
So not only is it equity work within an organization,
but it's an organization focused on education,
so, like, even just the layers in and of itself right there.
I feel like I have some follow ups for you
around what does that work actually look like for you,
and kind of how has it maybe shifted or evolved
in response to things that are happening
in the world around us.
Before I get into that,
how did you get into this lane of work?
Like, I feel like workplace culture strategist,
I wouldn't have even known what that was
probably, like, ten years ago.
So how did you get here?
- You know, what's great is I didn't even know
what it was not too long ago,
so we're in the same boat, it's okay.
And so, the first thing that I wanna share is my background,
my degree and everything has, people would say
that it has nothing to do with this work.
So my undergrad that I got is in occupational safety
and health from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater,
and then my master's degree is in environmental health
and safety from UW-Whitewater as well.
When the events of George Floyd happened
and our president said we need to really start putting
a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion,
then our college started having these different initiatives
that started coming off, right?
And so the first one was
we need to have our different schools formulate committees
that are going to champion this work.
And so, you know, the associate dean I was working
with at the time came up to me and said,
"Hey, this thing is going on, would you wanna do it?"
And I had to recognize there was probably
a couple different reasons why that was asked of me,
but I was okay with it because I knew it was a chance
for me to do some good for the institution
just outside of the safety realm,
and really take some of those skills
that I learned from my master's program
and be able to apply them to a different discipline.
So I was very excited to do that, and I'll share
I was also excited to do that just because of my history.
I grew up in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
It's a predominantly white town.
Navigating that and growing up in it
was interesting in itself,
so I really also wanted to jump on this work
because I wanted to better understand
how my lived experiences have impacted me,
and then be able to translate that into the work
and help other people.
- And do you find that, or have you found
that the work has shifted for you over time?
How does it look different now?
And I ask that because, you know, we acknowledge
that the climate around us has undergone some changes
in terms of how collectively we embrace the idea of equity.
So just in general, what have you seen over time,
and where do you see this lane of work now?
- Oh, yeah, mm, that's a heavy one. [chuckles]
Because, you know, when I first, and I think the reason
why I say that is there's a couple different angles,
so bear with me here.
So on the one end,
I think when the work started, it was a bunch of us
that were thrown into it, trying to figure out
what are we supposed to do with this?
And you talked about how a lot of organizations
kind of started jumping on the bandwagon.
And I think that what we've seen since this work has started
is that there needs to be intentionality
with building a strong foundation for the work
if we want to really see, like, those big strides
or those big leaps in progress.
And so we kind of jumped into the work,
we knew something needed to be done, right?
We had a new equity and inclusion plan
that was developed, and you know, all of these directives
of what we should be doing, and so we just kind of dove in
and started trying to build things.
I remember when we first started doing the work
in the institute, and you know, we knew that we wanted
to find ways to be able to embed different types
of learning outcomes related to DEI into various classes
that students are taking.
You're throwing a lot of people in
and asking them to do this work,
and they may not have a lot of knowledge around it,
and it's not their fault, right?
It's because if we're gonna ask someone to do something,
we need to make sure that we're giving them
the tools and the knowledge,
and everything that they need to be successful.
I struggle with saying that our work has actually changed.
I do recognize that because of things that have happened
that are outside of our control,
that we've had to shift a little bit, right?
So I originally started this work working in the
Office of Equity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement.
We're all still there, but now we're called
the Division of College Culture and Climate.
It doesn't bother me that we changed to that, to be honest,
because that really is what we were doing.
All the work that we're trying to do in terms of,
you know, creating equitable spaces, right?
Inclusive spaces, creating a sense of belonging
for everyone in our community,
you know, that hasn't changed any.
It's just all of those things
that we were doing was ultimately
to try and develop a healthy culture
and a healthy climate for everyone who's a part of it.
- So Chevon, tell us, as the broader context
and climate around your area of work shifts
on a national level, how do you
and members of your team maintain a sense
of psychological safety that allows you to still feel,
I guess, empowered to do what you do every day?
- Yeah, sometimes that's a little bit of a challenge,
and I think that a big part of the reason
why it's such a challenge is because we have a team
of individuals who are so passionate about this work.
I also feel the need to recognize
that our team is mostly made of employees of color,
and so you know, when you think about that,
that's a lot of employees who are...
who are putting themselves out there,
and putting their truths out there
to try and get that message across
and get people to buy in to why this work is really needed.
And the vulnerability that comes with that,
and you know, how much it can tax you.
I've definitely, you know, myself and others on the team,
we have felt the repercussions of that, right?
I think that sometimes when the climate shifts
and we find ourselves frustrated,
and we're like, "Why are we doing this work?
Can we even do this work?"
One of the things that we tend to go to right away is,
like, within that learner safety aspect.
So we need to learn more about why the climate changed,
but we have to shift, and so we need that time to shift.
We recognize that we need to rebuild our foundation some,
going back to that piece.
And so we need that time to rebuild,
we need that time to relearn or learn new things,
and then figure out now how can we incorporate this
into what we already wanna do
so that we can continue to advance this work
to ensure that the work is still meaningful,
that it's still gonna impact our students,
especially our students of color, the way that it needs to?
- Absolutely; I think being strategic is very timely
with this work, which historically,
I feel like we've always had to be strategic
around how do we achieve our objective,
given that the larger world around us
is not advocating for what we're trying to achieve?
- And I think we just, you know, one of the things is
that we try and keep at the forefront is,
you know, obviously we're doing something right. [laughs]
- Exactly.
- 'Cause if we weren't doing something right,
then, you know, those who don't want to see these changes
wouldn't be going to such lengths
to try and stop the work.
And to your point,
it's not like this hasn't happened before
in social justice movements.
So it's just a matter of how do we reset,
make sure that we're still good in our core,
and then yeah, strategize to, okay,
we'll take a different route, but the work still lives.
- Yes. - Yeah.
- I appreciate that explanation
because I can imagine some folks wondering,
like, what does that mean to, like, change the name of a unit
that has such a very specific focus?
And not wanting it to come across
as though the original intention is being taken away from,
but rather know where, in some ways,
it seems like intentionality around broadening
who all is included in this, because at times,
it feels like there's a maybe selection bias
in terms of who actually becomes involved in this work,
and arguably, we all should have shared ownership.
- Yes.
- In a space like an educational institution, right?
I'm curious, because you mentioned this earlier,
the idea of equity, inclusion, even climate
and culture work being checkbox work.
How do you avoid that for some who may feel
as though, "Yep, I did my plan, I did the thing."
- How to avoid the check in the box syndrome?
I don't know that it's completely inescapable.
I think that we are trying to implement strategies
to make it more inescapable, and you know,
something that I have been really trying to teach myself
over the past year is that
I know that I want to change the entire world,
but I also need to be okay
with focusing on what's within my locus of control.
As much as I would love to shake every single individual
and say, "No, this is important, you should believe in it.
"You should want this to be a part of your being, right?
A part of your breath," I understand that I can't do that.
And so it's kind of one of those things,
and you know, there's different versions
of how you hear about this, but when you talk about culture
and trying to change things, right?
They'll say, you know,
and this is just kind of the rough estimate,
that you'll have, like, 20% of people within the community
that are, you're excited about it,
they're gonna champion what you're trying to change, right?
They're the first ones that are willing to try it out.
And then you have, like, 20% at the bottom that are like,
"I don't really care what you're trying to do.
"I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing,
and nothing you can do will change that."
And then you've got, like, that 60%
that's kind of in the middle and they're on the fence.
They don't really know which way to go.
Something that I've noticed is that
if I myself am trying to bring them along,
that's very taxing 'cause it's requires me
to be even more vulnerable, I would say, at times
about my intersectionality,
about my experiences, about how I got to where I am,
which can lead to being very drained.
And that's not always healthy, right?
For your mental health, your physical health, emotional,
all of those things.
And so I've been trying to be okay
with the fact that I can't do it all,
and really trying to put my trust in others
to help bring along those individuals
who may not be quite there yet.
- So I guess I was curious what you do to support
maybe that 20% who might be engaging in a way similar to you
of, "I'm constantly sharing parts of myself,
and just doing a lot that could be very taxing on me."
And then what do you need
to feel supported in this area of work?
- The ways in which those of us,
that upper 20% support each other, there's numerous, right?
So I know many of the people that I work with,
we often have one-on-one conversations
and just kind of check-ins and see how we're doing.
I will say that when we have team meetings with individuals
who do this work,
we intentionally have those meetings
a little longer than probably what you need
for a working meeting because we wanna make sure
that we give that space for people to be able to share
about their struggles or their successes, right?
And be able to have that safe space for us to be able
to talk about what it is that we're going through.
And to be honest, I suppose another thing
that I try and do personally, and maybe it's different.
Like, when I share my personal struggles or my stories
or things like that with those
who are in the trenches with me, it doesn't feel as taxing.
It feels sometimes like I'm trying to share with them,
like, this is what I've gone through
because I don't want you to go through it.
So you know, an example that I will give,
last year, we were getting ready for our art gallery
for the Black Women Affinity Group,
and I ended up missing the gallery
because I wasn't taking enough care of myself.
I was in very deep in this work at that point in time,
there were some personal things that were happening to me
related to the work at that time,
and my body just said, "Yeah, we quit.
You can't make it that day."
And so that's a story that I often share
because then I try and explain to people, you know,
when they're saying, you know, "I'm just so worn out.
"You know, I'm drained from how taxing this is,
"from how much of myself that I have to give to others
for them to understand."
And I just, I'm like, "Well, this is what I did.
"Like, I was in the same place you were,
"and this was how it impacted me, and you know,
these are changes that I've made now, right?"
So you also say about things that I need for myself.
You know, I'm a big fan of therapy. [laughs]
I go to therapy, right?
I've really started to focus more
on things like meditation, right?
And also, before doing this work, the idea of missing work
'cause I was sick just sounded crazy to me.
Like, I would drag myself into my jobs and be sick as a dog,
'cause that's just, a lot of times,
that's what's expected, right?
And so, just getting myself to realize that,
like, I'm learning that. - Yeah.
- And recognizing that when you are starting
to feel worn out, it's okay to take a day for yourself.
- I guess I wonder what words of encouragement
or advice you have around even starting something
that looks like or mirrors what you do?
Like, what does that look like?
Like, what would you say to someone
who is interested in starting an affinity group, you know,
at their organization or just doing something
that feels like there's a first step towards creating
an organizational space in which I feel
like all of me's accepted and where we're moving
towards the goal of equity? - Yeah.
- What would you tell that person?
- This kind of work, I don't think can be done in a silo,
and I don't feel that it's healthy to do it individually.
When I first started doing it, I wasn't really,
like, I wasn't really talking to my family about it,
I wasn't really talking with my close friends about it.
Sometimes I would worry, you know,
going back to how I grew up, right?
Like, a lot of my friends are not Black,
they're not minority, right?
They're white, and so even just trying to figure out,
like, oh, my goodness, now I'm in this space,
and recognizing my identity and I'm doing all this work,
and I wanna talk about it all the time,
and then you sometimes get in these spaces
and you're like, "Oh, I don't know if I should talk about it."
And I would even sometimes feel that way with my family
because even those generational differences
can make the conversation challenging.
So I was just like, "Oh, I don't need to.
"I've got people at work and know other people
in my professional network and that'll be fine."
And what I've learned is that doesn't work.
At least for me, I realized it didn't work.
But those who are in your community
who truly care about you and truly love you,
they're gonna be there even if it's awkward, right?
And so once I was able to push through some of that,
some of those challenging feelings,
it really became helpful for me.
So I'd say that would be the other piece too,
is just be comfortable with sharing your story
with those who are in your community,
and trust that the ones who you have in your community,
you know, care about you enough
that they want to hear your story,
and that they wanna support you in any way they can.
- Wow, community is so important, like you said,
especially for work that can feel isolating,
depending on who you have around you.
I remember taking classes where I'm like,
"Well, man, every time they talk about Blackness
or a Black person, it's always something negative."
We're lowest on this, we're negative on that,
and just feeling like, how is that impacting me
in ways I don't even recognize?
So I guess I'm curious, not to diminish the reality
of disparities that are very real for all of us
and especially in the state of Wisconsin,
but how can we be thinking about this work
from a strengths-based perspective?
- Yeah, and I appreciate what you're saying,
because we can't ignore those facts, right?
Those do need to come out.
But I think what can be done is, you know,
we use that information to set the stage
for how we can make things better.
And so a lot of times when, you know,
when I'm working with others and we're delivering,
we have a couple different workshops that we do,
and one of them I'm thinking of is
our culturally-responsive practices workshop, you know,
we share those, we share that information, right?
We talk about, you know, where the gaps are,
where the struggles are,
especially when it comes to our Black and Brown students.
But then we're like, okay, now let's shift that focus.
So we get it, we get what the problem is,
we get what our current reality is,
but how can we move that forward?
And so really trying to spend the majority of the time
focusing on what I would consider the positive side
of the story. - Yes!
- And really just thinking about, you know,
what are those things we need to do when we're thinking
about making relationships, like, building relationships
with our students and our coworkers?
And, you know, what do we need to understand in terms
of their intersectionality and their lived experiences?
And, you know, what does trust look like?
And that looks different for our different populations,
and we need to understand that.
So having conversations around that, having conversations
around, you know, you need to understand your own identity,
you know, and how you bring yourself to the table.
So how can we do that, what does that look like?
How can we look at those different layers of culture
and understand how that's impacted us
in the way that we have been brought up in the world?
And so that's all we're really trying to do, yeah.
- Wow, that was beautifully stated, Chevon.
As a workplace culture strategist,
what does success look like to you?
- Oof, this will be a little personal.
I think that success for me
will be me walking into the institution
feeling like I truly belong in all areas of the institution.
There are the pockets, right?
I've talked about, like, the people who I get to work with,
and you know, those who are moving forward
and in the trenches with me doing the DEI work,
and I feel really comfortable in those spaces, right?
When I sit in a Black Women's Affinity Group meeting,
I feel so good in those spaces.
But that feeling isn't in many other areas
of the institution, so when I can walk in
and feel comfortable everywhere I'm at,
I can sit at any table and feel comfortable and confident,
and know that there's respect there, right?
That there's trust there between me and everyone else,
I think that might be when I really feel
like we've succeeded at our mission.
And I know that that's personal.
I don't feel bad about that, though.
Yeah, that's it, I'm just, I'm really looking forward
to what the next year is gonna bring
and how we can really help to continue
to benefit our employees and our students.
- Thank you so much, Chevon.
- Oh, my goodness, thank you so much for having me.
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- Angela: Watch additional episodes and content
at WhyRaceMatters.org.
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