Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) in 2023

By Lulu Bonning

The San Diego Diplomacy Council strives to cultivate a community that embodies values and practices that are diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible. Connecting people on a global scale is best accomplished when we incorporate DEIA (or IDEA, as we call it at SDDC) practices into every fiber of our work.

The pursuit of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility will always be a journey, never a destination. There will always be more work to do. In 2023, we have continued to do this work, setting up best practices and standard procedures to further cement IDEA values into our work.

Read on to gain an insight into some of the initiatives and conversations surrounding IDEA that have taken place at the San Diego Diplomacy Council this year.

The IDEA committee

In its third year of operation, SDDC’s DEI Committee, officially added accessibility to our focus, and adjusted our committee’s acronym accordingly. We meet bimonthly in an informal manner to discuss past successes, upcoming events and opportunities, current events, and things on our mind. Open to SDDC staff, board and advisory board members, and active participants from our community, the IDEA Committee is where some of our very best ideas are incubated.

A standout IDEA Committee meeting of 2023 is the onsite visit to the Timken Museum, led by Advisory Board member and founding member of the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art (SDAAMFA), Fern Nelson. In partnership with SDAAMFA, the Timken Museum was (and still is) hosting an extraordinary Kehinde Wiley painting in San Diego. “Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan” is hanging in the Timken through May 2024 is a force to behold, inserting a new narrative centering on the representation of People of Color in subject matter and styles typically portraying white men.

We have discussed a myriad of topics this year at IDEA Committee meetings, exploring ways to ensure we maintain diverse and inclusive practices in our work. Some strategies which have been put into place include a review of vendor data to ensure that our partners are maintaining similar values and best practices to us. We have also reassessed metrics language and assessment parameters that we use when reviewing programmatic impact. We conducted research, including a survey, to gather data on the zip codes that SDDC serves throughout San Diego. Communities served through various ways including SDDC members, meeting hosts, dinner hosts, and more, were considered in the creation of this zip-code map. Through this map, we are working to identify areas of San Diego that are underrepresented in our work. Then, we can prioritize connecting with these areas moving forward.

Learning from our National Programming Agency Partner

In November of this year, I had the privilege of spending a week in Washington, D.C. to participate in a staff exchange with one of our National Programming Agency partners, World Learning. It was a week filled with meaningful connections and lessons on best practices, all curated with such care by World Learning Program Officer, Nicolette Regis. This was a reciprocal staff exchange, and Nicolette also got to spend a week in San Diego, which was great fun!

One of the sessions that Nicolette organized for me was a discussion with Senior Program Associate, Baylee Easterday, to learn about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility work currently planned and underway at World Learning.

As a large nonprofit with thousands of employees around the globe, World Learning has scope and resources well beyond what is available to us as a six-person team at SDDC. However, there were many ideas and messages I was able to take away from my conversation with Baylee, which I hope to explore through our IDEA committee and with my colleagues.

For example, World Learning embraces the pedagogical possibilities that are enabled through hosting a DEIA committee. World Learning has a system of resource groups which form a support system for community members, as well as a series of events featuring guest speakers. I admire their dedication to committed evolution and education, and hope that we can mirror their example of asking hard questions and pursuing their answers at SDDC.

Baylee and I also spoke extensively about how to promote DEIA in programming. We discussed the merits of IVLP as a two-way exchange of ideas, best practices, and valuable connections. But we also discussed the need to support the local community, and honor their work, by providing honoraria and stipends for their time where available. I was also able to empathize with Baylee’s desire to include DEIA conversations in programs that do not have an explicit DEIA focus.

Marching for Pride

On July 15, SDDC proudly took part in the San Diego Pride Parade. An event which attracts over 300,000 people annual, the San Diego Pride Parade is among the largest Pride events in the U.S., and the largest single-day civic event in the region.

With over 70 SDDC members registered to join us march, many of whom donned San Diego Diplomacy Council t-shirts and carried our #DiplomacyForPride banner, we had an incredible time showing up for the San Diego Pride community. We look forward to participating again in 2024 – keep an eye out for details in the new year, if you’re interested in joining us.

Engaging with Youth

Involving more young people in our organization has been a top priority for several years. We are incredibly proud of the in-house youth programs we ran in 2023, including the Global Leadership Youth Program and the Global Youth Collaborative. Not only are we prioritizing programs and offerings for San Diegans of all ages, but we are doing our best to ensure these programs remain accessible to everyone, regardless of financial circumstances. We are proud to have offered the Global Youth Collaborative as a 100% free opportunity, and to have scholarships available for all Global Leadership Youth Program students for whom the program’s cost is a barrier to participation.

We are excited to continue expanding our reach across youth spaces. In 2024, we have taken on the ambitious goal to host a Binational Youth Summit for young people interested in diplomacy and international relations. Taking place on February 28 at San Diego State University, we will be hosting 200 high school students and teachers from across San Diego and Tijuana. Thanks to our generous sponsors and donors including the Wendy Gillespie Center for Advancing Global Business and the Longview Foundation, we are able to offer Summit registration free of charge.

Looking Ahead with our Strategic Plan

2023 was a chance to earnestly plan for the future as we crafted the 2023 – 2028 strategic plan. We are so excited to grow our impact and capacity over the next five years, and encourage you to learn more about our strategic goals here.

For the first time, SDDC’s strategic planning goals explicitly include IDEA metrics. We have written diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility into the blueprint of our goals, not only to formalize our commitment to improving best practices, but also to hold us accountable and reaffirm our commitment to our values.

From a standardization of data collection best practices, to a metricized commitment of engaging new and diverse partners each year, and applying IDEA principles to achieve operational excellence, we hope that our strategic plan will help us become an outstanding organization and community resource, for all people.

Continuing to do the work

By no means is this the end of our IDEA journey. We are proud of all that we have accomplished this year, and motivated to double down on our efforts in 2024. I am grateful that the San Diego Diplomacy Council prioritizes IDEA conversations, adjustments, and recognitions. May 2024 bring the chance to build inclusive communities, and invite new faces to our organization.