Browse Tag: diversity

Glad about GLAD’s Inclusive Outreach for Annual Winter Dance Party

I wasn’t even supposed to blog today — it’s so nice outside, and I don’t know how long this sun will last so I gotta make this quick. I cannot contain my excitement, intense feelings of hope, and pride in my community as GLAD’s Annual Winter Dance party gets a makeover this year.

Friends across multiple social and professional networks are seriously buzzing about this party — hey, I’m here blogging about it! I’ve been promoting the Winter Dance all week, and have found that many of my friends were already making group plans to attend. Moreover, my new connections (including QWOC+ Boston newbies), have been reaching out to me about it, too — via Facebook, Twitter, email etc — so clearly both offline and online word of-mouth marketing is working full throttle to ensure a fun, energetic, and diverse attendee list at the event on Sunday.

For those of you who don’t know, Gay Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) is a non-profit public interest law firm that fights for LGBTQ equality under law throughout New England. Basically, they file BIG legal suits against bodies (including the Supreme Court? Daaang) that discriminate against LGBTQ people, but more importantly, they win :).

Their legal efforts have truly (and practically, down to the dollar) improved the lives of the LGBTQ community; groups and individuals who faced discrimination now have justice for it, and the rest of us can rest assured of increased legal protection due to their remarkable wins. GLAD has performed unimaginable, modern-day miracles. Take for example, their recent win against the US Tax Court, who blocked a transwoman from deducting the significant medical expenses she incurred from her sex reassignment surgery. OR, their ground-breaking Aids Law Project win against the Supreme Court in 1998, which holds that people with HIV are protected from discrimination — right to healthcare, for one — under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

GLAD has been fighting for me for years. So, how is it that an LGBTQ community organizer like myself had no idea who they were up until just over a year ago? And how is it that I only knew ‘of’ them because a friend of mine happens to be their Special Events Manager (ah Robbie, dare I say you’re behind this new makeover? ;)); I knew nothing about their work or accomplishments in the legal realm until relatively recently.

As part of QWOC+ Boston’s diversity-via-partnership-building strategy, I had gotten to know almost every single social justice organization that was doing work in the LGBTQ community — and not just by name. I was well familiar with their service-based programs and their event programming; I’d discussed future/potential collaborations with their development staff and other organizers; I’d met many of their board members at fundraisers, informal social gatherings, and networking events. Yet, GLAD stayed under my radar.

Here are a few reasons I think they didn’t appeal to me:

  • Nothing about the way GLAD presented themselves — their special events, their press releases, their dry online presence — seemed intended for younger people. The subtext was too heavily focused on a gay movement many of us were still learning about and hadn’t fully plugged into. How could I care about national legal issues when my mental health was in jeopardy from having no sense of social community in my own city?
  • GLAD’s special events were waaay too expensive for recently-out-of-college me, and seemed like they had been planned mainly for an affluent, philanthropic white gay male donor list e.g. they hosted live auctions with items going for thousands of dollars, like long oversea vacations for people with more flexible work schedules (and 9 friends in the same tax bracket)
  • Because of this, even when I could attend via complimentary tickets to QWOC+ Boston, I often felt like one of the youngest attendees. And, needless to say, I was usually one of a handful of people of color in the room
  • Again, the legal, political, lobbying, bill fighting stuff just didn’t resonate with me and the people I knew. I represented a group of young professional people of color and allies, who were still trying to create a multi-identity accepting and inclusive community in Boston. A national white male gay rights movement seemed even further away from my reality back then (just a few years ago), when I was still growing QWOC+ Boston. I didn’t think my support (or lack of it) in any form would have an impact at all on the work that GLAD was doing.

That was me, then. Flash forward four years later, where I’m now a loyal follower of GLAD in part because I’m a little older, financial stable in my career, and more plugged in politically. Since equality for all is extremely important to me — I fight for it daily, in my own way — I want to get involved with organizations like GLAD, and I’m sure others do too! So, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’m very encouraged by their recent efforts to appeal to a more diverse group of potential donors.

I’ve made a few observations about the GLAD Winter T-Dance’s event marketing that I’d like to point out:

  • A Tea Dance is a gender-neutral event format — it appeals to both male and female identified attendees, unlike a dragqueen show (gay boys), or wet t-shirt contest (Cali Dykes). Okay, just kidding, but you get the point. That’s a diversity tip we should all store somewhere. Love it.
  • A lower price point (cheaper than a $75 mini-fundraiser faster, but boasts more sentimental ‘value’ than a $10 admission fee to a nightclub) will undoubtedly induce a huge wave of excitement; people love to support causes that are within their financial means (see post on Valentine’s Day). And now, there’ll be no need to remind them to tip the bartenders! Love it.
  • Music, music, music! DJ Mocha spinning “Dance” hits! Yes! Who doesn’t wanna party on a Sunday? You’re even allowed to Suggest Songs for the Playlist via a Facebook Widget. That’s great for the DJ AND the eager dancing crowd that may wanna “shake it up” per the Bay Windows advertisement. What’s more, is that they’re providing a Jazz Lounge for the people who just wanna schmooze (and preferably not over a loudspeaker). Love it!
  • In addition to the big-money raffle prizes, GLAD has (as always) the “Choose Your Own Raffle” section, featuring gifts like Red Sox vs. Yankee tickets, Spa Massages, Dinner and a Movie for Two Packages etc. Over 20 of these, apparently. So I’m delighted that the prizes they choose to highlight on their website could be for anybody. Love it!
  • In addition to using all the popular social media channels (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), GLAD offered an even bigger discount to community member by providing special codes to small groups. I was delighted to receive an email that said I was being offered two complimentary tickets to attend, but that I could also share a discount code with QWOC+ Boston members as well. Social networking, viral marketing, and community engagement all in one?? I LOVE this!

These “special features” may have everything to do with GLAD’s long overdue success with at least exciting a younger, gender-neutral, multicutural crowd about their upcoming winter event, or nothing at all. I’ll know for sure on Sunday. But regardless of what the turnout is like, I am encouraged by their efforts, and am looking forward to having a good time with my friends and fellow POC community organizers on Sunday. I love fresh starts.

Go GLAD! :)

Offline Social Networking Reveals True Diversity (Or Lack of It) — Ask Boston World Partnerships

In this new world of social networking, one can argue that outreach has become a much easier endeavor, and hardly warrants much more than a positional title; we’ve all seen the “Outreach Coordinator” and “Community Engagement Director” job titles listed on so many websites and business cards (particularly in the non-profit industry), but whether or not these professionals make it a point to step “out” of their offices (or online networks) and do some actual OUT-reach is still a mystery.

These days, with the click of a mouse, you can send out over 10,000 invitations to youth, LGBT leaders, marketing professionals, performing artists, political campaigners, students, and the list goes on and on. With a cyber range of that many users — and the convenient existence of dense networks such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others — it’s easy for marketing and outreach professionals to fall into the trap of assuming that their communications will reach and resonate with, well, everyone. But this simply isn’t the case. A vast number of users in your network doesn’t necessarily imply diversity online, or offline.

Boston World Partnerships Excels at Connecting a Diverse Group of Industry Professionals

Take, for example, my mini professional networking adventure this week: On Monday I got my first taste of networking events hosted by Mayor Menino’s social citizen initiative, Boston World Partnerships. The organization has done an AMAZING job on ensuring industry diversity — the professionals I met spanned across a variety of sectors such as technology, pr/marketing, finance, venture capitalism, non-profit, clean energy, etc — and, I must admit, an equally good job of getting women and some people of color to turn up at events. I attribute the success of their outreach strategy to not just their expert use of social media — link sharing contests, twitter, blogging etc — but to the active use of their diverse portfolio of industry “Connectors” to bring people together offline at their events! [Learn about the industry- and social network-specific professionals that the BWP continuously recruits to help spread the word about the organization here.]

Upon arrival to the BWP as a first-timer, it was nice to have a connector introduce me to a few really cool people, including a PR Connector who promised to get me marketing advice for my consulting practice, a fabulous fashion designer who still refuses to design an outfit for me because he “doesn’t make clothes for the female body” (haha!) and a  smart, political campaigning Latina I shared a “Yay — another woman of color!” moment with. She let me know about this amazing program that trains future democratic leaders to run for office which I may actually apply to in the fall — woohoo! I do think the group could (and should) do some work around LGBTQ-inclusiveness (we are, after all, in Massachusetts) in terms of recruiting connectors that could serve as links to the gay business community, but I was generally content with the evening’s turnout.

The YNPN’s Diversity Fail: A Case Study for Volunteer-Run Social Change Organizations

On the flipside, Tuesday’s Young Non-Profit Professional Network’s event was a bit of a let down. Perhaps I expected more of a multicultural crowd due to the very nature of the social-justice-centered network, but regardless of my failed assumption, it’s never fun to be one of the only people of color in the room, and at this NPO-Connect sponsored Karaoke Event, I was one of three. Yes, three. I counted. The friendly African-American lady that introduced herself to me as I was making my escape also confirmed this number (and then we shared a somber, commiserative moment). However, aside from the low POC count and the bad food (cold mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers), the venue’s social climate was open and warm — I walked into a white male quartet karaok-ing to Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” — and the event attendees represented  a variety of job functions in the non-profit sector. All this made my short time there a little bit less awkward, but I wondered if this fun, free-for-all format would prove useful in the long run. I had been inspired to attend this event based on the organization’s mission to “promote an efficient, viable, and inclusive nonprofit sector that supports the growth, learning, and development of young professionals,” yet I left the event having engaged in minimal conversation — many people seemed to already know each other, and with almost no new meaningful connections. Moreover, without an online RSVP/attendee list available, I couldn’t even mine the attendee list for any potential contacts when I got home. Grrr.

Somehow, in spite of the Boston Chapter of the YNPN’s large mailing list and several-year tenure, the event had a less than impressive turnout of mainly liberal white professionals. The chitter-chatter of of business-card-swapping yuppies (typical of most networking events) was almost non-existent; across the room, eyes remained transfixed on the karaoke stage as the YNPN staff and board members performed pop song after pop song in an attempt to liven up the crowd. Entertaining, yes, but not useful by any means. I left shortly after speaking with a board member about getting more involved with the group, specifically in the area of event planning. It was a nice group of people, and I do hope to get involved eventually, but ultimately, I’d regretted leaving the comfort of my couch that evening. And now here I am, blogging about the not-so-great experience I had. Fail.

My Pro Bono 2 Cents…

Incidentally, I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who asked me what diversity consulting had to do with event planning or program development. My answer: absolutely everything. The kinds of events an organization chooses to host (and how often) will inevitably draw out patrons of a particular profile over time. Pricing, location, sponsoring organizations, and of course media advertising channels (including social media), all play a major role in determining the offline success of your online marketing strategy. And like every good non-profit marketing strategy, the persons responsible should begin by first considering their target membership base, and then working backwards.

In the case of the Boston Chapter of the YNPN, I would recommend the following:

  • Add sector focus to your monthly event programming (e.g. March: Women’s Issues, April: Schools and Education, June: LGBT and Equality etc); this would create more efficient networking (and mentorship) opportunities for your members, and align more closely with your organization’s mission.
  • Take a cue from Boston World Partnerships and consider partnering (monthly, or on a case-by-case basis) with Connector Organizations (vs. Individuals) that would be responsible for increasing their network’s reach to different sectors, multicultural groups, and peripheral service providers to create and sustain diversity.
  • And lastly, jump on the social media bandwagon. Take out Facebook Ads, use Twitter hashtags to start (and continue) conversations about your events, leverage RSVP and link-sharing tools such as eventbrite to make it easier for your members to connect with each other etc. There are tons of great uses of social media to grow membership: pick one. Wait, do you have a twitter account?

And how will you know that any of this is working? Well, you could ask your members — send out a survey. But the truth is that there is no better test to whether or not your online outreach efforts are working than the attendee, registration, or donor lists you’ll collect via your offline event programming.

Diversity Outreach Strategy is Smart Business According to Donald Trump

I don’t watch much TV at all, which means I’ll routinely miss out on moments like this. This found its way into my Twitter timeline yesterday and I’ve been cracking up ever since.

But do you know what I really love about this clip? No, no, it’s not that blondie gets fired in the end or that the West Indian lady had a ‘moment’ listening to Anna’s pathetic defense and rolled her eyes in the boardroom – haha! No. It’s the fact that Anna (blondie) defensively, yet eloquently, illustrated her privilege as a white person in corporate America, line-by-line. She was soooo “into her book” while she was meant to be doing market research at the mall that she “didn’t notice” all the Hispanic people she would have to market her product to, and so, failed to hire Spanish speakers to bridge the communication gap. Really, Anna?

This is a clear case of the cat constantly guessing at when the mice will come out, while the mice have the cat’s eating, sleeping, and hunting schedule down to the T (they probably even pass out pamphlets to new mice coming through). What does the cat care? His survival doesn’t depend on knowing much about the mice at all. He’s got a lap to sleep on, and a warm bowl of Meow Mix. But I digress…

  • Diversity Fail #1 – The business-mogul-in-training failed to “notice” the Hispanic population that drove her target market segment
  • Diversity Fail #2 – When she finally did notice that the mall was full of Spanish speakers, she did nothing… I daresay she hoped that it wouldn’t matter / affect the team’s bottom line at all
  • Diversity Fail #3 – *And this is my biggest petpeeve* When it became apparent that the team’s cultural incompetence  and lack of Spanish language skills was affecting the business, they of course called on the two Spanish-speaking people of color to save the day. Reactive diversity tactics are NEVER successful.
  • Diversity Fail #4 – During the boardroom recap with Donald, the poor white girl defended herself ; both her words and tone seemed to suggest somehow that her professionalism? colorblindness? (I don’t know what she was getting at) angelic innocent nature that doesn’t see brown people? was actually a good thing even if it meant failure to sell their product.
  • Diversity Fail #5 – She didn’t own her mistakes, and so I’m assuming she didn’t learn anything from this experience. (I just hope that her elimination on the account of Diversity Fails doesn’t turn her to the dark side, if you know what I mean)

I’ve always been a fan of Donald Trump. He’s a smart no-nonsense businessman, and he knows his stuff. The fact that he highlights the importance of diversity from a strategic planning standpoint is not only extremely influential to millennial professionals of all cultural backgrounds (white people especially), but it’s also music to my ears since I’m constantly listening to the chime of  “good will” corporate politics.

Often enough, people dismiss diversity initiatives as “fluff” – good to have, but not required. But, in this example, that notion is nipped in the bud. It’s simple, really; the world is changing – has already changed – and our outreach initiatives, marketing strategy, branding etc, need to keep up with the social climate. It’s just good business practice.

Emerson “Both Black and Gay” Panel Recap: LGBT People of Color Discussions Too Narrow for 2010

Last night, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a panel titled “Both Black and Gay: What It Means to Be a Person of Color and a Member of the LGBTQ Community.”

When I first received the invitation, I was both honored and pissed off (I’m a virgo sun, and saggitarius moon – my emotions usually come to me in opposing twos). I was of course very excited about the opportunity to talk to students, because I don’t think they get enough support or are exposed to enough role models while they’re in school. However, I wasn’t as thrilled about the panel topic: not only did it sound like an academic dissertation, but the colon-ed explanation that followed the words “Gay” and “Black”  insinuated that the larger discussion about the experience of being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and/or Queer would inevitably be reduced to a much narrower (and unfortunately, more popular) discussion about what it means to be a black and gay man.

How is it that in 2010, we’re still unable to remain inclusive of the various cultural and ethnic backgrounds – not to mention the L, the B, and the T! – we claim to feel connected to during such critical discussions? Furthermore, are we really okay saying to our LGBT youth groups that narrow discussion scopes that blatantly disregard other cultural groups, gender expressions, and sexual orientations are okay? Disheartening as it was, I decided to focus on the excitement I felt around empowering and equipping the students, and not so much on the semantic snafu that was the panel topic. And for the most part, that worked really well. It was easy to get all warm and fuzzy when I saw the bright, young, eager minds slowly trickling into the room, and remember that “gentle” – not “militant” – is usually the best way to deliver a message.

But just as I feared, I ended up being the only woman on the panel, and was flanked by two “Black” and “Gay” male fellow community organizers (and dear friends) for the two-hour long conversation: Carnell Freeman from Men of Color Creating Change (MOCCC) sat on my right, and Steven Fleury of the Multicultural Aids Coalition (MAC) sat on my left. (Not to worry, ladies, I held my own ;)) We began rather formally: Tikesha Morgan, the Director of Student Multicultural Affairs introduced the three fabulous panelists, and then a blackgayboy student moderator (dressed in the cutest must-have vest!) kicked off the discussion by posing the first question of the evening: “What challenges did you face before you became comfortable with being an LGBT person of color?

[Crickets…] There would clearly be no warm-up. We all looked at each other, chuckling, scratching our heads as we struggled to come up with a succinct starting point to the loaded question.

After a minute or so, Carnell of MOCC rolled up his sleeves and kick-started the conversation; as a Boston native, he grew up in a predominantly African-American community, it was clearly no piece of cake, and a daily struggle to assert his identity as a gay man, particularly among straight black people, hence his creation of MOCCC, a social space in which he could interact freely with other African-American gay men. Steven, who has Haitian roots, talked about the challenges (and triumphs!) he experienced reconciling his sexuality with his religious beliefs and present-day activism within the Multicultural Aids Coalition. I described my experience as an on-going journey to which I held no end point in sight; my gender expression had evolved drastically over the past several years: from privileged femme to fluid futch to soft stud (and beyond), who knew on which part of the spectrum I would settle on (if I ever did)? My racial consciousness, I explained, had evolved too, but unlike my sexuality, I felt pretty sure that it wasn’t going to change. [Just for kicks, here’s the “iQWOC” journey I touched upon].

As you can imagine, the discussion got deep very quickly – there was so much — too much — to talk about. The panelists jumped all over the place, touching upon our experiences in the workforce (unanimously gay black men are “in” and iQWOCs are ostracized), our thoughts on Prop 8 and “the Church”, the use/mis-use of labels, coming out in communities of color, etc. The mix of personalities provided enough variation and alignment in perspectives which (I think) made the stories that were shared more interesting. So, even though we seemed to fly off on tangents every two minutes, the students in the room remained fixed in their seats and soaked it up for two whole hours.

But there was so much talk about “The Church” and Black Gay Men on the DL that I left reconfirming my belief that LGBT people of color are still unprepared to add any real value to the gay rights movement. As we discussed Prop 8, gay marriage, and other buzz-worthy political issues, I frequently had to play (devil’s) advocate and offer the women’s, latino, immigrant perspective in order to guide the conversation back to a more inclusive platform. I still find it mind-boggling that in 2010, people are still VERY comfortable substituting the word “Black” for “people of color”, passing on the experience of mainly white lesbians as the “women’s voice”, and leaving out Asians and Latin@s in almost every important discussion. Take for example, one student’s request to hear our perspectives on community leaders and advocates that aren’t “completely out.” Her question, although very smart and well-posed, seemed completely isolated from the variety of cultural contexts under which we should be exploring the issue. As a first generation immigrant, whose parents still live in Nigeria, a country in which it is ILLEGAL to “practice” homosexuality, it is not only dangerous for me to be out there, but for my parents as well – they could be physically harmed or socially ostracized (which in our country is financial suicide). I have a number of Latina friends who echo similar sentiments, and so most of them are only out in some variation. To imply some informal standard of “outness” would (and I’m sure already does) alienate a large subset of the LGBT people of color community: mainly the immigrants

All the panelists argued their positions on this politely, and the students, hungry for information, took it all in. So, even though I had a few hairs standing on end by the end of the evening, I felt very good about participating on the panel.

A few stream-of-consciousness takeaways:

  • We’re clearly not providing enough mentorship and support to our youth.
  • “Black” people in particular are going to need to do a better job of owning their American privilege if we are to unite the LGBT people of color community
  • Community-building is SO important for the LGBT people of color communities. It’s the foundation on which we can stand to raise our voices in the future.
  • Academics need to become more practical and ‘apply’ their theories to school reform; teen youth programs are reactive and just aren’t cutting it
  • Sexuality should stop being confused with gender expression (ugh!)
  • Being a community leader is HARD work!

Many thanks to the students of EBONI and Multicultural Students Affairs staff at Emerson College for inviting me to participate in their Black History Month celebration!

My Life as a Professional Token

I was recently invited to a house party style networking event hosted by Fenway’s Development staff. For those of you who don’t know, I’m the founding director of Queer Women of Color and Friends (QWOC+ Boston), a not-for-profit social networking organization for LGBT women (including trans-people) of color, so I’m used to receiving many invitations like this; sometimes, as often as three or four times a week.

The majority of the emails begin in the same way:

“Hi, I’m the new [insert position here] at [name of organization] and I’d really like for us to get together in person or chat over the phone about how we can work collaboratively this year to make our programs and services more inclusive of [insert PC descriptors here e.g. “people of color” “women” or “members of the LGBT community”].

Early on in my organizing efforts, I’d get excited about receiving similar communications – what an honor it was to be called upon to provide support and direction on various outreach initiatives of some major non-profits! I strongly believed – and still do – that engaging in these consultative conversations would ensure that QWOC+ Boston’s successful approach to creating and sustaining diversity via community partnerships would be proliferated in the larger queer community and that ultimately, we would all win.

So, I’d happily field questions about what they could do to improve their outreach efforts, connect them to local groups that they could partner with to strengthen their POC or women’s network, suggest modifications to their event programming to create stronger resonance with their multicultural/gay/women’s contingent(s) etc., all to no avail. They would take notes, make a few e-connections, and even send follow-up “Thank You!” emails to me, but they would only ever carry out short-term fixes (such as posting more ‘diverse’ photos on their website, or modifying an event title to include more kinds of people). A few months later, I’d receive a new email from the same organization, but from a new hire or individual professing their desire to “continue the work” or “do better”, and the cycle would continue… I used to be such a sucker.

I’ve since then earned the reputation of being extremely hard to get a hold of and have become methodically selective of which emails I respond to; I’ve only gone on a handful of diversity dates within the past two months and they were each arranged via referrals or personal connections. In the case of Fenway, even though I did not know the sender directly or indirectly, I decided to make an exception. I wasn’t about to get all excited about the initiative they took to reach out to young leaders in their network – myself included, or the extensive list of VIP that was strategically appended to the invite – I’d seen this all before, but I felt like I at least owed it to my community to attend the event. After all, Fenway had been steadfast supporters of QWOC+ Boston for the past several years.

So, accompanied by a fellow POC community organizeer, off I went to yet another event, where I knew I’d most likely be one of two (but hopefully at least three) people of color in the room, hoping to change the world with my charm, energy, and great ideas.

To be continued…

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