Diversity and Inclusion Plan
At Brain Injury Connections of the Shenandoah Valley (BICSV), a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace is one where all employees and volunteers, whatever their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education or disability, feels valued and respected. We are committed to a nondiscriminatory approach and provide equal opportunity for employment and advancement in all of our programs and worksites. We respect and value diverse life experiences and heritages and ensure that all voices are valued and heard.
We’re committed to modeling diversity and inclusion for the entire brain injury services industry throughout nonprofit sectors and to maintaining an inclusive environment with equitable treatment for all.
To provide informed, authentic leadership for cultural equity, BICSV strives to:
- See diversity, inclusion, and equity as connected to our mission and critical to ensure the well-being of our staff and the brain injury communities we serve.
- Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services, and continually update and report organization progress.
- Explore potential underlying, unquestioned assumptions that interfere with inclusiveness.
- Advocate for and support board-level thinking about how systemic inequities impact our organization’s work, and how best to address that in a way that is consistent with our mission.
- Help to challenge assumptions about what it takes to be a strong leader at our organization, and who is well-positioned to provide leadership.
- Practice and encourage transparent communication in all interactions.
- Commit time and resources to expand more diverse leadership within our board, staff, student and volunteer bodies.
- Lead with respect and tolerance. We expect all employees to embrace this notion and to express it in workplace interactions and through everyday practices.
BICSV abides by the following action items to help promote diversity and inclusion in
our workplace:
- Pursue cultural competency, found in our cultural competency plan, throughout our organization by creating substantive learning and service opportunities as well as formal, transparent policies.
- Improve our cultural leadership pipeline by creating and supporting programs and policies that foster leadership that reflects the diversity of our communities.
- Pool resources and expand offerings for underrepresented constituents by connecting with other brain injury service providers, through our VABISP
membership, committed to diversity and inclusion efforts. - Develop and present sessions on diversity, inclusion, and equity to provide information and resources internally, and to members, our service areas, and the brain injury community, overall.
- Develop a system for being more intentional and conscious of bias during the hiring, promoting, or evaluating process. Train our workforce development team on equitable practices.
- Advocate for public and private-sector policy that promotes diversity, inclusion, and equity. Challenge systems and policies that create inequity, oppression and disparity.