LAFAYETTE – One business, two nonprofits and one individual were named winners of the Greater Lafayette Commerce's Diversity Roundtable Diversity Best Practices awards, the roundtable announced.

The Journal & Courier will be given the 2015 Workforce Diversity Best Practices Award. Congress Street United Methodist Church and The Arc of Tippecanoe County will receive the roundtable's 2014 DRT Diversity Leader Awards for nonprofits. Barbara Clark, a retired Purdue University diversity leader in the College of Science and co-facilitator of the Diversity Roundtable, will receive the individual DRT Diversity Leader Award.

The awards will be presented at the Greater Lafayette Commerce's annual dinner at Purdue University on Wednesday, Sept. 16.

We have updated the diversity links that run along the right side of this page, and added some new ones!
The list is also available in the "Read More" section of this announcement. Click to see...

Jos Holman, Tippecanoe County Library Director and Diversity Roundtable leader, wraps up the 2015 Diversity Summit, April 23 at IV Tech Lafayette. (YouTube)

Module 1 (Group of 12 or less in attendance)

Training: 2 hours (could run longer if participants need more time)

Introduction

1. Define effective communication
2. Discuss why differences are important
3. Talk about the commonalities
4. What is the positive outcome of learning to communicate with different cultures

Conversations

1. "Cultural Hearing"...what does this mean?
2. What did you say? What was actually heard? (role play)
3. How different cultures analyze words

A Diversity Roundtable subcommittee asked police agencies in Lafayette, Purdue, West Lafayette and Tippecanoe County about their diveristy efforts, and here's what they found:
What agency or individual offers diversity training to your officers?

• LPD: The training officer at LAPD has a background in cultural anthropology and conducts diversity training for the department. In addition, James Foster, diversity consultant from the community, also did training in 2009.
• PUPD: In the past, training has been provided by the Indiana Law Enforcement Association consultants, also a consultant from Dr. Taylor’s office (Division of Diversity and Inclusion at Purdue). Currently the department is using PoliceOne Academy (on line videos) for training re: diversity, using a train-the-trainer approach.
• TCSD: Training has been conducted by local diversity consultants James Foster and Willie Cruz.
• WLPD: Sana Booker, local diversity consultant, recently offered cultural communication training to officers. A training on student diversity will be offered by a consultant from the Office of International Students and Scholars later this year.

What diverse populations are covered in the training?

Join us for the 2015 Diversity Summit featuring keynote speaker Dr. Derald Wing Sue from Columbia University. Dr. Sue will be presenting on Microaggressions. The summit will be Thursday, April 23 starting at 11 a.m., at Ivy Tech Community College 3101 S. Creasy Lane, Lafayette, IN 47903-6299

Register at http://www.greaterlafayettecommerce.com/events/2015/01/12/diversity-summit.

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration
  • 11 a.m. Jan. 19, Tippecanoe County Public Library, 627 South St.
  • Local resident Tom Brown will explore King’s 1967 speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” which denounced America's war in Vietnam.
• Conversation Circles
  • The community-building arm of the Diversity Roundtable is holding its January call-out from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 27 at the downtown library branch.
  • The call-out is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about the circles, which aim to foster a better sense of community through respectful listening and sharing of diverse experiences.
  • A training session on Conversation Circle facilitation also will be offered Jan. 18. For more information on this session, email drtconversationcircles (at) gmail.com.
• Congress Street United Methodist Church programs
  • Last fall, the church organized a communitywide discussion series based on the book, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.”
  • It plans on having another discussion series on race at the end of February.
  • Organizers are considering books that explore the concept of ”white privilege.“
• 1 in 4 Campaign
  • Michael Oxenrider, director of education and marketing for Mental Health America of Tippecanoe, is recruiting community members for a photography project that shows 1 in 4 people is affected by mental illness.
  • If interested, call Oxenrider at 765-742-1800.

The Diversity Rountable has been having frequent guest speakers who have been making excellent presentations on diversity issues.
The document "DRT Group Agreements, March 2014" covers how to ensure these presentations are productive.

The Diversity Round Table voted unanimously at its Nov. 7 meeting to urge the Greater Lafayette Commerce to oppose HJR-6. The vote came after State Rep. Sheila Klinker and JeanMarie Gossard, in-district organizer for Freedom Indiana spoke to members.

The following week, the GLC's Quality of Life Council approved resolutions to opposes HJR-6 and second encourages GLC to do the same.