DEIB Work @PEAK
At PEAK, our Four Believes reflect an underlying faith in the possibility that people can have deep disagreements with one another and respect, appreciate, and value each other enough to create something awesome together. The ideal PEAK environment is one where staff, families, and youth have the opportunity to experience a sense of authentic community with a wide variety of people with diverse and conflicting viewpoints.
We know that we want to be a place where people with divergent backgrounds and perspectives create an authentic community. And we also know that is hard. We have created a DEIB Working Group that holds the container for the PEAK team to bring intentionally and consistency to this work. This committee leads the charge in moving our work along through 1) Creating the container for crucial conversations 2) Offering resources to enhance the competency of the staff (skills & knowledge) and 3) recommending practices, policies, and structures that will ensure the highest quality experience for our participants.
We record our work and progress on current goals through our Action Plans that are revisited and updated yearly to reflect current needs and focus areas. Check out previous action plans below.
Among the outcomes from this work are:
Revising our organizational holiday policy to incorporate personal holidays, fostering greater cultural inclusivity.
Revising our bereavement policy to embrace a more compassionate and culturally attuned approach.
Formulating Gender Inclusive policies aimed at effectively training and supporting our diverse staff and participants.
Acquiring and practicing skills in navigating challenging conversations, enabling us to address both individual and organizational concerns.
Among the externally facilitated trainings our staff has engaged in are:
Understanding the Trans+ Experience at Camp by the American Camp Association: “The camp experience produces many positive outcomes for children--- self-identity, self-worth, self-esteem, leadership, along with growth in personal skills and competencies. The camp community allows children to develop positive relationships with peers and adults, and it provides them numerous experiential learning opportunities. Camp helps children grow by providing a supervised, positive environment that has safety as its primary commitment. In this webinar, we’ll learn how transgender youth and staff can experience those outcomes listed above at your camp through your programming. Join us for a level-setting conversation influenced by media trends and defining the “why” for inclusive practice at camp. Together, we will work to build the foundation of first practical steps in creating a foundation for trans* inclusion at camp and attendees will leave with a greater understanding of the trans experience at camp.
LGBT+ & Allyship by the MKELGBT Center: “Terminology. We talk about the LGBTQ+ acronym and what it means, along with other helpful language. Gender. What is it? How and why do we see gender the way we do? Pronouns. What they are and how to use them. Allyship. How to be a better ally both within and without the LGBTQ+ Community.”
Having Difficult Conversations by the UWM School of Continuing Education: “Difficult conversations come with the territory of leading and working with others, but most of us dread having them. Whether we need to deliver tough performance feedback to a direct report or address a sensitive topic with a co-worker, we look for reasons to avoid them. Or we see these conversations as confrontations and arm ourselves for battle. In short, they make us uncomfortable. And while they may never be our favorite part of the job, with a few key insights about yourself and some powerful tools and techniques, you CAN get a better outcome!”