Welcome to the Inclusion Allies Coalition

Career Resilience Community

Welcome to the Inclusion Allies Coalition (IAC) Community for DEI practitioners interested in forming a community of professionals who have lost jobs or work. Whether you are staying in the DEI field and marketing yourself and work widely, continuing the work but diming the light on your marketing efforts to avoid being targeted, or deciding to leave the field and look for work in other areas, this is the Community for you. If you professionally help colleagues in this stage of their career journey, you are also welcome in this community.

You will be supported by IAC Leadership and Community Leaders, Ritika Singh and Shavondalyn Givens.

Feel free to invite others you may know to join, since this is for IAC members and non-members.

Why Are We Launching This Community Within IAC?

Recently, the Trump administration issued three executive orders designed to terminate the employment of federal government diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program managers and close the doors on all federal DEI programs. These orders ignore four decades of bipartisan progress in eliminating systemic bias and discrimination in the workplace for millions of Americans. 

Adding to the stress on many of our members is the continual (and predictable) mischaracterization of DEI to spark outrage and justify its elimination. At the forefront of these comments is the notion that DEI is a perceived threat to meritocracy and intended to be a divisive strategy to divide society based on race. DEI has been blamed for everything from the bridge collapse in Baltimore to the quality problems of Boeing 737-800s, the wildfires that ravaged parts of Los Angeles and the D.C. plane crash.

Though President Trump disavowed any awareness or connection to it, the steps taken last week follow the plans in the Project 2025 document, a 900-page policy “wish list” designed to expand presidential power and impose an ultra-conservative social vision. They go as far as encouraging federal agencies to report those in the private sector who continue to do DEI work.

IAC's Response to the Executive Orders

In these times, all of us need to stand together against the cruel impacts of these orders. In response to the Orders and the number of individuals who will be impacted, the Inclusion Allies Coalition has adopted a posture of “Resist and Assist” which includes:

RESIST: ADVOCACY

• Organize resistance to anti-DEI policies through the formation of a larger Inclusion
  Allies Advocacy Network composed of DEI-related organizations
• Provide thoughtful rebuttal and challenge misinformation with accurate, verifiable data on the benefits and results achieved through DEI work
• Create a Multicultural, Multigenerational Working Group on Reframing DEI, which will include stakeholder research as well as public perception research
• Continue Diversity Matters. Equity Matters. Inclusion Matters. social media campaign to provide examples of the positive impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

ASSIST: COMMUNITY

• Continue to be a haven for the DEI community to support each other
•  Create a new Career Resilience Community for people who have lost DEI jobs/work
• Strengthen support for the DEI Embattled States Community
• Respect the choices of members/practitioner who may decide to dim the light/reframe/leave their DEI work

RESIST & ASSIST: EDUCATION AND RESOURCES

• Educate members on what we are facing and how we can respond organizationally and individually, while staying in compliance with federal mandates
• Provide monthly webinars focused on different marginalized groups being attacked consisting of an overview of the legislative and policy landscape, the experiences of individuals in these groups and what we can do organizationally and individually to support each group
• Create resources on how to communicate with employees and leaders
• Build skills to help heal the divide by generous listening, curiosity, and dialogue

The IAC’s Leadership and Board, together with the broader Inclusion Allies Advocacy Network are committed to being the voice of the DEI profession responding to the ongoing attacks, reassessing our work, and standing stronger together in community as we evolve into the next stage of DEI. 

Career Resiliency Webinar:

Supporting Our Colleagues Who Have Lost Jobs or Work

In 2024, the Inclusion Allies Coalition Webinar Committee designed and delivered a webinar entitle: Career Resiliency: Supporting Our Colleagues Who Have Lost Jobs or Work.  IAC members Cecilia Stanton Adams, Deb Dagit and Greg Jenkins presented sessions that covered:

From Burnout to Breakthrough: What is DEI Burnout; What Causes It; Signs Unique to DEI Burnout and Ways to Go from Burnout to Breakthrough

Career Resilience: Experience, Self-Care and Priorities; Pursuing Internal Roles; Establishing a Consulting Practice

Your LinkedIn Profile: Networking, Branding, Marketing, and Job Seeking

We have provided the slides from this webinar in this portal. They can be accessed by clicking the "Pages" menu at the top of the page above and selecting "Resources."

IAC Contacts

Margaret Regan, Chair, iMCI and IAC       mregan@futureworkinstitute.com

Andrea Cisco, COO, iMCI and IAC           acisco@futureworkinstitute.com

Career Resilience Community Contacts

Ritika Singh                         ritikas779@gmail.com

Shavoldalyn Givens            SGivens@asrcfederal.com