The Diversity "Process"

PTAs that are struggling to increase their membership diversity so that all parents in their communities become involved at school need to understand one thing: Diversity is not really a program, but rather, a process. Here are a few key components of diversity initiatives that can make inclusion easier for PTAs to achieve.

Diversity is a strategic organizational mission
The organization must come to terms with what it is trying to accomplish with a diversity strategy. For example, my organization, Georgia PTA, believes that to remain viable, we must increase membership and increase our advocacy efforts. Increasing membership means reaching out to members who, in the past, have not joined PTA or who no longer find PTA to be a group/an organization to which they feel they can contribute in a meaningful way. Increasing our advocacy means igniting people’s passion for our mission and providing a way for them to respond.

One of the central missions of our organization is to speak on behalf of children. This is the meaning of advocacy. But to be an effective advocate, it is important to be able to think critically from the perspective of specific children and families from diverse backgrounds. The only way to do this is to appreciate and value diversity, whether in the form of ethnicity, race, religion, gender, or socioeconomic status.

Find a leader and a decision maker
Your leader and your decision maker should be two different people. A leader can be anyone in the PTA—a member of the executive board, a chair of a committee, or an individual contributor. The leader’s role is to identify organizational priorities and guide the group through the needed changes to create a more inclusive organization. The decision maker, usually the PTA president, has the authority to remove barriers to inclusion, such as policy, procedure, and project funding. The decision maker is responsible for assessing the risks and benefits of making change.

You do not have to be the president of your PTA or a school principal to begin a diversity campaign, but you had better have their attention and respect. For a diversity initiative to take root, you need grassroots support and leadership, but for it to grow, you must have vocal and visible support and ensure that the initiative is a priority for the organization. Priority initiatives that support diversity include nomination committee policy changes to ensure a more comprehensive selection process; partnership with the school on disciplinary policy may need to receive funding, as well as internal and external support. Decision makers are the only ones who can see that this happens.

If you do not have a key decision maker in place, hold off until you do, even if it takes another year or two. You also should expect to make mistakes along the way; that is a part of the personal learning and risk taking you must accept as leader of a diversity campaign.

Develop a common language
Define what your organization means by “diversity” and reinforce this definition whenever you talk or write about diversity. Georgia PTA defines diversity as follows:

The recognition of diversity within organizations is valuing differences and similarities in people through actions and accountability. These differences and similarities include age, ethnicity, language and culture, economic status, educational background, gender, geographic location, marital status, mental ability, national origin, organizational position and tenure, parental status, physical ability, political philosophy, race, religion, sexual orientation, and work experience.

Every Georgia PTA board member learns this definition and undergoes awareness training.

Embrace special-interest community groups
When reaching out to specific groups of people, find an organization whose membership reflects the target audience. Why? To learn. Remember, if you understood the needs and priorities of the target group, they would already be members of your organization.

Special-interest community groups know how to reach their membership most effectively. People trust the groups with which they are already involved. You can gain their trust by partnering with those groups and learning effective ways to engage their interest and serve their needs.

Work these strategies
Take on whatever task you can, but keep working these strategies over the long haul. When you bring a heterogeneous group of people together to focus on a common goal—the best interests of all children—amazing things can happen.

Jennifer Coyle Falk is the founding chair (2005-2007) for the Georgia PTA Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. She just completed a two-year term with the Georgia PTA Board of Directors.