ALA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a 30-minute course designed to help members recognize biased language, performance bias, stereotypes, and barriers to participation. Participants will learn how to use interrupters, support inclusive and welcoming environments, and coach others on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion within ALA.

ALA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was created to help our members recognize biased language and performance bias and implement strategies to overcome them; identify and properly use interrupters to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all; and demonstrate the ability to coach others on the importance of inclusion and equity within ALA.

Before you begin, please familiarize yourself with these definitions, which are used throughout the course:

Diversity is the presence of differences that may include race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, language, ability, and age (among others). Diversity is about taking account of the differences between people and groups of people and placing a positive value on these differences.

Equity looks to ensure people have access to the same treatment, opportunity and advancement, with an emphasis on identifying and removing barriers that prevents participation from some groups.

Inclusion ensures that those who are diverse actually feel and are welcomed by a group.

A bias includes words, phrases, and/or sweeping generalizations that do not fairly represent all individuals within a group.

A stereotype is an assigned generalization or preconceived characteristics attributed to a certain set of people. They can include oversimplified generalizations that may be untrue or only partially true.

This 30-minute course will lead you and your ALA unit to a more diverse organization, allowing the Auxiliary to help more veterans — creating a larger volunteer pool​ and improving community engagement and outreach​.

• Contact:
  ALA Academy