Diversity Workgroup

The Diversity Workgroup was formed following the signing of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and tasked with meeting the Diversity Outcome.

Meetings

About

Our Goals

The Diversity Workgroup was formed following the signing of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and tasked with meeting the Diversity Outcome: to identify stakeholder groups that are not currently represented in the leadership, decision-making, and implementation of conservation and restoration activities and create meaningful opportunities and programs to recruit and engage them in the Bay Program's efforts. The goal encompasses all dimensions of diversity, including race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, national origin, citizenship, religion, age, physical abilities, gender, sexual identity, and other factors. The workgroup primarily focused on increasing the representation of those who have been traditionally excluded from the Chesapeake Bay environmental field. The workgroup also led efforts to incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility (DEIJA) into the implementation of other goals and outcomes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

Workgroup

Workgroup members have represented agencies, non-profit, grassroots, and for-profit organizations, as well as community and environmental justice leaders who reside and work in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee provided regular guidance to inform the workgroup's priorities and management approaches.

Management Approaches

Strategies and actions fall under three approaches:

  1. Help the CBP be better able to implement Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility (DEIJA) in their work toward the Outcomes & provide resources to help advance DEIJA efforts across all aspects of organizational culture and work of the CBP and its partners.
  2. Restructure and rethink the Diversity Outcome and metric.
  3. Enhance equitable access to funding resources.

More information on each of these approaches can be found in the Management Strategy and 2021-2023 Work Plan. For information on progress towards this outcome please visit Chesapeake Progress

Projects

DEIJ for Beginners

Are you new to the Chesapeake Bay Program? Are you new to work involving Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Environmental Justice? Check out these resources

DEIJ in Our Culture & Work

Cultivating and Strengthening Partnerships with Underrepresented Stakeholders (Scope 11)

The "Cultivating and Strengthening Partnerships with Underrepresented Stakeholders" project was funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT) Goal Implementation Team (GIT) Funding Program. The project, proposed by the Chesapeake Bay Program Stewardship Goal Implementation Team (GIT 5) and their Diversity Workgroup, aimed to understand the needs, barriers, and priorities of organizations serving historically underrepresented and underserved communities. Chesapeake Conservancy was contracted to complete the project, which began in spring 2021 and ended in summer 2022. The project involved conversations with community leaders and Chesapeake Bay Program staff to identify barriers and opportunities for engagement. A Leadership Workshop was conducted to define meaningful community engagement, and a Community Forum in July 2022 brought together community members and Bay Program leadership to build trust and develop engagement strategies. Recommendations for next steps were compiled based on input from participants, and a community engagement guide was developed. The project's outcomes will help the Chesapeake Bay Program develop long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with organizations serving communities of color and other underrepresented communities.

Allyship Training Series

The DEIJ Implementation Plan calls to provide CBP staff and partnership bodies training on diversity, equity, inclusion and environmental justice issues to build a common understanding of DEIJ and connect these topics to CBP’s mission and operations. Allyship is a practice focused on building lifelong relationships of trust, respect and accountability. In these trainings, participants learned how to navigate unconscious bias, power and privilege as well as important skills such as active listening.

Cultural Humility Training

The Diversity Workgroup identified increasing cultural competence within the CBP as a key step to meeting the diversity outcome in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. Thanks to available funding from the Goal Implementation Team (GIT) Funding process, the workgroup offered three Cultural Humility: Tools for Success in Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) trainings in the fall of 2019. Approximately 70 members of the partnership attended one of the trainings, which were led by the consultant Skeo Solutions. Participants learned how a cultural humility framework can help build a sense of equity and respect in relationships between individuals and relationships between institutions and individuals. More resources from this training are available upon request.


Environmental Justice

Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Resources

According to EPA, Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Everyone has the right to protection from environmental and health hazards, as well as, equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment. The resources in the PowerPoint below are funding programs and opportunities to receive technical assistance from CBP to achieve environmental justice.

Chesapeake Bay Environmental Justice and Equity Dashboard

The Environmental Justice and Equity Dashboard provides access to a variety of spatial data layers pertinent to addressing environmental issues in areas with underrepresented populations. Refer to the story map for possible uses and instructions

https://chesapeake-deij2-chesbay.hub.arcgis.com/

Community Level Partnerships within the Bay Program

This ArcGIS story map was created by one of the diversity workgroup's 2021 C-StREAM interns. It highlights the work of community organizations and provides insight on how CBP can engage new partners

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4e4255e67a20406d98dbdce00d92c11e

Employment, Hiring, and Recruitment

These documents include a list of programs and positions that can provide pathways for currently underrepresented individuals to enter the environmental workforce in the Chesapeake Bay region and beyond. In addition, the excel document includes a list of recruitment websites, affinity groups, and educational institutions that can be targeted to recruit and hire individuals from underrepresented groups. It also includes a tab with hiring resources, toolkits, and tips to promote inclusiveness and mitigate bias in the hiring process. It is a draft document that will continue to be updated over time.

Communication and Outreach

Most of these documents were not created by the Diversity Workgroup. However, they are really excellent resources for any person who is doing community engagement.

Publications

2024-2025 Diversity Work Plan

Publication date:

The Diversity Work Plan builds on lessons learned in the Outcome Review Summary where we identify actions that the workgroup will take to manage/respond to factors and gaps as well as the anticipated impact of completing those actions. In addition to describing the actions that will be taken during 2024-2025 to make progress toward achieving our outcome, this document establishes an expected timeline, responsible parties, performance targets, plans for data collection and plans for the communication of results.

View document [PDF, 114.5 KB] 2024-2025 Diversity Work Plan

DEIJ Guidance for CBP Logic and Action Plans

Publication date:

Restoration from the Inside Out recommends that CPB work plans include considerations to distribute benefits equitably and reduce disproportionate adverse environmental impacts in communities of color, low income communities and other underrepresented groups (Action 3.3.b). In addition, work plans should include both process and outcome measures to track progress over time. This document provides guidance on how to incorportate DEIJ in CBP logic and action plans.

View document [PDF, 267.4 KB] DEIJ Guidance for CBP Logic and Action Plans

Cultivating and Strengthening Partnerships with Underrepresented Stakeholders

Publication date:

The "Cultivating and Strengthening Partnerships with Underrepresented Stakeholders" project was funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT) Goal Implementation Team (GIT) Funding Program. The project, proposed by the Chesapeake Bay Program Stewardship Goal Implementation Team (GIT 5) and their Diversity Workgroup, aimed to understand the needs, barriers, and priorities of organizations serving historically underrepresented and underserved communities. Chesapeake Conservancy was contracted to complete the project, which began in spring 2021 and ended in summer 2022. The project involved conversations with community leaders and Chesapeake Bay Program staff to identify barriers and opportunities for engagement. A Leadership Workshop was conducted to define meaningful community engagement, and a Community Forum in July 2022 brought together community members and Bay Program leadership to build trust and develop engagement strategies. Recommendations for next steps were compiled based on input from participants, and a community engagement guide was developed. The project's outcomes will help the Chesapeake Bay Program develop long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with organizations serving communities of color and other underrepresented communities.

View document [PDF, 357.6 KB] Cultivating and Strengthening Partnerships with Underrepresented Stakeholders

Related Resources

Our Watershed Agreement Goals & Outcomes

Stewardship Goal

Our Members