December 2024 LEAD On! Newsletter

December 2024

Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity in Practice

Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity Promising Practices

Learn about effective practices that American Job Centers (AJCs) and employers can use to include nondiscrimination and equal opportunity into their entire employment process.

ON TOPIC

Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity within the Workforce System

“Equal opportunity is the bedrock of American democracy, and our diversity is one of our country’s greatest strengths. But for too many, the American Dream remains out of reach.”

– White House Executive Order 13985

In January 2021, the White House issued Executive Order 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government to “pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.” In 2023, the White House issued Executive Order 14091: Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government to continue “the work begun with Executive Order 13985 to combat discrimination and advance equal opportunity, including by redressing unfair disparities and removing barriers to Government programs and services.” In response to Executive Order 13985, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), as well as other federal agencies, developed equity action plans. The Department of Labor Equity Action Plan summarizes the Department’s efforts to identify barriers to more equitable access to programs and services and outlines the steps for expanding access to those communities.

The Department of Labor is deeply committed to improving the well-being of underserved, marginalized, disadvantaged, and excluded communities.

– DOL Equity Action Plan

Over the past several years, DOL has become aware of successful and promising nondiscrimination and equal opportunity practices that promote inclusion of underserved populations, including people with disabilities.

Keep reading for resources and inspiration to increase inclusion and access, including:

• Updates to the Section 188 Disability Reference Guide that provide the workforce system with concrete ways to improve equity and inclusion,
• How one local workforce area is moving the needle toward more inclusive and equitable practices both within and outside the workforce system, and
• High-level strategies to effectively serve people with intersecting identities to ensure equal access to programs and services.

The Updated Section 188 Disability Reference Guide

DOL recently published the updated guide, Promising Practices in Achieving Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity: A Section 188 Disability Reference Guide (2024), which builds on the previously published guide in 2019. This guide helps AJCs and their partners to provide services in accordance with nondiscrimination and equal opportunity requirements.

Additions to the updated guide include affirmative outreach to diverse populations; effective communication to increase access, including practices related to Deaf and hard of hearing individuals; strategies for nondiscriminatory use of newer technologies; and promising practices to respond to the needs of traditionally underserved communities in the design and delivery of services.

The updated guide provides the workforce system with additional practices, ideas, and resources that consider the systemic barriers individuals with disabilities may face because of intersecting identities to increase the cultural competence of the service providers who serve them. Moreover, for the first time, the guide addresses strategies for nondiscriminatory use of newer technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

While the updated guide focuses on AJC programs, it is a resource that will benefit anyone working to ensure nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in the workforce development system.

ON THE GROUND

Promising Practices from Duluth

The Challenge: Help improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Background: The Duluth Workforce Development Board worked with local employers in 2019 to increase diversity and inclusion through a series of workshops and webinars with four different areas of focus: recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and retention.

Strategy: The following year, the Board convened a workshop with 150 employers to facilitate joint learning. This event included large group training and small group sessions where employers shared their own best practices around the four focus areas listed above. The lessons learned from this workshop became the basis for their action guide.

Outcome: The Duluth Workforce Development Board created the Diversity & Inclusion: Employer Action Guide, with leadership from the Board’s Equity Committee. The action guide offers concrete steps employers can take to improve diversity and inclusion in recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and retention. Business Services teams within any AJC will find this tool valuable. Staff can share this action guide and its best practices with local employers to assist in improving diversity and inclusion in these four focus areas.

Since the launch of the action guide, the Board continues to learn and collect equity actions employers take through their Employer Champions Initiative to support diversity and inclusion efforts related to hiring and training employees. The Employer Champions Initiative sessions allow employers to dig deeper into diversity and inclusion strategies in a peer learning network. These sessions primarily benefit Human Resources staff, hiring managers, supervisors, and other business and organization leaders.

Overarching strategies from Duluth:

• Business Services Teams within the AJC can share best practices, like the ones found in the action guide, with employers to improve diversity and inclusion in the local community.
• The practical and concrete tips listed in the action guide can serve to improve diversity and inclusion within the AJC in terms of customer service, marketing, service delivery, intake, and more.
• A peer-learning network, such as the Employer Champions Initiative, is an effective way to continuously evaluate and improve diversity and inclusion efforts.

For more promising practices like these, visit the Promising Practices in Achieving Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity: A Section 188 Disability Reference Guide (2024).

ON CUE

Resource: HempsteadWorks Career Center LGBTQ Inclusive Services Webinar Training Series

(November 2022)

An example of a promising practice to increase diversity and inclusion, this training series helps workforce staff and administrators understand the unique needs of those in the LGBTQ+ community. As a result of this training, administrators have increased their diversity and inclusion by implementing nondiscrimination practices in their written policies, hiring and outreach, and online and physical features, and they now have a more culturally competent staff.

Webinars

Innovative Strategies to Empower Youth with Intersecting Identities

(November 2022)

In this LEAD Center presentation, presenters shared promising practices for developing inclusive learning environments for youth. Maria Lombardi, with New York HempsteadWorks, shared how pioneering staff development trainings are leading to LGBTQ+ and disability inclusive services, language, policies, and outreach. Mark Menard, with Work Hawaii’s Youth Program, shared how pandemic-inspired virtual jobsite tours help rural Pacific Islander youth with disabilities explore different industries and the program establish formal agreements with businesses for work-based learning experiences.

ON THE HORIZON

Three-part webinar series on the updated Section 188 Disability Reference Guide:

1. Affirmative Outreach: January 9, 2025; 3:00-4:30 PM ET
2. Business Engagement: February 12, 2025; 3:00-4:30 PM ET
3. Inclusive Artificial Intelligence: Date TBA—March 2025