Diversity Statement: The Leadership Alliance
Truly inclusive economic development begins with a commitment to supporting all voices. The Leadership Alliance between The Agency and the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to cultivating an economic climate that is welcoming, supportive, and empowering. We will do this by providing equitable services and programming to the businesses and residents we serve, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, ability status, immigration, and socioeconomic status.
Background
The Greater Binghamton Chamber initiated the formation of a DEI Committee in March 2021.
Purpose of DEI Committee
The purpose of this group is to steer Diversity Equity & Inclusion programming for the Greater Binghamton business community. Our goals for businesses are attract and retain diverse* workforces and increase inclusive cultures within their organizations with particular focus on policies, practices, and procedures. We will do this by providing learning opportunities and educational resources to enhance or implement new DEI strategies.
*Diversity: The presence of differences within our workplaces, including, but not limited to psychological, physical, and social differences including race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, age, ability, beliefs, sexual orientation and business size/type. A diverse workplace is one with a variety of social and cultural characteristics.
2022 Committee Accomplishments:
3 new DEI programs (DEI Cohort, Diversity Dialogues, & DEI Book Club) successfully implemented, DEI Resource Guide produced, DEI Data presented at press conference, over 60 member businesses involved with DEI programming, and Minority, Women, and/or Veteran Owned Business (MWVBE) Committee formed
2021 Committee Accomplishments:
Monthly meetings with DEI Committee; Created three, active DEI Sub-Committees including: DEI Conference, DEI Data, DEI Resources; Successful implementation of half-day DEI Conference on September 15, 2021
DEI Program Content
Diversity Dialogues
This brand-new program will provide six 1-hour sessions of facilitated discussions to help our area businesses in the beginning stages of their DEI journey. These facilitated discussions will encourage businesses to start their own DEI Initiatives without fear of judgement and to enhance their workforce and business success. These sessions will be offered in a hybrid setting alternating in-person discussions with virtual meetings. Session topics include: Microaggressions & Unconscious Bias Revisited, Ability Inclusion, Racial Equity, DEI Initiatives in the Workplace, Health Equity, LGBTQIA+ Inclusion.
Building DEI in the Workplace Session Moderator:
Hilda M. Jordan
DEI Cohort
The DEI Cohort is an extensive deep dive specifically tailored for senior leaders with the highest level of responsibility for implementation of diversity and inclusion initiatives. The Cohort is an opportunity for businesses to prioritize DEI initiatives within their own organizations.
Applicants will strategically analyze and affect real change within their organizations through five 2-hour facilitated discussions and assignments. The Cohort will delve deeper into subjects such as: DEI Definitions & Unconscious Bias, Microaggressions & Barriers to DEI in the Workplace, Building Inclusive Environments, Setting Goals and Mock 1 Year Roadmap, and How to Have Difficult Conversations.
Application costs are $1,000 for Chamber members and $1,500 for non-members.
DEI Book Club
The DEI Book Club can help you sharpen your thinking, keep you accountable, and be a place to meet other professionals on the DEI journey. Educate yourself on diversity, equity, and inclusion topics and participate in a quarterly 1-hour facilitated group book discussion. Attendees will have time to purchase or borrow from the library and read the books in advance. Then join us for the free discussion session virtually.
Register to receive Zoom link information.
DEI Conference
A conference building upon implementing DEI in Workplace Culture. This event will focus on the next steps and goals of creating an inclusive community for economic development and beyond. Attendees can further advance their DEI initiatives and celebrate the certification of the Class of 2023 DEI Cohort.
DEI Committee
DEI Committee
- Sue Bretscher
Chief Mission Integration Officer/Chief Operating Officer
Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital, Inc. - Maeve Carpenter
Counsel and Manager
IBM Patent Center at Endicott - Stacey Duncan
President/CEO
Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce - Lesley Frey
Vice President of Human Resources
Columbian Mutual Life Insurance Company - Kelly Hoyt
US Controls HW Engineering Leader
BAE Systems - Dr. Karen Jones
Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Binghamton University - James Kane
Associate Director of Development
American Cancer Society, Inc. - Danelle Kaplan
Vice President |Commercial Branch Manager
Northgate Plaza Branch 1406
M&T Bank - Jennifer Kazmark
Assistant Superintendent for Personnel & Secondary Education
Union-Endicott CSD
- Kadidiatou Keita
Director of Sunrise Center, RTA
The Children’s Home of Wyoming Conference - Cynthia Kirk
Chair of Economic Development Committee
Broome-Tioga NAACP - Naima Kradjian
CEO
Goodwill Theatre, Inc. - Rosemary Mirabito
Mirabito Energy Solutions - Fabiola Moreno, PhD
Technology Licensing Assistant
Office of Entrepreneurship & Innovation Partnerships
Binghamton University - Chris Murdock
Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Union-Endicott Central School District - Rose Olsen
Talent and Education Director
Greater Binghamton Education Outreach Program - Kim Perkoski
Secretary to the Vice President of Student Development and Chief Diversity Officer
SUNY Broome Community College - Kendra Pickett
Human Resources Assistant
Visions Federal Credit Union - Rajeswari Ramanan
Senior Director, Talent, Performance, Organizational Effectiveness, D & I
United Health Services Hospitals Inc
- Raphalla Richardson
Ascension Health Director
Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital, Inc. - Dr. Carol Ross-Scott
Vice President Student Development
and Chief Diversity Officer
SUNY Broome Community College - Jenna Rosenberg
Vice President/Chief Governance & Strategy Officer
Visions Federal Credit Union - John Rozzoni
General Director
Tri-Cities Opera Company, Inc. - Amy Shaw
Chief Operating Officer Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce - Tania Sode
Diversity+Equity+Inclusion Director
Toyota - Meggan Taylor
Regional Vice President Programs
Achieve - Tonia Thompson
Superintendent
Binghamton City SD - Amy Williamson
Marketing & Communications Manager
The Agency - Morgan White
Talent Initiatives & Special Projects Coordinator
Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce
Subcommittee Listing
Conference
- Raji Ramanan, UHS
- Jamie Kane, ACS
- Danelle Kaplan, M&T
- Cynthia Kirk, NAACP
- Dr. Carol Ross-Scott, SUNY Broome
- Kadidiatou Keita, LMSW, CHOWC
Resources
- Lesley Frey, CFG
- Maeve Carpenter, IBM
- Lea Webb, Binghamton University
- Jamie Kane, ACS
- John Rozzoni, TCO
- Kelly Hoyt, BAE
Data
- Tonia Thompson, Binghamton CSD
- Sue Bretscher, Lourdes
- Lea Webb, Binghamton University
DEI Sponsorship
2023 Champion Sponsorship Package
Our Chamber is committed to furthering diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in our community. We have expanded our programming to showcase the importance of these efforts and we are committed to continually providing resources for our members and community.
This DEI Champion Sponsorship Package gives companies and organizations an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to DEI internally to their employees and externally to their community. Our 2023 DEI Programming includes:
2023 DEI Conference Sponsorship Options
A conference building upon implementing DEI in Workplace Culture. This event will focus on the next steps and goals of creating an inclusive community for economic development and beyond. Attendees can further advance their DEI initiatives and celebrate the certification of the Class of 2023 DEI Cohort.
Data
2010 Broome County Census
2020 Broome County Census
Resources
Where Do You Start?
Book Resources
Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit
Mary-Frances Winters
Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race
Debby Irving
The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table
Mida Harts
Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change
Stacey Abrams
No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement
Joseph P. Shapiro
Diversity, Inc.: The Fight for Racial Equality in the Workplace
Pamela Newkirk
Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland
Jonathan M. Metzl
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Robin DiAngelo
DEI Book Club Books
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
Wes Moore
We Are Not Like Them
Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
We Can’t Talk About That at Work!
Mary Frances Winters
This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto to Ageism
Ashton Applewhite
DEI Resource Guide
Glossary
A
- Able-ism – The belief that disabled individuals are inferior to able-bodied individuals, leading to discrimination and oppression of individuals with disabilities
- Accessibility – The extent to which a facility is readily approachable and usable by individuals with disabilities
- A-Gender – Not identifying with any gender, the feeling of having no gender
- Ally – A person of one social identity group who stands up in support of members of another group
- Anti-Racism – Being critically aware of the existence of racism and understanding how it is systemic and the policy or practice of opposing racism and promoting racial tolerance.
- Anti-Semitism – The fear or hatred of Jews, Judaism, and related symbols.
- A-Sexuality – Little or no romantic, emotional, and/or sexual attractions toward others.
B
- Bias – A form of prejudice that results from the tendency and need to classify individuals into categories
- Bigotry – An unreasonable or irrational attachment to negative stereotypes and prejudices
- Bi-Racial – A person whose biological parents are of two different races
- Bi-Sexual – A romantic, sexual, and/or emotional attraction toward people of all sexes
- BIPOC – An acronym used to refer to black, indigenous, and people of color based on the recognition of collective experiences of systemic racism
- Black – Any various populations that have a dark pigmentation of skin who identify as Black, including those in the African Diaspora and within Africa. Should be capitalized
C
- Cis-Gender – A person who identifies as the gender they were assigned at birth
- Class-ism – Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on a difference in socioeconomic status, income, class
- Colonization – The action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area
- Color Blind – The belief in treating everyone “equally” by treating everyone the same; (i.e., “I don’t see race, gender, etc.”)
- Conscious Bias – Refers to the attitudes and beliefs we have about a person or group on a conscious level; Explicit bias
- Critical Race Theory – Challenges the dominant discourse on race and racism as they relate to education by examining how educational theory, policy, and practice are used to subordinate certain racial and ethnic groups
- Culture – Culture is the pattern of daily life learned consciously and unconsciously by a group of people
- Cultural Appropriation – The adoption or theft of icons, rituals, aesthetic standards, and behavior from one culture or subculture by another
D
- Decolonize – The active and intentional process of unlearning values, beliefs and conceptions that have caused harm to people through colonization
- Diaspora – A historical dispersion of a group of people deriving from similar origins
- Disability – An impairment that may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, sensory, or some combination of these
- Discrimination – The denial fair treatment by both individuals and institutions in many areas, including employment, education, housing, banking, and political rights
E
- Ethnicity – A social construct that divides people into smaller social groups based on characteristics such as shared sense of group membership, values, behavioral patterns, language, political and economic interests, history, and ancestral geographical base
- Ethnocentricity – The emotional attitude that one’s own race, nation, or culture is superior to all others
- Equality – All people within a society or isolated group have the same status and rights regardless of their social identities
F
- Feminism – The valuing of women and the belief in and advocacy for social, political, and economic equality and liberation for all genders
- Femme – A person who expresses and/or identifies with femininity
- First Generation – An individual, neither of whose parents completed a baccalaureate degree.
- First Nation People – Individuals who identify as those who were the first people to live on the Western Hemisphere continent; People also identified as Native Americans
G
- Gay – A person who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to members of the same gender
- Gender – Refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for boys and men or girls and women
- Gender Dysphoria – Significant, clinical distress caused when a person’s assigned birth gender is not the same as the one with which they identify; Gender Identity Disorder
- Gender Expression – External manifestations of gender, expressed through a person’s name, pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, and/or body characteristics
- Gender Fluid – A person who does not identify with a single fixed gender
- Gender Identity – Your internal sense of self; how you relate to your gender
- Gender Non-Conforming – People who do not behave in a way that confirms to the traditional expectations of their gender ow hose gender expression does not fit into a fixed category
H
- Harassment – Unwanted conduct with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment based on their race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, disability, age, etcetera
- Hate Crime – A crime motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of the victim
- Heterosexuality – A sexual orientation in which a person is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to members of a sex other than their own
- Hispanic – Describes people, descendants, and cultures of Spanish-speaking countries, including many Latin American counties and Spain
- Homophobia – The fear or hatred of homosexuality (and other non-heterosexual identities) and persons perceived to be gay or lesbian
- Homosexual – A sexual orientation in which a person is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to members of the same sex
I
- Indigenous People – Ethnic groups who are the original inhabitants of a given region, in contrast to groups that have settled, occupied, or colonized the area
- Institutional Racism – Institutional racism refers specifically to the ways in which institutional policies and practices create different outcomes for different racial groups. The institutional policies may never mention any racial group, but their effect is to create advantages for whites and oppression and disadvantage for people from groups classified as people of color
- Intercultural Competency – A process of learning about and becoming allies with people from other cultures, thereby broadening our own understanding and ability to participate in a multicultural process
- Internalized Oppression (i.e. Homophobia, Racism)– The process whereby individuals in the target group make oppression internal and personal by coming to believe that the lies, prejudices, and stereotypes about them are true
- Intersectionality – An approach largely advanced by women of color, arguing that classifications such as gender, race, class, and others cannot be examined in isolation from one another
- “-Isms” – A way of describing any attitude, action or institutional structure that subordinates (oppresses) a person or group because of their target group. For example, color (racism), gender (sexism), economic status (classism), older age (ageism), religion (e.g., anti-Semitism), sexual orientation (heterosexism), language/immigrant status (xenophobism), etc.
L
- Latinx/o/a/e – Used to describe people and cultural of Latin American descent
- Lesbian – A woman who is attracted to other women
- LGBTQIA+ – An inclusive term for those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual
M
- Marginalized – Excluded, ignored, or relegated to the outer edge of a group/society/community
- Micro-Aggression – The verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, insults, or belittlement, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon discriminatory belief systems
- Model Minority – Refers to a minority ethnic, racial, or religious group whose members achieve a higher degree of success than the population average, typically measured in income, education, crime rate, and family stability. While individuals employing the Model Minority trope may think they are being complimentary, in fact the term is related to colorism and its root, anti-Blackness
- Multi-Racial – An individual that comes from more than one race
N
- National Origin – The political state from which an individual hails; may or may not be the same as that person’s current location or citizenship
- Non-Binary – People who experience their gender identity and/or gender expression as falling outside the categories of man and woman
- Non-White – Used at times to reference all persons or groups outside of the white culture, often in the clear consciousness that white culture should be seen as an alternative to various non-white cultures and not as normative
O
- Oppression – Results from the use of institutional power and privilege where one person or group benefits at the expense of another
P
- Pan-Sexual – The potential for sexual attractions or romantic love toward people of all gender identities and biological sexes
- Privilege – Unearned access to resources (social power) only readily available to some individuals as a result of their social group
Q
- Queer – An umbrella term that can refer to anyone who transgresses society’s view of gender or sexuality
- Questioning – A term used to refer to an individual who is uncertain of their sexual orientation or identity
R
- Race – A social construct that artificially divides individuals into distinct groups based on characteristics such as physical appearance (particularly skin color), ancestral heritage, cultural affiliation or history, ethnic classification, and/or the social, economic, and political needs of a society at a given period of time
- Racial Equity – Racial equity is the condition that would be achieved if one’s racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares. This includes elimination of policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or that fail to eliminate them.
- Racial Profiling – The use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense
- Racial Trauma – Racial Trauma or race-based stress, comes from dealing with racial harassment, racial violence, or institutional racism
- Racism – Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on a difference in race/ethnicity
- Religion – A system of beliefs, usually spiritual in nature, and often in terms of a formal, organized denomination
S
- Safe Space – Refers to an environment in which everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves and participating fully, without fear of attack, ridicule or denial of experience
- Sex – Biological classification of male or female (based on genetic or physiological features); as opposed to gender
- Sexism – Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on a difference in sex/gender
- Sexual Orientation – One’s natural (not chosen) preference in sexual partners
- Social Justice – A broad term for action intended to create genuine equality, fairness, and respect among peoples
- Social Identity – A person’s sense of who they are based on their group memberships. Each person has multiple social identities associated with varying degrees of privilege
- Social Oppression – When one social group, whether knowingly or unconsciously, exploits another group for its own benefit
- Stereotype – A form of generalization rooted in blanket beliefs and false assumptions, a product of processes of categorization that can result in a prejudiced attitude, uncritical judgment, and intentional or unintentional discrimination
- Systemic Racism – Complex interactions of culture, policy, and institutions that create and maintain racial inequality in nearly every facet of life for people of color
T
- Tolerance – Acceptance, and open‐mindedness to different practices, attitudes, and cultures
- Token-ism – Hiring or seeking just to have representation such as a few women and/or racial or ethnic minority persons so as to appear inclusive while remaining mono-cultural
- Transgender/Trans – An umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The term transgender is not indicative of gender expression, sexual orientation, hormonal makeup, physical anatomy, or how one is perceived in daily life.
- Transphobia – Fear or hatred of transgender people; can exist in LGB and straight communities
- Two Spirit – An umbrella term for a wide range of non-binary culturally recognized gender identities and expressions among Indigenous people
U
- Unconscious Bias – Social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness; Implicit bias
- Undocumented – A foreign-born person living in the United States without legal citizenship status
V
- Veteran Status – Whether or not an individual has served in a nation’s armed forces (or other uniformed service)
W
- Whiteness – A broad social construction that embraces the white culture, history, ideology, racialization, expressions, and economic, experiences, epistemology, and emotions and behaviors and nonetheless reaps material, political, economic, and structural benefits for those socially deemed white
- White Fragility – Discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice
- White Privilege – White Privilege is the spillover effect of racial prejudice and White institutional power. White privilege is the ability to grow up thinking that race doesn’t matter. As a member of the dominant group a White person has greater access or availability to resources because of being White. Privilege may be less recognizable to some White people because of gender, age, sexual orientation, economic class or physical or mental ability, but it remains a reality because of one’s membership in the White dominant group
- White Supremacy – The idea (ideology) that white people and the ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions of white people are superior to People of Color and their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions. While most people associate white supremacy with extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazis, white supremacy is ever present in our institutional and cultural assumptions that assign value, morality, goodness, and humanity to the white group while casting people and communities of color as worthless (worth less), immoral, bad, and inhuman and “undeserving.”
X
- Xenophobia – Hatred or fear of foreigners/strangers or of their politics or culture
