The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide guidance to hiring managers seeking to diversify their sustainability staff by applying an equity lens. Recent and historical studies have shown that sustainability and environmental fields lag in their ability to recruit, hire, and retain employees of color. This can be due to a variety of systemic factors including access to social and professional networks and exclusion from the practices of environmental campaigns and organizations, as well as implicit and explicit racial bias in hiring processes.
As our nation, counties, and cities become more diverse and as the challenges that sustainability departments face in addressing climate change grow, it is imperative now more than ever that offices build cadres of professionals that can understand how to work with, support, and galvanize action amongst all diverse communities. The work of sustainability becomes relevant to more people when the perspectives of people of color and low-income communities are represented within the organization and individuals are situated to make decisions that are equitable.
The practices and tools provided in this fact sheet will support USDN members in their evolving practices to achieve increased equity, diversity, and inclusion in their offices by addressing historical discrepancies in recruitment, hiring and retention efforts. (author introduction) #P4HEwebinarMay2023