"We need to think about how we can positively, as a community, counteract misconceptions about who we are and what we're doing, and build upon the good work that's going on in our community, and make it richer and better. That's our focus," said President of Valparaiso University, Mark Heckler.
"We're moving from a reactive environment, when there's an incident or problem, to one where we're being proactive."
The Diversity Summit Call to Action, was an effort to not only raise awareness of the increase of diversity within the community, but a way to successfully cultivate the changes into positive and strong-bonded vision for the future of Valparaiso and the surrounding communities. The conference presented an eclectic host of veteran speakers on the subject of diversity, with an emphasis on inclusion as the foundation for a healthy perspective on the inarguable growth of diversity.
"Valparaiso grew about 15% in the last ten years, and 56% of that growth is minorities," said Mayor Jon Costas.
"The black population doubled, and the Hispanic population increased 250%. Change presents both challenges and opportunities. Our goal as people of Valparaiso is to be aware of change and find the opportunities."
As Dr. Melvin Gravely, founder of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Thinking, put candidly, "Having a summit is nice, but having change is better."
It's one thing to raise awareness, but it's something different altogether to put feet to and hands to that awareness and bring about the necessary change in order that we may progress and not regress, culturally.
"Sometimes when I hear the word diversity, I'm already agitated," he continued, noting that diversity summits and conferences aren't exactly celebrated within the business end of the community. However, they are necessary not only in changing the future for better, but for properly shifting the negative perception of diversity awareness to a more proactive approach in understanding and developing the benefits of diversity.
He went on to explain, "Inclusion takes time to recognize the need and to see results. We have to believe that the benefits are coming while we're doing the work. You can't stop or you lose the process."
Despite the simplicity of each, the reminder of four impending realities was Dr. Gravely's main drive for explaining our situation as of now:
- Diversity is happening.
- Some people are ok with diversity, but against inclusion.
- The upside of inclusion is hard to quantify, but difficult to ignore.
- Results are often slow, but they're perpetuating.
The statistics were undeniably in favor of his conclusions, supporting the generality that Valparaiso, along with many neighboring regions, are experiencing, and will continue to experience a steady, exponential growth in the diversity of the community.
The superintendent of the Valparaiso Community Schools, Dr. Andrew Melin, explained, "There has been growth in minority populations in almost every category within our school corporation....ethnicity has increased 4.6% since 2006."
The students of Valparaiso High School took matters into their own hands, creating "STAND" or Students Together and Naturally Diverse - a student advocacy group housed at the school in support of the diversity amongst students.
On top of ethnic diversity, Dr. Melin noted, "We are twice the number in terms of our free/reduced lunch population than we were ten years ago within our school community, obviously reflective of economic conditions throughout the area, the state and the country."
With Valparaiso growing so diversely in both cultural and economic categories, it was important to discuss on a personal level the effects and benefits that inclusion has had on both business and community operations.
Regina Livers, a woman with a rare combination of experiences in city government, economic and community development, as well as starting the Diversity Initiative at 5/3 Bank in the Cincinnati corporate office and even consulted on the staff work for healing the city after the 2001 riots in Cincinnati, facilitated personal discussions at each table on the implications of diversity amongst their own corporate branches.
"We want to be able to articulate an awareness that allows you to maintain an inclusive future," Regina said about diversity, "We also want to be able to develop an infrastructure to engage the diverse sectors of the community for future inclusion programs," making sure that the summit maintained a purpose in providing the leaders of the Valparaiso community with the knowledge and tools to properly execute positive planning for inclusive diversity.
"This is a process. This is a journey. This is a beginning point."