Year 1 Report
Vishal Jain Consulting (VJC) is celebrating its first full year of operations! In this first year VJC was able to support 6 individual organizations around strategic efforts such as DEI Strategy, Professional Skill Building for Youth, and Skills Validation for New Majority Learners. VJC was also able to pilot and iterate the concept of Responsible Gender Equity to achieve programming that was safe, thoughtful, and consumable by participants. Read below for a small summary and testimonial of the work done this year, and click below to get in touch to hear more or discuss partnership!
DEI Strategic and Operational Project Samples
DEI Strategy
Project Details:
Creation of a holistic DEI strategy to help inform and equip BPNDC staff members to be able to communicate DEI principles to constituents, and funders (i.e. grant writing).
Project Learning:
For an organization that is female, POC-led that serves a historically marginalized community in Detroit, DEI strategy work was less about "teaching DEI" and more about translating current efforts and accomplishments into language that leaders and staff members are comfortable and energized to communicate to internal and external stakeholders including funders.
Soft Skills Programming
Project Details:
Creation of programming primarily for students at Fisk University (HBCU) to support internship recruitment and on the job performance. A total of 4 workshops on authentic story telling, social identity, communication, and networking were created.
Project Learning:
When it comes to tackling the inequitable standards of "professionalism" in the American workplace, considering identity and belonging is crucial. Students felt best equipped to succeed when they had space to explore their own social identities, and were in community with peers of similar social identities.
Equity and Bias Review
Project Details:
Partnering with instructional designers to review skills validation assessments and other relevant project deliverables for issues of equity, bias, access, and inclusion.
Project Learning:
Skills validation can provide an excellent way for learners who have been traditionally barred access to higher education, and in effect job markets, to showcase their skills and contributions to the workplace. In designing these assessments it is important to portray characters that validate and recognize under represented minorities so that the ideal future of work is depicted. Additionally when using words like "diverse" and "bias" it is important to specifically define those words in context to avoid flattening or minimizing their definition and impact.
Defining Responsible Gender Equity
Creating a digestible process, from scratch, around the concept of responsible gender equity, required thoughtful participation and iteration.
Pilot:
Cultivating Responsible Masculinity
Details
Creating a 1.5 hour workshop for 8 participants that aimed to move from reflection, to efficacy, to action in pursuit of a more responsible form of masculinity.
Key Learning
Reflective action (praxis) around responsible masculinity benefited from community. It also requires spaciousness. A 1.5 hour workshop was rich but dense, and could be even more impactful from being broken out and developed.
Vocal Justice:
Bringing Responsible Gender Equity Into Our Communities
Details
Creating a 1.5 hour workshop revolving around praxis on incorporating gender equity into the workplace for an education focused non-profit.
Key Learning
Responsible gender equity as a concept does translate across genders (i.e. not just men) . However, gender as an identity can not operate in a silo. The sticky question is "how does intersectionality fit into the conversation of gender equity?"
Men's Retreat:
Cultivating Responsible Masculinity
Details
Co-creating a 3 day, in-person retreat that built off of the Cultivating Responsible Masculinity Pilot by providing much needed time and space, face to face interaction, and breaking bread together.
Key Learning
Equity focused men's work can hold boundless possibilities. Programming around praxis yielded next steps for each man that was both deeply personal, and action-oriented around being a more aware and responsible man in their community.