Diversity training in the works for Johnson County nonprofits

The Community Foundation of Johnson County has postponed a diversity, equity and inclusion training opportunity for nonprofits in the county. The training originally was planned to take place this fall, but will now take place sometime in the spring.

Background

The Community Foundation began designing the training after a grant application cycle in 2023 revealed a collective need for diversity training in Johnson County nonprofits.

The foundation has an inclusive Johnson County fund — which anyone can donate to — that is used to aid projects related to equity and inclusion in the nonprofit sector.

County organizations sent in applications for funding, and there were several requests that involved creating a diversity, equity and inclusion training — either for staff, board members or volunteers.

The foundation decided not to grant any of the funding requests related to trainings at that time and gave out the available funds for other DEI projects. Instead, the foundation reached out to Iowa City and North Liberty to start pooling resources to design a training that could be shared among many organizations.

“We have such a variety of organizations serving the same clients. Someone who’s coming into the food pantry might also be receiving support in finding housing, support in workforce training,” Ellie Moore, the foundation’s vice president for community impact and outreach, told The Gazette earlier this year. “So doing a training where everyone has common language and is on the same page about what that needs to look like moving forward feels like a good place to start.”

The foundation reached out to Johnson County nonprofits to get an idea of what they would like to get out of a DEI training and what formats they would like to see. The initial plan was to create a three- or four- session series this fall that could potentially become an annual training, depending on the response.

What’s happened since

The foundation’s planning committee has tabled the planning sessions for the DEI training, which will no longer take place this fall. This fall turned out to be a busy time for both the foundation and the other organizations that were planning and hoping to participate in the project, according to Moore.

The foundation is planning to pick up the discussion later this year and is hoping to pull something together for the spring of next year. In the meantime, the foundation has been hosting “Community Conversations,” which are free public events in which a panel of experts speaks about various topics that affect nonprofits in the county.

The first conversation was focused on affordable housing and was hosted in June. The second is planned for 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Iowa City Public Library and will focus on child care services in Johnson County.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com