The Importance of DEI Government Innovation
Curtis Valentine is Deputy Director of the Progressive Policy Institute's Reinventing America's Schools Project. Curtis comes to this position with over 15 years of experience in local, state, federal, and international education policy. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park and as At-Large member of the Prince George’s County (MD) Board of Education.
Curtis Valentine
Deputy Director, Progressive Policy Institute
Reinventing America’s Schools Project
Bio | LinkedIn
If we look at the problems that lie before us today, we should ask ourselves not only what prioritizing DEI would accomplish, but what we stand to lose by doing nothing.
Over the last decade, the call to prioritize diversity in areas critical to society, like education and industry, has undoubtedly gained momentum. The public conversation on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has largely focused on why representation is important and how it benefits our nation (as though these were not self-evident) — but hasn’t given much room to the logistics behind doing this correctly. As a result, even our most innovative technology companies have failed to become more diverse, despite commitments to DEI. As we enter a new decade, it is imperative that we reflect on the “how.” If we do not make the systemic changes necessary to create and maintain diversity, we will spend another decade believing good intentions will be enough.
This has become a national security issue that is set to affect us for decades. Without DEI in education, we are ensuring more of the same for the next generation of leaders. Without DEI in our military and other public sectors, we are excluding some of our nation’s best minds from solving our biggest problems. Little to no diversity of thought is like trying to solve a complex math problem with only one side of your brain. Summarily, we are sacrificing our unlimited potential for the convenience and comfort of the status quo.
We know that our country can’t evolve toward something better if we only pull from a small group of the same people, nor can we hold on to diverse populations if we expect them to assimilate to non-diverse spaces. So the question of what to do next is two-fold: how do we grow equitably and how do we maintain that equity?
At the height of the civil rights movement, Dr. King said “I fear I may have integrated my people into a burning house.” Integration is a heavy word in this context, but it applies today in that diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives must focus on whether they are inviting underrepresented groups into a burning building, or one that is conducive to their acceptance. If educational institutions and government agencies are bringing in the best and most diverse candidates — but they leave in droves — then we have not achieved inclusivity. It is not enough to invite women to serve on boards only with the viewpoint that we are checking off the box — we need to create spaces where women can effectively lead. Female executives are still operating in cultures where they have the title but their voices are not heard. They don’t stay, and with their departure goes our greater potential.
We can start by building bridges with educational institutions where typically underrepresented groups are thriving, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and community colleges. As an alum of Morehouse Man and Adjunct Professor at Prince George’s Community College, I know this first hand. Organizations like the Common Mission Project, which provides educational frameworks for innovation education that can directly benefit both the private and public sectors, is one such example. Engaging educators, corporate leaders, and government agencies across the country, the Common Mission Project is taking steps to bring their programs to diverse schools that have clear connections to the military in order to solve our country’s challenges. It is critical to do so in a way that centers on listening to their diverse participants, not telling.
This approach of preparing spaces reflects the key to our nation’s success in our journey to optimal DEI. It will take thoughtful alterations, communal discomfort, and the disruption of systems. In education, particularly, this is huge. I started Real Men Teach to ensure every student in America had a teacher who looked like them, and with only 2% of educators in American being Black Men that is not the case. At the same time, if we aim to recruit more minority men into teaching only to bring them into environments where their peers have not been prepared for what their presence means, then those individuals we worked to bring in will eventually leave. And we will find ourselves back at the beginning.
The Peace Corps has long followed the idea of preparing spaces. Months after living with my host family in South Africa, I learned about the big changes they made to their house to accommodate me — I hadn’t even known. Prior to my arrival, the Peace Corps examined the home and told the host family how they would need to make changes in preparation for my arrival (a strategy successful in reducing volunteer attrition rates). I was bringing a needed skill to a place that was not originally built for me, and I stayed because I never felt that I was the exception.
To adequately prepare spaces, whether at work or at school, we need to change our mindset around DEI. Think of the famous “Uncle Sam Needs You!” poster. Diverse populations don’t need to feel obligated to serve the needs of the organizations into which they are entering; rather, these organizations need to design themselves around the unique contributions of diverse individuals. We need to meet people where they are, ask them what they care about, value, and need — then draw those connections to the work at hand and adjust where we must.
This is exactly how any coach of a top-performing basketball team might think, for example. They know their job isn’t to prepare any player to make every shot on the court; their job is to run a play that puts each player in the spot where they play best. Good coaches create environments that allow their team members to maximize their individual talents.
If we look at the problems that lie before us today, we should ask ourselves not only what prioritizing DEI would accomplish, but what we stand to lose by doing nothing. Right now we need all hands on deck, but we are only working with a fraction of the crew. Cyberspace will take a different skill set that we can’t physically muscle our way through — it will take diverse minds and strategy. This is true for finance, technology, medicine, and all other hallmarks of a leading country.
Everyday that passes where we are not doing this right, we are losing out on opportunities. We can’t have a subgroup of a subgroup leading the way and picking up the challenges of tomorrow. Bringing in underrepresented groups without changing existing structures is an effort made in vain. Diversity, equity, and especially inclusion is about adjusting who we are in the creation of our new identity. In other words, we have to put out the fire in the building.