Managers from Chattanooga’s police and fire departments took part in a first-time, two-hour diversity training session to learn how to recognize their biases and assumptions.
“When we go out to enforce our fire codes, we just make the assumption that people understand why we are there,” Chattanooga Fire Marshal Craig Haney said. “But we need to understand that people from another country might not have fire department inspectors that come and look for life safety code violations.”
Dolores Fridge, chief resolution officer for a medical technology products company based in Minnesota, said the diversity training is important “to be able to live and work coherently with people who are not like us.”
The exercises attendees worked on Friday were designed to help them identify the source of personal biases and provide some tools to help them evaluate when those biases lead to improved safety and when they create negativity toward other people, she said.
About 23 members of upper management from the police department, including four women, and 15 men from the fire department participated in the workshop to learn how to “pursue diversity within the department and in the city,” Deputy Fire Chief Lamar Flint said.
Solomon Hatch, the community outreach coordinator with the city’s Office of Multicultural Affairs who sponsored the workshop, said there have been discussions to expand the diversity training to other areas, such as schools.
“There is definitely a need (in the community),” he said. “Oftentimes people are afraid to venture outside their comfort zones.”
KEY POINTS
Examples of how you can improve your understanding of diversity:
* Actively see opportunities to self-educate. Move out of your comfort zone.
* Participate in the communities that reflect all of your clients.
* Create or buy a “Diversity Calendar” that illustrates all holidays and cultural events and post for all to see.
* Establish monthly “Lunch & Learn Sessions.”
Source: “How Biases and Assumptions Impact Relationships,” a workshop by Dolores Fridge
Perla Trevizo joined the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 2007 and covers immigration/diversity issues and higher education. She holds a master’s degree in newswire journalism from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas. In 2011 she participated in the Bringing Home the World international reporting fellowship program sponsored by the International Center for Journalists, producing a series on Guatemalan immigrants for which she ...
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