WHO WE ARE

Bringing together local businesses to help create a more diverse workforce

We offer the community, accountability, support, and tools to help WNC businesses hire diverse professionals.

JOIN THE WNC DEC

OUR MISSION

We strive to bring people together to collectively support the professional development, engagement, and inclusion of multicultural people within the member organizations and to serve as a resource around best policy and practice regarding equity in the workplace.

WE’RE COMMITTED TO…

PROMOTING DIVERSITY

throughout the community through strategic outreach and organizational assessment.

INCREASING OPPORTUNITIES

for diverse individuals seeking employment, promotion, and advancement in Western North Carolina.

REMOVING BARRIERS

to hiring and advancement for diverse individuals.

BUILDING CAPACITY

for multicultural individuals - personally + professionally through intentional networks of referral and support.

EXPANDING

the number of workplaces in WNC that are genuinely inclusive: where all employees feel welcome, included, engaged, and valued for the contributions they make because of the different perspectives they bring.

OFFERING A HAND

to any and every individual and business who is also trying to achieve these goals.

OUR MOST TRUSTED RESOURCE

The GDEIB

Following research to locate an accountability tool that would work for the diverse employment qualities of the member agencies, the WNC Diversity Engagement Coalition adopted the Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Benchmarks (GDEIB) as a highly recommended resource. This tool is envisioned and updated by the Centre for Global Inclusion and is comprehensive in its approach, including 14 categories from leadership to supplier diversity to human resources. The GDIB is free for use though permission to use is required.

The WNC Diversity Engagement Coalition recognizes that, according to research, mentoring and accountability measures are the organizational lynch pins to creating institutional culture that is equitable and inclusive. This book is given to each new member of the Coalition as part of the membership package (a $125 value).

While the Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmarks are a self assessment tool, some agencies prefer to have assistance to address the comprehensive nature of the tool. To this end, WNC Diversity Engagement Coalition meets monthly to continually review and discuss each category of the tool.
These meetings take place on the first Thursdays of the month from 11:15 - 12:00 noon prior to the monthly Steering Committee Meeting at the Don Locke Room in the Family Justice Center (35 Woodfin Street, Asheville NC 28801).
All are welcomed to attend. In addition, workshops are periodically offered.
Individual support is available by contacting Deborah Miles at dmiles@ret.unca.edu.
Deborah Miles' experience spans a lifetime of work to open doors and remove barriers for greater equity and inclusion whether interpersonal, institutional, or systematic. She was raised in southern Arkansas and moved to Asheville in 1975 after graduating from Hendrix College with a degree in Elementary Education. In 1995, Miles founded the Center for Diversity Education at the Jewish Community Center which later fully affiliated with UNC Asheville in 2013. Through the work of the Center in K-12 schools, at UNC Asheville, and in the broader community she was instrumental in the creation of 12 exhibits on local communities and a number of coalitions including WNC Diversity Engagement Coalition, Everybody's Environment, and People Not Property. Miles' current work focuses on how accountability structures in institutions move the needle on the work for greater work place equity and inclusion with a particular focus on the Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmarks.