Diversity and Accessibility Review Group
Minutes of Meeting #1 - Sunday, July 18, 2004, 7:30 p.m.
Present:
Working Group: Cortez Rainey, Chair; Sarah LittleFeather, Recorder; Dan Hessey; Babo Harrison.
Review Group: Da Choong; Bara MacNeill; Ted Spearin; Vallie Stearns; Peter Sarfaty; River Wolf
Preliminary Comments
Cortez explained that the Working Group came into existence as a result of the Shambhala Congress, and that its mission is to develop recommendations on diversity and accessibility for the Mandala Governing Council in consultation with the Review Group and larger community. He went over the Working Group objectives.
Cortez said that the purpose of the meeting is to review the treatise and surveys. Members of the Review Group who did not receive a copy of the treatise or surveys were informed that they would receive the documents immediately after the meeting. He stated that although many people couldn’t make it to the meeting, several notices were sent out.
Meeting attendees introduced themselves. In the course of introductions, several noteworthy comments were made:
The success of our diversity efforts will on doing outreach; we need to look at how our cultural environment makes our Centers accessible.
The dharma should be more accessible to blacks and Hispanics. Is the Diversity and Accessibility Working Group talking about whether to do outreach.
The Diversity and Accessibility and the Outreach working groups overlap. We need to contact the Chair of the Outreach Working Group to identify areas of overlap.
We have success with certain groups and get stuck with others. In places like Ottawa, where there are not many non-English speaking participants in Center programs, an attempt is being made to address this issue. A weekly meditation program has been established in the community for French-speaking persons.
If we are going to be accessible, we have to let people know we are here, perhaps by advertising.
In discussions about how to make facilities accessible to people with physical disabilities, the needs of people who are perceptually impaired should not be overlooked.
Treatise: Notes on Diversity and Accessibility
Dan gave an overview of the treatise, Notes on Diversity and Accessibility. He said the treatise explains that diversity and accessibility is inherent in our mission. It discusses diversity as it relates to these areas: physical, cultural/psychological and spiritual. Other issues discussed in the treatise are: economy, insiders/outsiders and ego. The treatise states that although some boundaries are needed to protect the integrity of the mandala, our bodhisattva vow commits us to ensuring there is diversity and accessibility in Shambhala.
In response to Dan’s presentation, several issues were discussed:
- The inaccessibility of the dharma to Blacks, Hispanics and persons who do not speak the language of various countries.
- The use of advertising to let Blacks, Hispanics and others know we are here.
- The need to take our programs into the community (as is happening in Ottawa with the francophones).
- The need to create a bridge between outreach programs and our Centers.
- The need to designate persons to welcome visitors to Center programs (similar to the Padma Committee established by Chogyam Trungpa years ago).
- The need for our Centers to be accessible to people from all cultures/countires and for our environments to be places where people from different backgrounds will feel safe.
These are some of the revisions to the treatise that were suggested:
- Move the statement about the “bodhisattva vow” to the beginning of the document.
- Include subheadings and bullet points.
- Include reference to mental illness and perceptual disabilities in the document.
Surveys: Center Director, Mandala Governing Council and Practitioner
The Working Group’s definition of “diversity and accessibility,” and questions on the Practitioner, Center Director and Mandala Governing Council surveys were read. The following issues were clarified:
- The surveys are not intended to put people on the defensive, but to welcome them to a community dialogue on diversity and accessibility.
- Although there is no intent to make people feel like they’re being blamed, if we’re overly concerned about what people might feel, we won’t be able to accomplish our objectives.
- Economics is a factor affecting our ability to be inclusive (diverse and accessible) and a question concerning it should be included in the Center Director survey.
It was decided that the following revisions should be made to the surveys:
- In the introduction to each survey, state the purpose of the Working Group and how the survey responses will be used.
- Make the last question on each surveys (“. . . what would a diverse Center look like?”), the first item on the survey.
- Add this question to the Center Director survey: “When you think of allocating resources for various projects how do the issues of diversity and accessibility get addressed?”
It was decided that instead involving the Review Group in reading survey responses, the Working Group will handle that task. Afterwards it will consult with the Review Group about its findings. Further, it was decided that if anyone wants to suggest additional revisions to the treatise they should email them to Dan within a couple of days.
Following the Dedication of Merit, the meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Updated 2004/08/09