Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

This 4-page document was prepared to guide Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay staff in their communications.

This report focuses on 19 barriers to engaging and serving broader constituencies across five categories: agency culture, agency capacity, constituent culture, constituent capacity, and political and legal constraints. The report also outlines a rationale for each of the strategies to overcome the barrier and identified tactics that might be used to implement the strategy. When possible, examples of current efforts to engage and serve broader constituencies were highlighted to illustrate how agencies are already working to expand their reach to new audience.

A dissertation in Rural Sociology and Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the Environment: Although Latinos are the fastest growing population in the United States, environmental organizations and natural resource managers have relatively little information on their attitudes and behaviors toward the natural environment. The U.S. Latino population originates from over twenty nationalities, including the U.S., and represents a broad diversity of demographic backgrounds, cultural traits, and immigration experiences which have been understudied in the environmental concerns literature. As a result of this diversity, perspectives and concerns are likely to be highly variable among Latinos, making it even more critical to center attention on the needs and concerns of this population regarding the environment. Focusing on eleven counties of eastern Pennsylvania, this study aimed to investigate how Latino groups use and perceive natural areas such as parks, forests, and neighborhood open space. For each analysis, I examined if and how Latino perceptions and uses varied by sociodemographic background, ethnicity, and community social interactions. Then I explored associations between outdoor recreation, environmental values, and environmental behaviors. Community field theory guided the research.

This page at WeConservePA.org provides information on the WeConservePA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Community and links to DEIJ resources.