This Is Our Season: Join Us September 1st  When We Launch—Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity & Inclusion

Register today for the virtual launch of the Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion and invite someone who should not have to do this work alone.

Tuesday, September 1st
11:00 a.m. to noon Pacific / 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern
We will gather online for:
RESIST! Join the Launch of the Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion

The event is free. Learn more and register here:
https://drkirkadams.com/join-the-launch-of-the-ccsdi/

September is a season of turning.

Summer begins to loosen its warm embrace. Students return to classrooms. Families settle into new routines. Morning air grows crisp. Leaves begin trading green for gold, crimson, and copper, reminding us that transformation can be both beautiful and necessary.

To everything, there is a season.

This is our season to come together.

This is our season to turn isolation into connection, fear into courage, exhaustion into renewed purpose, and individual effort into collective power.

This is the season for the Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion.

When You Feel Like the Only One in the Room

Across the country, champions of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, belonging, human rights, and human dignity are facing intense pressure.

Programs are being dismantled. Funding is disappearing. Language is being censored. People are being asked to abandon commitments that were never merely fashionable initiatives; they were promises of fairness, opportunity, dignity, and belonging.

In workplaces, schools, nonprofits, government agencies, and communities, many champions feel like the only one in the room.

Perhaps you know that feeling.

You raise the question no one else will ask. You identify the barrier everyone else has learned to ignore. You advocate for the person whose experience is missing from the conversation. You continue speaking even when the room becomes uncomfortable.

Then you go home wondering: Is anyone else out there? Does anyone understand how exhausting this is? How long can I keep carrying it alone?

You are not alone.

But too often, the people who share our values remain separated by geography, profession, identity, institution, or issue. We may be fighting similar battles without knowing one another exists.

That isolation is not simply painful. It weakens our ability to create change.

The forces working against inclusion triumph when we are exhausted, fragmented, and afraid. Our answer must be courageous connection.

From Isolated Survival to Collective Power

The purpose of the Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion is clear:

The Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion empowers members to move from reactive, isolated survival mode to strategic, sustainable, collective power through courageous communication and connected communities.

And our “why” is equally clear:

We believe in fairness, inclusion, equal opportunity, and human dignity for all.

The Coalition is being created to help people address real-world issues, not simply discuss inspiring ideas.

It will be a place where champions can find practical resources, exchange strategies, learn from subject-matter experts, ask difficult questions, develop solutions, and organize collective action.

We will facilitate mentoring and peer-learning circles so people can support one another across generations, professions, identities, and experiences.

Coalition members will be able to gather in spaces devoted to the issues they care about most. They will meet people confronting similar challenges, engage with experts who can help them move forward, and contribute their own wisdom to others.

Because expertise does not come only from titles, degrees, or institutions.

Each of us carries knowledge shaped by our lived experiences. Each of us possesses a unique combination of gifts, skills, relationships, and perspectives. Something you have learned may be exactly what another person needs to take their next step.

The Coalition will create a space where we can bestow those gifts upon one another.

That is how community becomes power.

A Joyous Rebellion

Our launch is an act of resistance—but we are not building a community fueled only by anger or fear.

We are creating a joyous rebellion.

A rebellion against isolation.

Against division.

Against hopelessness.

Against the lie that expanding opportunity for one group must diminish another.

Against the idea that fairness, inclusion, accessibility, belonging, and human dignity are somehow too dangerous to name.

We will resist with courage and creativity.

We will resist with authenticity and love.

We will resist by forming relationships strong enough to carry us through difficult seasons.

Imagine people from every walk of life: across race, disability, gender, affectional orientation, generation, profession, geography, faith, identity, and lived experience, standing shoulder to shoulder and declaring:

We will not retreat. We will not be divided. We will build something better. Together.

Not Another Webinar

Our September 1 launch will not be another webinar where people talk at you for an hour while you quietly wonder whether anyone would notice if you wandered off to refill your coffee.

We are creating an Ask Us Anything conversation.

Bring your questions.

Bring your frustrations.

Bring your ideas.

Bring your lived experience.

Bring your hope, even if it is feeling a little bruised.

I will be joined by ISDI board members and community advisors representing a rich variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We will discuss why the Coalition is needed, what members will find inside it, and how we can transform courageous conversation into meaningful action.

Most importantly, we want to hear from you.

What challenges are you facing? What resources do you need? What knowledge can you share? What could become possible if you no longer had to stand alone?

Bring Someone With You

Register for the September 1 launch and then invite someone else.

Invite the person who keeps speaking up in difficult meetings.

Invite the educator helping every student feel seen.

Invite the disability advocate demanding access.

Invite the human-resources professional trying to protect inclusive practices.

Invite the employee-resource-group leader holding people together.

Invite the executive, organizer, activist, student, neighbor, colleague, or family member who believes human dignity is worth defending.

A new season is approaching, carrying both uncertainty and possibility.

We cannot control every change the wind may bring. But we can decide how we will meet it and who will stand beside us when it arrives.

Help Us Build What Comes Next

You can also help bring the Coalition to life by supporting our GoFundMe campaign.

Every contribution—whether it is $10, $25, $50, $100, or more—helps us build and sustain the Coalition’s online community and mobile apps. If you are unable to give right now, sharing the campaign with your networks can be an equally powerful act of support.

Support and share our GoFundMe campaign:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-our-fight-for-inclusion-human-dignity-for-all

Register now for the free September 1 virtual launch:
https://drkirkadams.com/join-the-launch-of-the-ccsdi/

Make a gift. Register for the launch. Share both invitations. And bring someone with you.

The leaves are turning.

The seasons are changing.

And so are we.

RESIST fear.

RESIST division.

RESIST isolation.

RESIST hate.

Together, let us build what comes next.

This is our moment. This is our community. This is our season.

Kirk Adams, PhD
Executive Director
Institute for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion
www.i4sdi.org           

We can’t wait to see you at the next workshop.
Until then, please share this post with anyone you think would be interested.

The post Join Us September 1st  When We Launch—Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity & Inclusion appeared first on Institute for Sustainable Diversity & Inclusion.

The Institute for Sustainable Diversity & Inclusion (ISDI) launches its 2026 series of Special Events with this critical strategy session focused on the evolving legal and political environment shaping Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work nationwide.

ISDI is pleased to welcome Archbright as a sponsor of this first event. Archbright helps organizations navigate people, risk, and growth through trusted HR expertise, the mozzo resource hub, and experienced advisors. Archbright also offers DEI Flex, an adaptable approach to DEI support designed to evolve with organizational needs.

The conversation in this session is not a defensive one. It is a governance conversation.

As regulatory pressures increase and public narratives attempt to reframe DEI as risk rather than performance infrastructure, organizational leaders must operate with legal precision, strategic clarity, and institutional discipline.

This session will examine:

• Emerging federal and state legal trends affecting workplace DEI
• The recent evolution of legal theory shaping enforcement and litigation
• Distinguishing lawful inclusion strategy from practices that create exposure
• Governance-level implications for boards, executives, HR HR and Inclusion leaders
• How to embed equity into organizational systems in ways that are durable, compliant, and performance-enhancing

Our position is clear: Sustainable inclusion is not a temporary initiative, it is operating architecture.

The question is not whether organizations should advance inclusion. The question is how to do so lawfully, strategically, and with long-term institutional resilience. This session equips leaders, practitioners and DEI-related groups to move from reactive posture to informed strategy.

Presenters for this special session are Erin Jacobson, attorney and president of Workplace Law Group PC, where she leads a team of attorneys who provide employment law and labor relations advice to Archbright members and clients. Effenus Henderson is co-director of the Institute for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion (ISDI), where he has become a well-known monitor and herald of the attacks on DEI, Accessibility and Belonging. This is the second time Erin and Effenus have paired up to provide a legal and organization briefing on the status of DEI. You won’t want to miss their latest update!

Reserve your spot today. Stay informed and up-to-date on the status of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) for your organization and your role.

The post ISDI and Archbright Virtual Event: Legal & Political Landscape: Advancing DEI Amid Threats & Challenges: Friday, April 17, 2026 at 11:30 AM PT appeared first on Institute for Sustainable Diversity & Inclusion.

We are so excited to reach out to you as we launch the 2026 NW Diversity Learning Series!

We begin 2026 with a lot of uncertainty, and it seeps into the workplace. In fact, that is the theme of the entire 2026 Series, Navigating Workplace Uncertainties: Let’s Recommit To Practicing Inclusion To Foster Safety, Belonging & Healthy Relationships.

We believe this is a noble goal, we all want to feel safe, to belong, and to have healthy relationships at work. At the same time, people have different viewpoints, different values. So what can we do?

In this climate, we believe it is much more productive to work collectively and co-create than to work alone. So in this first workshop, we will work together to lay the foundation of dialogue, as that is the methodology we’ll use to address all of our 5 workshop topics. This first workshop will focus on, Navigating Conflicting Mindsets: Engaging Skillfully in Dialogue Across Divides.

We ask you, as participants, to help us co-create a dialogue space to explore answers to difficult and complex issues we face, as a society and as organizations. (This is also a chance to practice inclusion together!)

When conversations at work (or elsewhere) become tense, polarized or emotionally charged, how do you engage constructively? Do you lean in or do you silently avoid the conversation?

How do you help someone feel heard when their views differ sharply from yours? What are the best strategies for connecting with people, and potentially persuading them?

Presenter for this workshop, Dr. David Campt, has coached and advised thousands of people about how to build on findings from the arts of dialogue, persuasion and conflict resolution.

“Many of my clients tell me that the methods I teach often help them make remarkable progress when talking to people they have longstanding disagreements with.”

Come and join in a dialogue experience. Become more confident and more skillful in creating dialogue opportunities in your life!

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Shift from a focus on immediate persuasion to the interpersonal connection that is the necessary precursor to greater influence.
• Move the conversation from facts to the experiences and/or the values that influence each person’s perspective.
• Improve the ability to recognize and articulate the key trade-offs in values behind most deep disagreements.
• Learn ways to strategically use stories of one’s own mistakes to change a conversation from a confrontation to one where both of you are re-examining your point of view.

We invite you to join the 2026 Series, as a Sponsor, as a Subscriber, or as a single workshop purchaser. We remind you that we offer non-profit and other sliding scale registration fees.

You can sign-up here as a Subscriber, or you can register as a single-seat purchaser.

✏️ Register Here

Accessibility: American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, by certified interpreters, is available upon request. If you need an accommodation, contact Abi Depositar, isdi.admin@i4sdi.org.

Requests MUST be made at least TWO weeks prior to the session.

Barbara Deane
barbara.deane@i4sdi.org 📧️
Co-Director

Effenus Henderson
effenus.henderson@i4sdi.org 📧️
Co-Director

Abi Depositar
isdi.admin@i4sdi.org 📧️
Project Manager

https://i4sdi.org/ 🌐
+1 (206) 362-0336 📱️

We can’t wait to see you at the next workshop.
Until then, please share this post with anyone you think would be interested.

The post ISDI: Next NWDLS Workshop: Navigating Conflicting Mindsets: Engaging Skillfully in Dialogue Across Divides: March 11, 2026: Register Now appeared first on Institute for Sustainable Diversity & Inclusion.