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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At Military Veterans in Journalism, we believe a diverse, inclusive and equitable community is one where everyone feels valued and respected.

Our team is committed to providing equal opportunity for employment and advancement in our workplace and all of our programs. We respect and value diverse life experiences and heritages and ensure that all voices are valued and heard.

We’re devoted to modeling diversity and inclusion for our community and the veteran-serving portion of the nonprofit sector, and to maintaining an inclusive environment with equitable treatment for all.

Military Veterans in Journalism strives to provide informed, authentic leadership for cultural equity. We see diversity, inclusion and equity as inherently connected to our mission and vision and critical to ensure the well-being of our staff and the community we serve, and we aim to lead with respect.

The MVJ team acknowledges and dismantles any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services. Our team explores potential underlying, unquestioned assumptions and systemic inequities that interfere with inclusiveness in our work, and we advocate for and support thinking about how those assumptions impact what we do. We seek the best ways to address these inequities consistent with our mission and values, including by committing time and resources to expand the diversity of our leadership.

Together, we are challenging assumptions about what it takes to be a strong leader in our community.

Military Veterans in Journalism works to promote diversity and inclusion in our workplace. Our team pursues cultural competency throughout our organization by creating substantive learning opportunities and transparent policies that reflect our values.

In order to act on our diversity, equity and inclusion goals, we:

  • Improve our cultural leadership pipeline by creating and supporting programs and policies that foster leadership that reflects the diversity of American society.
  • Pool resources and expand offerings for underrepresented constituents by connecting with other organizations committed to diversity and inclusion efforts. We have worked and will continue to work with affinity groups such as the Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, and Native American Journalists Association.
  • Develop and present sessions on diversity, inclusion and equity to provide information and resources internally, and to members, the community, and the media industry.
  • Develop a system for being more intentional and conscious of bias during the hiring, promoting or evaluating process. We train our hiring teams on equitable practices to ensure fair treatment.
  • Include a salary range with all public job descriptions.

The Military Veterans in Journalism team sets annual goals to reinforce our commitment to improvement. These goals are divided into three groups: awareness, recruitment and hiring, and inclusion.

Awareness

To enhance our team’s approach to understanding DEI issues, we will:

  • Set up discussions and presentations on the importance of addressing these issues in our work consistent with our mission and vision
  • Develop and participate in training to enhance employee cultural competency

Recruitment and Hiring

To improve equity and inclusion within our membership recruitment and hiring processes, our team will develop effective strategies to recruit and attract a more diverse applicant pool for position vacancies and paid opportunities alike. We will also:

  • Encourage participation in our events and gather feedback from members and recruits.
  • Highlight to recruits and members the camaraderie they can get from our community and address any potential feelings of discomfort.
  • Reach out to diversity committees in affinity groups to garner best practices.
  • Develop effective strategies to recruit more diverse mentors to the mentorship program and ensure mentees are receiving a well-rounded experience.

Inclusion

As we strive toward inclusivity in all our efforts, we aim to:

  • Promote diversity and inclusion within our workplace. This includes continued promotion of the development and advancement of underrepresented group members in the team through monthly discussions on professional goals and development opportunities.
  • Make sure that web pages, documents, forms, and other relevant items are accessible to all users. We will review our website with compliance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines in mind, including implementation of text-to-speech functions.
  • Promote policies, practices, and procedures that are inclusive and sensitive to the various cultures in our workplace and community on our website and social channels.

Military Veterans in Journalism has several publicly-accessible policies and procedures for accountability in our work. Please see below for access to PDF versions of these policies.

Nondiscrimination & Harassment Policy

Document Retention Policy

Fundraising Policy

Whistleblower Policy

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