DEI Newsletter

April NWWA Caregiver Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and Well-being Monthly Newsletter

April is Neurodiversity Month

Welcome to the NWSA’s Caregiver DEI & Well-Being centered Newsletter! 

Thank you for being a part of the positive change and implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to all who walk our halls here at Providence.  We have heard your voices and requests for access to upcoming DEI events and information to aid you in implementing some of these celebrations and resources within your departments. One way we have provided easier access to this information is by creating a DEI newsletter that will be sent you each month.  

Purpose of newsletter: TO EQUIP YOU! EMPOWER YOU! TO EMBRACE THE FULL YOU!  

Our goal is to aid you and your team with resources, activities, and opportunties to shine a light on different DEI celebrations each month. We hope this newsletter and calendar help take the burden off you to produce a plan to create a more inclusive environment. We want to support you in any way we can. Resources in the newsletter include: 

  • Access the interactive monthly multi-cultural calendar where you and your team can easily sign up to participate in different holidays/traditions we’ll celebrate 
  • Access to learning boards on the topic of the month, as well as pertinent videos, articles, and links 
  • Easy access to DEI & Well-being Grant applications to fund projects and serve your departments DEI and well-being needs.  
  • Local caregiver spotlights and Diversity and Well–being Committee updates 

Monthly Multicultural Calendar

To open the printable calendar, click on the image above. To view the digital calendar, click here. 

Our monthly Multicultural Calendar is a guide to the holidays of the month, as well as events/celebrations the DEI team has planned. Each calendar has QR codes that link to flyers with more details about each event. If you need assistance implementing any of these projects, have questions about the event, or to share pictures of how your department celebrated, please email [email protected]. 

Each month, there’ll be an overall theme we’d like you, as a department lead, to focus on with your team. We’ve provided Learning Board materials, links, videos, recommended actions and more. This month, the focus is on neurodiversity. 

Ideas for Implementation of April’s Events:

    • Reference the Multicultural Calendar to see monthly holidays and celebrations. For example, in April, we’ll celebrate Ramadan. To celebrate this holiday or if caregivers on your team will be working when they break their fast, you can apply for a DEI & WELL-BEING GRANT to order a dried fruit and nut tray for your breakroom.  
    • If you’re interested in volunteering for a Providence Green Team Earth Day cleanup project, email [email protected] for more details.  
    • In April, we’ll shine a light on celebrating our neurodiverse staff. In honor of this, please print the attached neurodiversity celebration coloring page and encourage your team to get creative. Post the works of art for all to see! 
    • Ramadan is celebrated in April. Those who celebrate Ramadan don’t eat from sunrise to sunset. If one of your caregivers celebrates Ramadan, consider speaking with them privately to see if they need accommodations to support them during their fast. For example, make sure they can leave right at 5 p.m. when their fast breaks or, for our night shift workers, provide a tray of dried fruit and healthy snacks in the breakroom.  

Looking Ahead: Get Started on planning for May

  • To order Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) month decorations for your department, please email [email protected] by April 15. 
  • May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Keep a look out for our tables with resources regarding mental health. Also, if you’d like to participate in the Out of the Darkness Walk 2022, held on October 15th, 2022 (walking and/or donating funds) to benefit the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention (AFSP), please reach out to Event Chair and AFSP Board Member, Brooke Chhina at [email protected] for more details. 

 

Monthly Learning Board Theme & Content Resources

Click here for this month’s Learning Board theme and learn more about neurodiversity awareness and how to incorporate this theme into your department.  

April 2022 topic of the month: Neurodiversity Awareness – It Takes All Minds! 

Look for the 2022 Health and Well-being Monitor Survey opening April 25th. 

All participants entered in prize drawings!  

This survey is an opportunity to help our leaders with the Caregiver DEI and Well-being Committee identify strengths and gaps and inform activities to make our community healthier! In 2020, Providence NWWA launched a Caregiver Equity and Well-being Initiative. Collectively, our goal is to support individual practices and a community culture that improves caregiver well-being and equity, together. We all have a role to play – through our own self-awareness/practices, through our contributions to our work team and organization culture, and by advocating for supportive system policies/practices. For more information or to get involved, contact Kaila Alvarez, Diversity Equity and Inclusion Manager: [email protected].  

Request for caregiver stories  

Providence caregivers represent a vast array of diverse backgrounds, cultures, belief systems, circumstances, and more. It’s a privilege to work for an organization where we can learn so from one another if given the chance. This section of our newsletter is one of those chances. Below is a list of upcoming holidays, celebrations, and monthly themes. If you have a personal connection to any of these topics (or if you have another DEI/Wellness story unrelated to these topics) and feel comfortable sharing, we’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to [email protected] for more details. Those who participate will receive a gift for their time and energy. 😊 

  • April: Ramadan 
  • April: Neurodiversity Awareness Month 
  • May: AAPI 
  • May: Mother’s Day 
  • June: PRIDE Month 
  • June: Juneteenth  
  • June: Father’s Day 

Additional Resources

  • APPLY FOR A DEI & WELL-BEING GRANT As mentioned above, another way the DEI team hopes to support your DEI efforts is through a grant program to help pay for your creative ideas. From buying books for a book club, to funding decorations for celebrating an important tradition, to purchasing items to create a “Zen Den” where caregivers can relax during breaks, and more, the grant program is a resource for you! For more information, or to apply for a grant, email [email protected].
  • If you or anyone in your department is interested in learning more about DEI and Well-being, or would like to participate in our action planning, please email [email protected] about joining our Diversity and Well-being Committee here at Providence.
  • For additional resources about DEI and caregiver wellness, click here to be sent to our Caregiver Resource Hub.

Quote Corner

  • “One of the cruelest tricks our culture plays on autistic people is that it makes us strangers to ourselves. We grow up knowing we’re different, but that difference is defined for us in terms of an absence of neurotypically, not as the presence of another equally valid way of being.” – Julia Bascom
  • “The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.” – Carl Jung
  • “I am different … not less.” – Temple Grandin
  • “Imagine a bunch of apples met an orange, but instead of just saying it’s an orange, they called Apple Deficiency Syndrome Fruit. That’s kind of what it feels like to be autistic…” – Wendy Graves
  • “Behavior is communication. Change the environment and behaviors will change.” – Lana David
  • “I think when one becomes identified with a label, that’ll become all anyone sees; the expansiveness and breadth of all of who you are suddenly hidden from view. I look to the entire history of the label and how it came to be. Our Western world likes to compartmentalize, putting everything into simplistic categories. Now they have such terms as ‘neurotypical’ and ‘neurodivergent,’ separating the entire human population on the planet into two categories. I would say that ‘neurotypical’ is a diversity, as well.” – Kurt Muzikar

Diversity Cooking Class – A monthly recipe highlighting the cuisine of culture’s from around the world.

April: Lebanese Chicken Fattoush  

Dairy-free, gluten-free option 

Ingredients:
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 head lettuce, chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped in chunks
  • Small pack flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • ½ cucumber, chopped in chunks
  • 7 ounces cooked chicken pieces (or leftover cooked chicken)
  • 2 spring onions, sliced
  • 1-2 tsp ground sumac
  • 2 pitta breads (omit for gluten free)
Instructions:
  1. Pour the lemon juice into a large bowl and whisk while you slowly add the oil.
  2. When all the oil has been added and the mixture starts to thicken, season.
  3. Add the lettuce, tomatoes, parsley, cucumber, chicken pieces and spring onions, and stir well to coat the salad in the dressing.
  4. Put the pitta bread (if using) in the toaster to crisp and golden, then chop into chunks. Scatter the toasted pitta pieces over the salad and sprinkle the sumac over top.
  5. Serve straight away, enjoy!
  • Gluten– free option: Omit the pitta bread or substitute with a gluten free– pita 
  • Vegetarian option: Substitute the chicken with roasted chickpeas. (Drain one can of chickpeas, season with oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder, and paprika then roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until crispy.)   

Hosted By:

 

Our Programs

Our programs reflect our mission in the community. Learn more about our programs and how you can get involved.

LEARN MORE ⮕