CALL TO ACTION
The West Coast Swing community is long overdue for actionable change in its diversity and inclusion. SwingDiversity is an enterprise desiring to lead this change. Our core values are action, integrity, sustainability, and transparency.
MISSION STATEMENT
We celebrate diversity — it’s in our name! — and are committed to creating an equitable and inclusive environment where community members can bring their full selves to the dance floor.
We strive to be an enterprise that represents the diverse people that make the community the best it can be.
Our approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion is rooted in listening and acting. We humbly offer ourselves as an enterprise that will seek community opinion and act on their behalf as well as compile tangible resources and redistribute them equitably, sustainably, and transparently.
We seek to be problem-driven and solution-oriented by identifying the primary diversity-related issues facing the West Coast Swing community before designing solutions to directly address those issues.
INITIATIVES
01
REPRESENTATION & SCHOLARSHIP
To address a lack of representation, SwingDiversity is committed to conducting outreach to recruit new community members from underrepresented groups as well as creating training and hiring opportunities for these historically marginalized groups.
02
AWARENESS & EDUCATION
To address a lack of awareness, SwingDiversity is committed to providing diversity and allyship workshops at major events as well as developing implicit bias training for judges.
03
POLICY & ACCOUNTABILITY
To address a lack of accountability, SwingDiversity is committed to developing enforceable policies for local and national events.
PROJECTS
01
ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP
An annual scholarship will be awarded each summer to three recipients (Pro, Amateur, and Newcomer). These awardees will receive a cash award as well as event passes.
02
THE UNIVERSITY
Over the course of one year, the three free programs — judge, DJ, and instructor — train community members from historically marginalized groups to be prepared and available for roles in the community, and to provide a pipeline to lift them up at local social dances and/or national conventions.
03
DEI WORKSHOPS
We partner with national conventions as consultants to deliver engaging and educational content to attendees as well as provide specialized training to the event staff.
04
POLICY COMPILATION
We have developed a Policy Toolkit to offer local and national community organizers to assist them in developing a Code of Conduct and the necessary components of a full set of policies, including a reporting mechanism, systematic consequences, and more.