As we continue to celebrate Black History Month, it’s a good time to reflect on how organizations can celebrate or recognize notable cultural and historic moments. 

To help inform planning around these moments, the FGS Global DEI practice group put together a few considerations to keep in mind:

• Be intentional about the diversity moments you recognize and celebrate, including the audiences you are reaching and the reason for marking those moments. Celebrations and commemorations should align with organizational business goals, company values, DEI priorities and interests of stakeholders, especially employees. Developing criteria for when to engage can help inform your strategy and provide rationale for your choices. 

• Organizations should be mindful that celebrations and acknowledgements should only be a small part of a larger effort to build inclusive environments for all people to thrive.

• Be sure to ground moments of celebration and commemoration in authentic, concrete work and commitments throughout the year and report on those efforts and progress made against related goals.

• Engage and consult Employee Resource Groups early and often as plans are developed to leverage their expertise and real-world experience, help mitigate blind spots and ensure alignment with internal and external stakeholder expectations.

Please reach out to our DEI practice group if you want to brainstorm or if you have any questions: USDEITeam@fgsglobal.com.