DEI LifeCycle
Designed in collaboration with Liz Foster-Shaner and other DEI consultant advisors, the DEI lifecycle plan is intended to support businesses, organizations, and communities by creating a holistic approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
How It Works
what is the deI lifecycle?
The DEI Lifecycle was designed by Mary C. Parker and Liz Foster-Shaner to support organizations to identify the five main phases of systemic anti-oppressive practices and change using gardening as our metaphor:
Choosing your plant (assessment, values clarification, road mapping, and prioritization)
Planting the seeds (training, cultivating inclusive environments)
Watering and maintenance (post-workshop assessment, holding leadership accountable, developing DE&I values statement)
Harvesting (assessing outcomes from the process, celebrating achievements and growth, sharing achievements with a community of stakeholders)
Replanting (setting sustainable goals, considering the legacy of the work, acknowledging the importance of ongoing process over finished product)
Why is this needed?
As the world continues to reckon with our roots in white supremacy, many organizations and institutions are looking to engage their communities in some kind of anti-racist, anti-oppression training. The momentum surrounding the Black Lives Matter protests filtered into many aspects of our culture, from shallow corporate statements of solidarity to seemingly genuine reckonings with historical systemic racism by institutions and individuals. As diversity, equity, and inclusion consultants and facilitators of anti-oppressive workshops, we saw an increase in demand of our services. We hoped that this uptick would also come with an acknowledgment of the amount of time, energy, and money that real, sustainable, systemic, and transformational change requires. Thus far, many organizations and communities continue to just ignore or offer one-off DEI engagements.
Our over 25 years of combined experience in this work makes us accustomed to consulting with organizations who express a desire to be more inclusive, equitable, and diverse but often end their formal efforts to enact this change after a day or two of training. We believe that this work requires more than a day to be sustainable and radical for and by organizations.
How can this be used?
During the DEI Lifecycle consultation,
WE will:
Share what we can offer
Use real examples through a case study of a past client
Share the significance of each phase
YOU will:
Have the opportunity to do a self-analysis and reflect on what you’ve already done using the DEI Lifecycle
Define what you want to accomplish in the DEI Lifecycle over a termed period
Prepare questions, thoughts, experiences of any current and upcoming DEI work before we meet
In providing DEI consulting, our experience is that most organizations focus on the first two phases and then get distracted by competing priorities. This DEI lifecycle comes out of our experience working with organizations and is an effort to create long-term sustained change. We want to emphasize the need to do this work holistically both in terms of stakeholder engagement and the phases outlined previously.
who is this for?
This DEI lifecycle is for individuals and organizations who want to become actively anti-oppressive but feel stuck. Maybe you already did a couple of trainings or met with a consultant, but the process ended after those initial efforts and they don’t know how to restart it.
Our hope is to move organizations from one day of dedicated training towards sustained commitments to anti-oppressive practices. To do that, our approach is an intersectional, anti-oppressive framework using an applied theatre praxis. We draw
heavily from critical race theory as a core foundation of our work.
who will you work with?
Mary C. Parker identifies as an African-American cis-gender woman and is an international applied theatre practitioner, dialogue facilitator, and comedic actor. She holds a MA in Applied Theatre from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, a BA in Sociology from Emory University, and is a Certified Professional Coach through Duquesne University’s Palumbo Donahue School of Business. Mary has worked with community-based organizations to create diversity, equity, and inclusion statements, address inclusion with boards of directors for nonprofits, and led several workshops on implicit bias. She also has seven years of experience virtually facilitating dialogue sessions so folx can learn how to approach differences constructively and lead with empathy, to thrive in an interconnected world.
Liz Foster-Shaner is a White, cis-gendered woman, educator, and civic artist. She holds a PhD in Theatre Research from UW-Madison where she studied applied theatre for social change. With funding from Heinz Endowments, the Three Rivers Community Foundation, and Remake Learning, Liz is developing programs that reimagine our opportunities for change as active citizens of our communities and places of practice. Liz is a DE&I consultant for Inclusant, a Teaching Artist with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and a founding member of Theatre of the Oppressed Pittsburgh. Recently, Liz facilitated workshops for the URA, Carlow University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
Initial consultation and introduction to the DEI Lifecycle Plan for your team is $599.
This includes a 90-minute session with Mary and Liz to:
Facilitate DEI Lifecycle orientation workshop with your team
Explore potential collaboration to implement DEI Lifecycle
Share tangible ideas to enact transformational change that lasts beyond a day
Book your consultation by completing this form here!
STILL, HAVE QUESTIONS?
We have answers! You can reach Mary and Liz by completing the form below.