What is the Quad Cities Diver­sity Ini­tia­tive?
Many orga­ni­za­tions in our com­mu­nity are sup­port­ing diver­sity, how­ever, we can progress more quickly and effec­tively by work­ing more closely to bet­ter coor­di­nate and inte­grate these efforts.  This web­site is just one of the eff­forts by the Quad Cities Cham­ber of Com­merce and its Diver­sity Ini­tia­tive steer­ing com­mit­tee to help cre­ate an inclu­sive community.

Vision:  Quad-Cities Diver­sity Ini­tia­tive is a model of inclu­sion that val­ues, nur­tures, attracts, and retains peo­ple of diverse back­grounds, cul­tures, and beliefs to grow our work­force and community.

Mis­sion:  Quad-Cities Diver­sity Ini­tia­tive is a cat­a­lyst for accel­er­at­ing the under­stand­ing of diver­sity and cul­ture, to attract and retain a diverse work­force and com­mu­nity. This will be accom­plished through com­mu­ni­ca­tion, pro­grams, and strate­gic partnerships.

Glos­sary of Terms: Diver­sity and Culture

1. Cul­ture: The col­lec­tive behav­ior pat­terns, com­mu­ni­ca­tion styles, beliefs, con­cepts, val­ues, insti­tu­tions, stan­dards, and other fac­tors unique to a com­mu­nity that are socially trans­mit­ted to indi­vid­u­als and to which indi­vid­u­als are expected to con­form (indi­vid­u­als  may choose to do differently.)

2. Cul­tural Com­pe­tence: The abil­ity to func­tion effec­tively in a soci­ety of cul­ture variation.

3. Diver­sity: A rep­re­sen­ta­tion of mul­ti­ple (ide­ally all) groups within an envi­ron­ment, with an empha­sis on accept­ing and respect­ing cul­tural dif­fer­ences by rec­og­niz­ing that no one cul­ture is intrin­si­cally supe­rior to another.

4. Diver­sity Change Agents: Indi­vid­u­als who are com­mit­ted to facil­i­tat­ing change by mod­el­ing appro­pri­ate behav­iors.  They also take every oppor­tu­nity to ensure that sys­tems, poli­cies and prac­tices are flex­i­ble enough to work for every­one, mod­i­fy­ing them as appro­pri­ate to sup­port the future state environment.

5. Inclu­sive­ness: The act of encour­ag­ing accep­tance and belonging.

6. Mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism:  The prac­tice of acknowl­edg­ing and respect­ing cul­ture, reli­gion, race, eth­nic­ity, gen­der, age, ori­en­ta­tion, abil­ity, atti­tudes and opin­ions within an environment.

Devel­op­ing processes that are inclu­sive rather than exclu­sive of cultures.

The co-existence of many dis­tinct cul­tures within a given con­text, such as com­mu­nity or nation.