Jamilah Williams, Sustainable Seattle’s Board Chair and professional staff at UW, answers questions from the Diversity Forum

Last month, the PSO hosted the 4th annual Diversity Forum. This year’s event, attended by over 360 people, focused on “(re)building cultures of diversity, equity, and inclusion through policies, procedures and budgets”. We were thrilled by the conversations and engagement; you can read our overview here. After we formally wrapped up, more questions came through the chat from our community. Panelist Jamilah Williams, Board Chair of Sustainable Seattle, and Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at UW’s College of Built Environments, shared her answers to some of those questions. We are grateful to share her thoughts with professional staff:

Diversity Forum Attendee: Something that I’ve become more passionate about recently is the intersection of mental health and DEI, particularly the ways in which women and BIPOC folks are underserved in that space. I think an area that is going to need more attention is the ways in which our systems do not serve neuro-diverse populations, and I’m wondering whether this is something the panelists have begun to…

Jamilah Williams: I agree that there is much more work to be done. Personally, I know I have a lot of room to grow in terms of accessibility. At Sustainable Seattle, we’ve also recognized that representation and inclusion of the disability community lacks in the sustainability space and in our organization as well. We’re working to build those authentic relationships and continuing to learn.

DFA: How do you as BIPOC women survive these organizations? How do you keep pushing for this work? And when do you know when it’s time to walk away?

JW: Find your people, find your community. Surround yourself with people you trust and who you can go to for advice, to vent, and have your back. Knowing when to walk away is hard, especially as someone committed to EDI work, but you also have to take care of yourself. Walk away when you are giving your all, but not seeing any change or movement.

DFA: We need spaces for BIPOC staff working in a predominantly white institution!

JW: Agree! Having these spaces can help you find those people who you know will have your back. It also shows a commitment on the part of the institution when they are supportive of these types of spaces.

DFA: How can we make sure, when hiring staff, to have reached the most diverse group of candidates? We would like to make sure that the pool is as inclusive as possible and the mainstream channels are not always the best ones.

JW: There are great local job boards and groups. Ask your staff what groups/communities they are part of and have them share the job. One note in regards to job postings, is to include the salary range. Here is some great language ReproJobs on job postings, salaries, and equity:

We know that cis women are paid less than cis men for doing the same job, women of color are paid even less than white women, and disabled people and trans people earn even less than abled and cis people (for example: we know that a third of Black trans people earn less than $10,000 a year). Refusing to be transparent about salaries and benefits is a huge contributor to these inequities and puts candidates of color and trans candidates at a disadvantage in the negotiating process. Additionally, by basing a salary off of a person’s previous salaries and not disclosing what your actual budget is, candidates with marginalized identities are unable to earn a living, thriving wage, particularly if it’s always based on past underpaid wages. Do you really want your organization to be part of perpetuating this problem? By posting the salary, your organization can be part of the solution to ensure all candidates are paid wages that reflects the compensation they deserve.

Listing the salary also puts you and the candidate on more equitable negotiating grounds. If the candidate doesn’t know what the salary range is, the organization holds all the power. Candidates are left guessing about what salary to ask for, and sometimes they’ll ask for a lower salary because that’s what they’ve been lowballed previously or because they don’t know what they should asking for. It’s also becoming increasingly illegal for interviewers to ask a candidate for their salary history. So, don’t do that either!

4th Annual PSO Diversity Forum Event Recap

More than 350 professional staff attended The PSO’s 4th Annual Diversity Forum held on March 3, 2021. The event, presented by the Professional Staff Organization in partnership with the Whole U, centered on the theme of (Re)Building Cultures of Equity and Inclusion through Policy, Procedures and Budgets.

The remote venue allowed for an engaging discussion between attendees and panelists, who included leaders from the non-profit, private, and academic sectors:

Annette Anderson, Office of Diversity and Equity, UW-Bothell, and member and ex-officio president of the PSO Board
Ebonee Anderson, Diversity Recruiter, UWHR, University of Washington
Mariasol Hill, Global Intern Program Manager, Microsoft, and former Administrator for Residential Life at UW’s HFS
Jamilah Williams, Board Chair of Sustainable Seattle, and Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at UW’s College of Built Environments
Moderated by Deci Evans, Harborview Medical Center Trauma, Burn and Surgical Critical Care and longtime PSO Board member and chair of our events committee.

Full bios of the panelists can be found on the event web page, and you can watch the event recording on YouTube. (Unfortunately we were unable to capture the chat transcript, but have followed up with the panelists and hope to highlight their thoughts to some of the additional questions in a future post.)

Panelists shared their experiences and offered valuable insights as to how necessary it is for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work to be explicitly included in discussions of institutional policies, procedures, and budgeting. Some of the takeaways that the PSO Board left with include the following ideas:

Representation is important, and it does not mean just offering a seat at the table if the table was designed to exclude you: it means creating a new table.
Bring an equity lens to all budgeting–because DEI work needs to be funded/paid work and not “stuff we expect people to do for free in addition to their regular job”
Collaboration and working together is often at odds with the dominant white culture value of the individual. Doing independent work without including other people can be exclusionary, and it leads to a lack of accountability where folks can agree to do something then never show up. Additionally, groups of people who are super focused on getting work done at the exclusion of making connections often don’t look good (or safe). On the other hand, groups of people who work well together, with respect, look inviting; moreover, they are able to develop more robust and inclusive policies and solutions.
Institutions need mechanisms for sharing DEI resources across the organization. One of the great places this is happening at UW is on the Department of Surgery’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council website, an effort co-led by Deci, our panel moderator. Relatedly, during the event, the PSO made a request to UW-IT to add a DEI event tag to their cross-campus Trumba calendar platform, for more effective sharing of such events. We hope this change happens and will follow up accordingly!
We must all work to be antiracist and to work toward justice, regardless of our job descriptions or areas of expertise – this is not just the purview of folks working in DEI offices.

The event was a huge success – the panelists were generous with their time and stayed beyond the scheduled hour to answer additional questions and share their thoughts. A huge thank you to the panelists, the attendees, and Whole U. We are so glad to have been able to be in conversation with you all. And we’d love to hear your thoughts – please let us know what aspects of the event resonated with you!

Based on the level of engagement both in the chat and via email after the event, it’s apparent to the PSO Board that many professional staff as well as others across the UW are eager to continue this conversation. We are already planning the next one! We invite you to participate in continuing this conversation – reach out to the PSO Diversity Equity and Inclusion committee to get involved.

Additionally, we invite you to tell us about DEI work that is taking place across campus – each month, we highlight DEI activities from book clubs to discussion groups to campus initiatives in our PSO member newsletter, and we’d love to amplify your work. Email psoboard@uw.edu!

Event: Promoting Equity and Justice for Caregivers at UW

The Faculty Council on Women in Academia will host a discussion of current realities, polices, practices, and support during COVID-19 and beyond. (Event website)

Friday, October 30, 2020 from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm (PST)

Open to all University of Washington caregivers.

Join the event on Zoom:

One tap mobile: +12063379723,,5608294138# US (SEATTLE),
+12532158782,,5608294138# US (TACOMA)

Zoom meeting ID: 560 829 4138