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WITH SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE.
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. As Southeast Michigan’s regional park system – created and maintained for the benefit of everyone who calls this region home – those three words are more than just good ideas. They are at the heart of our commitment to be the best place to be yourself.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION (DEI)
Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Department was created in December 2018 by the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority Board of Commissioners. Our purpose is to help make the Metroparks a more just, more accessible and more enjoyable park system for everyone in Southeast Michigan.
Our approach to DEI is based on our unwavering belief that the Metroparks were created for all the people of Southeast Michigan. And that the Metroparks are at their best when all people feel welcomed, respected and valued by our organization and across our footprint.
Since our founding, we’ve focused on four key tentpoles: Collecting actionable data about DEI challenges and opportunities as they relate to the Metroparks; converting collected data into action; developing and implementing comprehensive staff training; and the commitment to serving ALL members in our region.
From building accessible playgrounds to providing internet hotspots in underserved communities to improving hiring practices to hosting focus groups across the communities we serve, DEI at the Metroparks is active, ongoing and focused on people. We are committed to staying ahead of the challenges the Metroparks face as an organization while being innovative and helpful partners to the community.
At the Metroparks, diversity, equity, and inclusion are intrinsically linked – one affects the other and we won’t succeed unless we succeed on all three. We’re here to be stewards not only of a leading metropolitan park system, but the public trust of a region that sustains us with its tax dollars and support.
We believe in a win-win approach to solving DEI challenges – when the parks are more accessible for everybody, the entire community benefits.
Our current initiatives include:
- Creating a custom training curriculum specific to the Metroparks’ unique needs and challenges. All Metroparks full-time, part-time and seasonal employees go through this training, which is regularly evaluated to ensure we’re achieving meaningful progress towards our goals.
- Coordinating ongoing, specialized training for the Metroparks Police Department, led by third-party experts in law enforcement to make sure that we’re implementing best practices for our team members and the communities they protect and serve.
- Making our hiring process more accessible to diverse candidates and establishing a values-based interviewing process to ensure a greater culture of equity and opportunity.
- Establishing partnerships across diverse communities throughout Southeast Michigan to help inform our programming, gain helpful feedback on our performance and increase visibility and accessibility to underrepresented groups across the Metroparks system.
Moving Forward
Looking ahead, the Metroparks will follow up on our initial Climate Survey, assessing the progress we’ve made toward our diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives. We’ll continue to collect pertinent data (including customer surveys, census data, attendance figures and more) that will help us gauge the DEI culture at the Metroparks and identify opportunities to further enhance our offerings.
Building a culture more attuned to the values of diversity, equity and inclusion isn’t always easy. But we believe it’s always the right thing to do – and always worth the effort it takes. Honestly, addressing our DEI challenges and pursuing our DEI goals is an expression not only of the letter of the Metroparks mission, but the spirit of stewardship as well.
The Metroparks have always been about bringing people together. We affirm that responsibility and commit to making this park system better and more inclusive for all.
DEI SPEAKER SERIES
To ensure our DEI speaker series remains impactful and relevant, we are actively reimagining its structure and focus. Our goal is to create a more dynamic and engaging program that fosters deeper understanding, encourages meaningful dialogue, and inspires actionable change across our organization. This reimagining process will involve gathering feedback from our staff, exploring innovative formats, and identifying speakers who can offer fresh perspectives and challenge conventional thinking on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
If you have any speaker or topic recommendations, please send them to Artina Carter, Chief of DEI at Artina.Carter@metroparks.com.
Past Speakers & Presentations
DEI Speaker Series: Kyle Whyte
The Metroparks Board of Commissioners held a special board session with speaker Kyle Whyte to discuss environmental justice; what does it mean, why is it important and what can we do as a park system?
Kyle Whyte is George Willis Pack Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan and currently serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. He has served as an author for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, and is a former member of the Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science in the U.S. Department of Interior and of two environmental justice work groups convened by past state governors of Michigan. He is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
Click here to view the presentation.
Cultural Awareness: Native History in Michigan
Eric Hemenway gave a presentation titled “Native History in Michigan: Untold Stories in the Wolverine State”. His talk looked at how Michigan’s tribes helped shape Michigan and American history.
Eric Hemenway is an Anishnaabe/Odawa from Cross Village, Michigan. He is the Director of Repatriation, Archives and Records for the Little Traverse Bay Bands (LTBB) of Odawa Indian, a federally recognized tribe in northern Michigan. Hemenway works to collect and preserve historical information for LTBB Odawa. That information is used to support the LTBB government and create educational materials on Odawa history, such as: exhibits, signage, publications, presentations, curriculums, and media.
Click here to view the presentation.
Cultural Awareness: Indian Immigrants
Dr. Arifa Javed gave a presentation titled “Indian Immigrants in the Metro Detroit Area- A Socio-Cultural Profile”. Dr. Javed discussed immigrant experiences, culture, and stereotypes/myths about Indian American communities in the Metro Detroit Area.
Dr. Arifa Javed is a Sociologist and Documentarian. Her research interests have been in areas of social transformation and minorities and ethnicity focusing the interplay of faith, race and culture in the formation and reformation of one’s social identity. After moving to the United States, her focus broadened to include the role immigration, acculturation and changing family dynamics play as a cause or an effect in the overall social transformation of immigrant minorities and ethnic groups.
Click here to watch the presentation.
Culture Awareness: Sound Bath Healing
A presentation from Dr. Rose Moten, Clinical Psychologist and owner of Bloom Transformation Center, spoke on the history, cultural significance, and health benefits of sound bath meditation and healing. This presentation focused on health and meditation mindfulness and the rich culture of the sound bath experience.
A sound bath is a meditative experience where those in attendance are “bathed” in sound waves. These waves are produced by various sources, including healing instruments such as gongs, singing bowls, percussion, chimes, rattles, tuning forks, and even the human voice itself.
Click here to view the presentation.
MLK 101 is a series of special events created in partnership with Huron-Clinton Metroparks and the Livingston Diversity Council. MLK 101 is designed to expand and deepen our understanding of who Martin Luther King, Jr. was as a person, a pastor, a nonviolent activist, and his lasting impact on the civil rights movement.
As part of our MLK 101 Series, the Howell Carnegie Library, in partnership with the Livingston Diversity Council and Huron-Clinton Metroparks, presents King Crusader and the Missing Michael, an original one-man show from the Black and Brown Theatre of Detroit. This is an interactive show exploring the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Using a combination of historical facts and fantasy in storytelling, creator Edmund Jones entertains with an educational and fanciful look at the civil rights icon. Click below to view the recording of the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D-6Gqp7igI
Join us for our May conversation on Tuesday, May 17 at 1 p.m. where Dr. Warsaw will talk about the history of the Environmental Justice Movement, the impact of Redlining and its implications regarding access to green space and offer solutions on what we can do today to address Environmental Injustice. We invite you to join us and join in the conversation.
Dr. Warsaw is an Assistant Professor of Ecological Economics and Environmental Justice in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. His research takes an interdisciplinary approach to questions of environmental justice, economic development, and sustainability, combining approaches from economics and the other social sciences. He holds a PhD in Economics as well as a Masters in Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Click here to view the webinar.
You can watch a recording of the third speakers in our series, featuring two exceptional women, Angelou Ezeilo and Kristine Stratton. During a special board meeting of the Huron-Clinton Metroparks Board of Commissioners on October 20, 2021, Angelou Ezeilo and Kristin Stratton spoke on why Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is important for parks and recreation.
Angelou Ezeilo is the Founder and CEO of Greening Youth Foundation. Angelou realized the disconnect between the land that was being preserved and the education of people about that preservation—particularly as it related to our next generation. This was the motivation for creating the Greening Youth Foundation. As CEO, Angelou is at the helm of a movement to provide environmental and wellness education and career pathways to a new generation. The Greening Youth Foundation is cultivating a generation of youth of color to be stewards of our land and natural resources, ultimately shifting the demographics of the environment conservation movement.
Kristine Stratton, President & Chief Executive Officer at National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), is responsible for the nearly $20 million national organization that works to ensure that all people have access to parks for health, conservation and recreation. NRPA believes access to quality parks and recreation is a critical component to an individual’s success and to strong communities and focuses on underserved communities to give everyone access to a great park.
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