Making true diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) a reality in our courts takes a proactive approach. In previous blog posts I presented a wide range of actions courts can take to enhance DEI inside and outside of the courthouse.[i] Now there is a new DEI educational resource that courts and court professionals can use to advance DEI.
eDevLearn, in conjunction with Court Leader, has just published an innovative online DEI micro-course, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as Pillars of Justice for Courts.”[ii] Here is the course overview:
How do we provide meaningful access to justice to a more diverse community? Why is our system of justice important in the lives of those who bring their disputes to the court and the community as a whole? How do we demonstrate respect, dignity, compassion, fairness, and equity in everything we say, think, or do to engender public trust and confidence? How do we balance judicial independence with transparency and accountability as stewards of the public’s trust and entrusted resources? How do we become a more vibrant, relevant, diverse, inclusive, and equitable court system for both our internal and external stakeholders? This curriculum has been developed to learn and address key aspects of this last, important question related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This course begins with the review of key DEI terms, the importance of DEI in living up to our ideals, an introduction to tools and practices to become a better court in key performance areas, and incorporating DEI as the lens through which we examine our governance, policies, practices, procedures, mission, and vision.
Course faculty are Zenell Brown, Jose Guillen, Dorothy Howell, Michael Yuen, Linda Romero Soles, and myself. This team brings a wealth of court management experience and DEI expertise to the five course modules. Since the entire course takes less than two hours to complete (including a knowledge assessment component), this is a very accessible and powerful learning experience. I know I learned a lot from my colleagues as we developed this course.
One of the pillars of an effective DEI effort, whether for a court or an individual, is to educate and raise awareness. Not many DEI educational resources exist that are specifically aimed at courts, so this makes the new eDevLearn course really stand out. I urge court systems, judges, and court administrators to improve their DEI knowledge by taking this new micro-course.
For further information, contact Hope Kentnor at eDevLearn (hope@edevlearn.com). If you are attending the IACA conference in Helsinki later this month [Home (iaca.ws)], Hope will be there with information about this and other eDevLearn courses.[iii]
[i] Fulfilling the Public’s Trust: Valuing Diversity & Inclusion in 2020 (Part 1) – Court Leader and Fulfilling the Public’s Trust: Valuing Diversity & Inclusion in 2020 (Part 2) — What actions can court administrators take to make Diversity & Inclusion a reality in the administration of their courts? – Court Leader
[ii] Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as Pillars of Justice For Courts – eDevLearn
[iii] For instance, a full set of courses on Workforce Management. The full course catalog can be found at Course Catalog – eDevLearn.
Court Leader 