Oak Brook Park District received the Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Award at this year’s Greater Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony.
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According to a news release, the Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Award recognizes a Chamber organization that best exemplifies awareness and best practices in creating an inclusive organization.
Through the development of short and long-term goals, Oak Brook Park District staff strives to develop their offerings while looking through the “DEI” lens, the release said. Most importantly, staff aims to ensure all residents, members, and guests of the Park District feel safe, heard, and included.
The District’s internal DEI Team, made up of five staff members, is committed to bringing DEI to the District in communications, policies and opportunities while keeping accurate representation of the Oak Brook community at the forefront, according to the release. The team aims to be DEI advocates across the District, and to assist in the development of skills in which staff can communicate DEI awareness and education in a professional, thoughtful manner.
The release said the Oak Brook Park District implemented several DEI initiatives this past year, continuing the work the District was awarded for in January 2022, when they received the “Champions for Change Award” at the Annual IAPD/IPRA Soaring to New Heights Conference.
In 2022, the Oak Brook Park District internal DEI Team planned an inclusive job fair, where bilingual staff was ready and available to interview patrons on the spot, at different times of the day, in order to accommodate people’s schedules, according to the release.
The Park District also streamlined its new hire process to be more inclusive by doing such things as blind-reviewing resumes to limit the chance of implicit bias being a factor in the review process.
In addition to internal initiatives, the Park District has implemented several changes to programming and special events as well, the release said. Throughout several conversations regarding gender, the DEI Team has committed to making program registration more inclusive by including male, female, nonbinary, and transgender on the annual Pink 5k sign-up form. Staff also added their preferred pronouns to their email signatures.
According to the release, regarding facilities and amenities, the District has shown its commitment to equity when it came to constructing our Inclusive Family Locker rooms in 2017, and the completely ADA accessible Universal Playground in 2019.
During the holiday season, the Park District wanted to make a point to include underrepresented groups who may not be able to attend a similar event, the release said. For this reason, the Oak Brook Park District provided the Winter Lights at Central Park at no charge to the community.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our staff’s commitment to inclusion,” Executive Director Laure Kosey said. Diversity, equity, and inclusion, starts with the internal culture of the agency, and works it’s way throughout the community. We are always asking, ‘is this inclusive’ in all that we do. This is a team effort and I look forward to what the future holds.”