Diversity and Equity Initiatives

Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Equity (IDARE) 

The Department of Environmental Health and Engineering is committed to and centered on creating a culture which supports Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Equity (IDARE) values and principles. The Department supports efforts to dismantle structural oppression and racist policies and practices within Johns Hopkins University and our community, and to act as a resource and support for prioritizing the cultivation of a diverse, inclusive, and nurturing environment for students, faculty, and staff.

IDARE representatives from the department's faculty, staff, and student body meet once per week. All are invited to join IDARE meetings and committees.

IDARE Commitment

EHE-IDARE Working and Steering Groups are committed to elevating and promoting a culture that supports inclusion, diversity, anti-racism, equity, and decolonization within the Department through ensuring a culture of IDARE is woven into all education, research, policy, practice, and procedural initiatives within the Department. We are inclusive of the Black community, Indigenous peoples, People of Color (BIPOC), sexual and gender minorities, and people with disabilities.

Vision

A Department that values, cultivates and advocates for anti-racism, diversity, inclusivity, and equity; and promotes an environment in which every member of our community is empowered to achieve their full potential.

Mission

The IDARE Committee strives to promote anti-racism, equity and diversity. We seek to create an inclusive community that values diversity of thought, identity and affiliation within a supportive working and learning environment.

Goals

The goals of the IDARE committee are to:

• Incorporate anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusiveness into our educational curriculum and training programs for staff and faculty;
• Provide opportunities and resources for our community to learn how to practice anti-racism, support equity, and recognize and respect diversity;
• Develop employment practices, policies, and procedures that accelerate the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce and student body; and
• Create mechanisms to review the Department’s progress toward fulfilling the IDARE vision and mission.

Responsibility Statement

Each of us must take ("I will take") responsibility to learn the language associated with IDARE, to listen intently to those that share their experiences, and to do our very best to understand what their emotional response is and what it means to the person speaking with us. Each of us must do ("I will do my") our best to practice how to be anti-racial, how to deal with white fragility, to work on all issues associated with other URM (e.g. disabilities, LGBTQ+), and to truly practice professional and common courtesies.

We will be all inclusive:

• BIPOC — Black, Indigenous Populations, People of Color
• URG — Underrepresented Groups, is the term used in lieu of the term “underrepresented minorities” (URM) to reflect the evolution of language as it relates to our collective reference to subgroups of our population whose representation is disproportionately low relative to their numbers in higher education or the general population.

Pledge

As a member of the EHE Department, I pledge to make our department stronger and our work more impactful by: • acting in a way that supports diversity and inclusivity and honors individual differences; • practicing anti-racism; • using language that promotes inclusivity and anti-racism; and • listening carefully to, and respecting, the views of others.

We recommend that once you have read this pledge and accept it, that you say it out loud to yourself, your spouse/partner, children or a good friend. And then please practice it.