With a spotlight on State’s lack of diversity in the senior ranks, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs has stepped forward with a practical program to create real change.

BY STACY D. WILLIAMS

The WHA Diversity Council sponsored a presentation by Janice Underwood, Virginia’s chief diversity officer, to more than 60 participants at the State Department on Dec. 3, 2019. In this photo, Janice Underwood presents “Walking the Talk on Diversity.”
Blakeney Vasquez

WHA PDAS Julie Chung, at left, with Janice Underwood.
Blakeney Vasquez

Institutional change may seem daunting, but with committed staff dedicated to addressing systemic challenges that have left valuable employees behind, positive change can occur. The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Diversity Council has provided the advocacy necessary to stimulate action toward dismantling systemic racism and address other issues that prevent the bureau from realizing its full potential. During the summer of 2018, immediately following a town hall on diversity conducted by Acting Assistant Secretary Francisco “Paco” Palmieri, several participants met and drew up a game plan establishing the WHA Diversity Council.

Several months later, the WHA Diversity Council Core Group fleshed out the structure and values for the council, created a comprehensive intranet website, and launched an employee profile page featuring both Foreign Service and Civil Service staff. The council also identified 10 workstreams to advance specific issues; these include policy communications, speaker series, statistical analysis, Foreign Service bidding and Civil Service development, to name a few.

Today, with persistence and support from across all leadership levels, including from Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie Chung, WHA’s Diversity Council is putting into practice policy, programming and processes to advance its key pillars: recruitment, retention and professional development.

Constructive Advocacy

WHA’s Diversity Council has sought a range of speakers from both within and outside the State Department to generate discussion, debate and ideas for change. Speaker series events have included a talk on “Words Matter” and a well-attended December 2019 roundtable on “Walking the Talk on Diversity,” which drew participants from across the department and included on the panel Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s very first chief diversity officer, Janice Underwood. We hosted speakers on racism and microaggressions for domestic audiences, drawing more than 200 participants, as well as for deputy chiefs of mission (DCMs) and principal officers.

At the 2020 WHA DCM/Principal Officers conference, Diversity Council members pitched posts to set up their own diversity and inclusion councils, using the WHA Diversity Council as a resource. Posts across the Western Hemisphere are standing up and expanding their diversity council mandates and creating a bureau-wide network to share best practices. In addition, two intergovernmental agencies—the Inter-American Foundation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation—requested and received briefings to help the organizations strategize and set up their respective approaches moving forward on diversity and inclusion for staff in Washington, D.C., and throughout the field.

Members of the WHA Diversity Council have served as diversity and inclusion advisers by participating in conference calls with DCMs, reviewing posts’ concept papers, and providing best practices lists and other reading and resource materials. One DCM noted that the council’s “deep understanding for the complexities of the issues, appreciation for the essential role of leadership and practical guidance to take us from concept to council were enormously useful.”

WHA was one of the first bureaus to disseminate a message standing against discrimination and reaffirming our core principles on diversity at a town hall following the death of George Floyd. As a result of those discussions, the WHA Diversity Council identified 15 actionable steps that the bureau and the department can take to ensure every employee is treated fairly and has a fair shake with regard to development, advancement and participation in bureau policy. Many members of the WHA Diversity Council also serve on employee affinity groups and have forged partnerships across these groups.

The WHA Diversity Council Core Group, from left: John Crippen, Litah Miller, Miriam Murray, Maria Apud, Stacy D. Williams and Blakeney Vasquez.
Litah Miller

A Forward-Leaning Agenda

The council is currently leading discussions on new workstreams following several blog posts from former State Department Consular Fellow Tianna Spears, and engaging the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to improve practices at border checkpoints. The bureau is focusing on establishing and coaching “first responders” so officers know there is always someone they can turn to.

Discussions are also underway to establish sponsorship programs for Foreign Service and Civil Service officers and develop a midlevel program modeled after the Powell Fellows program advanced during the mid-2000s. Additional plans are underway to enhance outreach to contractors, office management specialists and interns. The bureau is also working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to join forces on diversity issues. The collective experiences of 2020 led WHA to release its own diversity pledge on July 24 (see sidebar, below).

The council has established a Microsoft Teams site (TEAM WHA: Diversity and Inclusion Councils Forward!) to facilitate opportunities for all WHA embassies and consulates to discuss best practices as they develop their respective goals. Likewise, the group is constantly seeking talented, diverse officers and continues to support WHA’s ongoing efforts for the summer 2021 bidding season.

Through its innovative and forward-leaning work, the council has made WHA a model of how to better understand and promote diversity and inclusion, one that other bureaus actively seek to emulate. For more information or guidance, please contact the WHA Diversity Council Core Group at WHADiversityCouncilCoreGroup@state.gov.

Stacy D. Williams is chair of the Diversity Council in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, he began his career at the State Department as a Presidential Management Intern in 1997 and has held Civil Service assignments in the Office of the Inspector General, the Under Secretary for Management’s Office, the Office of the Director General, the Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the U.S. Mission to the Organization of American States and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. He played a key role in the emergency humanitarian response to the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, working in the Operations Center. He is currently deputy director in the Office of Haitian Affairs. He has also served as president of the Thursday Luncheon Group, the oldest employee affinity group at State. He received the International Career Advancement Program’s 2016 Signature Diversity Award.

Read More...

• “Institutional Evolution: WHA Diversity Council works to change Bureau culture,” by Stacy Williams, State Magazine, September 2020
• “The Issue of Race, Ethnicity,” by Francine Modderno, The Foreign Service Journal, November 1996
• “Defining Advantage: Fairness and the Meritocracy,” by John P. Owens, The Foreign Service Journal, October 1991