The Foreign Service Journal, October 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2020 41 of this unprecedented initiative is to provide participants with a candid assessment of their EER narratives and assignment choices so that they have additional insights into their prospects for promotion. Participants also receive coaching and mentor- ing to empower them as they seek future career opportunities. Fourth, TLG is establishing the George Floyd Mentorship/ Sponsorship program, which will link TLG Foreign and Civil Service members with senior leaders in regional and functional bureaus. This program will focus on helping participants hone their tradecraft and networking skills to bolster their competi- tiveness and opportunities to advance and secure promotions, particularly at the senior ranks. Finally, the group is securing 501(c)(3) status to pursue and accept donations to establish TLG chap- ters nationwide for Foreign Service and Civil Service recruitment of candidates at Historically Black Col- leges and Universities and members of the Associa- tion of Professional Schools of International Affairs. These initiatives aim to make real progress toward several goals, namely: ■ Increased African American representation in the senior ranks of the Foreign and Civil Service, particularly at the assistant secretary, PDAS, deputy assistant secretary, direc- tor and deputy director levels. ■ Increased chief of mission and deputy chief of mission representation in all regional bureaus, particularly in the Bureau of European Affairs and the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs to support and lead department efforts in the great-power competition vis-à-vis China and Russia. ■ Greater professional development and excursion tour opportunities for Civil Service officers, and increased representation of African Americans in the senior executive ranks of the Civil Service. ■ An increase of at least 50 percent or better in the number of African American officers promoted in comparison to the 2019 rate of promotions. TLG stands ready to assist the department with improv- ing the recruitment, advancement, promotion, retention and empowerment of African American and other underrepre- sented Foreign and Civil Service officers (from entry to the senior ranks). We invite new membership to help promote diversity and inclusion reform initiatives throughout the State Department, and to help ensure that the department’s culture and workplace environment enables all Foreign and Civil Service officers to TLG: The RARE Talent Initiative By Irvin “Irv” Hicks Jr. F ounded in 1973, the Thursday Luncheon Group (TLG) supports the diversity and inclusion of African American and other underrepresented Foreign Service and Civil Ser- vice personnel under the auspices of the Recruitment, Advance- ment, Retention and Empowerment (RARE) Talent Initiative. TLG was established by a handful of Foreign Service officers from the U.S. Information Agency, USAID and the State Department who met each Thursday of the month over lunch—hence the name—to discuss issues of concern to Foreign Service and Civil Service employees in each department. TLG is concerned that the State Department’s lack of progress, and in some areas regression, in terms of advancement and promotion opportunities for African American Foreign and Civil Service staff members may result in an increase in departures from the organization, particularly at the mid- and senior ranks. The January 2020 Government Accountability Office report on the lack of diversity at the State Department points to the existence of historical and systematic racial disparities African American Foreign and Civil Service officers continue to face that undermine the depart- ment’s diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategy. The group is currently working on five priority efforts as part of the RARE Talent Initiative. The first, submitted in collabora- tion with Blacks in Government–Carl Rowan Chapter and the Pickering and Rangel Fellows Association on July 8, recom- mends a series of joint D&I reforms to Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and Director General of the Foreign Service Carol Perez. The second—a plan to hold a Juneteenth commemorative event at Main State—has been implemented. On June 19, the Deputy Secretary, the Director General, regional bureau princi- pal deputy assistant secretaries (PDAS), the presidents of fellow affinity groups and 30 others gathered in State’s Hall of Flags courtyard for a George Floyd memorial that included a moment of reflection lasting 8 minutes and 46 seconds, to mark the time the police officer held Floyd down, resulting in his death. TLG’s third endeavor is to set up a mock selection board whereby 20 Foreign Service officers have their 2017 through 2020 employee evaluation reports (EERs) assessed by a team of ambassadors (active and retired) to determine their com- petitiveness for promotion and career trajectory. The purpose