Faiza Venzant, CVA, and Mark Hager share fascinating insights regarding their recent research study funded by AmeriCorps surrounding Assessing Diversity and Equity in Volunteer Inclusion We chat about whether DEAI is really still even relevant, DEAI initiatives disappearing from certain industries, the lack of adequate DEAI training opportunities and the “adversity of diversity”. We discuss the continued importance of creating spaces where every person’s opinion is actually welcome, and the next steps are now that they have this newfound groundbreaking information.

RESOURCES:

ADEVI Survey Results and Focus Group Emerging Themes

ADEVI Infographic On the Personal Identities of CVAs

The Adversity of Diversity – Carol M. Swain, Ph.D. and Mike Towle

More About Faiza,

Connect with Faiza Venzant, CVA  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faizavenzant/ 

From a young age, Faiza Venzant's parents instilled a strong sense of volunteerism in her and her two older brothers. They, as immigrants to Canada from Uganda in the early 70s made a successful transition into Canadian life with the help of many generous volunteers. A volunteer herself from a very young age, she has been an advocate for volunteer engagement and excellence in volunteer management for over 20 years.  As a facilitator for the Community Action Poverty Simulation, Faiza is passionate about equity and access amongst volunteers and leaders of volunteers. Faiza immigrated to the United States with her family in 2021.

Faiza immigrated to the United States in 2021 and now serves as the Executive Director of the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration and an active member and volunteer with the Association for Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE.) She has been a CVA (Certified in Volunteer Administration) since 2016.

In 2018, Faiza published her first children’s book entitled, My Mamma Wants to Eat Me Up!  As a mother of two young boys, she has not actually eaten any of her children.

Learn more about the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration at

www.cvacert.org

More About Mark

Connect with Mark Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mhager/ 

Mark Hager has been studying and writing about the nonprofit sector for 30 years. His doctoral dissertation centered on the reasons why nonprofit organizations closed. His years at the Urban Institute focused on studies of finance and volunteer administration. He spent 14 years as a faculty member anchoring the graduate program in nonprofit leadership and management at Arizona State University. He has stepped out of his teaching slot and is now working on research and field-building full-time.  Most of his attention is back on volunteer administration, including his current leadership on Assessing Diversity and Equity in Volunteer Inclusion, a three-year project funded by AmeriCorps.

Learn more about how Nicole can help your volunteer program grow and flourish when you visit
www.nicolersmith.com