In June 2020 the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and so many other members of the Black community sparked a global outcry over racial injustice and inequality. After generations of systemic racism, there has a been widespread reckoning as America begins to understand the magnitude of oppression that permeates every corner of our society. Our racist history has left a legacy across every institution from housing to healthcare to our own profession. For example, fewer than 13% of dietitians in the United States are from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. Increasing diversity in dietetics is critical as the communities and audiences we serve are increasingly diverse and disproportionately impacted by diet-related chronic disease. Eat Well Global (EWG) recognizes that inaction and silence are unacceptable, so last year we publicly shared our commitments and promise to make important changes and hold ourselves accountable. While we don’t have all the answers and acknowledge that a great deal of work still needs to be done, here is the progress we have made so far and the work that lies ahead of us over racial injustice and inequality.

 

  1. SUPPORTING DIVERSITY IN NUTRITION & DIETETICS

Our commitment: We are channeling our donation dollars to Diversify Dietetics, an organization dedicated to increasing diversity in the field of nutrition by empowering students and young professionals from underrepresented groups to not only join the next generation of nutrition experts but remain and thrive in the field.

What we’ve done: In 2020, we donated more than $20,000 to Diversify Dietetics to support increased diversity in the field. We also extended donations to support like-minded global organizations like EatWell Exchange, a nonprofit organization that uses nutrition education with a focus on culture to prevent negative health outcomes both locally and globally to help increase nutritional well-being for all, and The Seed Fund, a South African-based NGO focused on supporting communities born into poverty. In addition to financial donations, various EWG staff members have given their time on committees and in organizations dedicated to this cause.

What we need to do: This year we will continue to provide both financial and in-kind support to organizations that promote diversity and inclusion in dietetics and public health. Various members of our team will also continue to volunteer on committees and in organizations dedicated to this cause.

 

  1. AMPLIFYING DIVERSE VOICES

Our commitment: We are revamping our processes to ensure that we identify and consider candidates from underrepresented groups each and every time we propose, recommend or hire speakers and stakeholders in our work. When we feature nutrition leaders on our social media channels, we will ensure diverse voices are represented here as well. And when we are invited to speak on panels, seminars and webinars organized by other groups, we will challenge them on their speaker diversity plans.

What we’ve done: We continue to improve how we amplify diverse voices. Every time we engage with stakeholders on behalf of our clients, our standard practice is to include candidates from underrepresented groups in our recommendations and proposals. On our social media channels, we have featured underrepresented nutrition leaders over 80% of the time since summer 2020.

What we need to do: We will continue to amplify diverse voices through our proposal and engagement process on behalf of clients, feature underrepresented voices on our company channels, and challenge outside groups on their speaker diversity plans when we’re invited to speak.

 

  1. RECRUITMENT

Our commitment: We are developing new procedures to reach more racially and ethnically diverse applicant pools when we recruit for new positions. Moving forward, we will actively recruit through the channels where underrepresented candidates are seeking employment and internship opportunities.

What we’ve done: We have expanded our applicant pool by actively recruiting through channels where underrepresented candidates are seeking employment and internship opportunities through organizations including Diversify Dietetics, Member Interest Groups of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, academic institutions that primarily serve underrepresented students and equity-oriented institutions. We are also using external recruitment tools that facilitate this process. Since summer 2020, 50% of our full-time and part-time employee and intern hires have been from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds.

What we need to do: We will continue leveraging recruitment channels where underrepresented candidates are seeking employment and internship opportunities through those channels previously mentioned as well as additional platforms that will help us further diversify our candidate pool.

 

  1. SUPPLIER SELECTION

Our commitment: We are strengthening our current policy to require the inclusion of locally-owned, women-owned, BIPOC-owned, or fellow B Corp vendors in our selection process for both our own needs as well as those of our clients when purchasing on their behalf. We pledge to work with the B Corp community to facilitate the identification of diverse suppliers within the network.

What we’ve done: We’ve formalized our policy to proactively source vendors owned by underrepresented groups or fellow Certified B Corporations and commit to including at least one of these vendors in vetting processes when vendors are needed. The vendors that meet these criteria and high standards of quality will be included on an EWG preferred vendor list.

What we need to do: We intend to set specific targets and measure our progress annually to ensure that we increase our support of suppliers from underrepresented groups, either by engaging new suppliers or switching current suppliers. We will also continue to develop a robust preferred vendor list featuring such suppliers, for regular use with internal and client projects alike.

 

  1. POLICY SUPPORT

Our commitment: We commit time to exploring where we can be most effective in supporting policies that support social justice, particularly related to our profession and the food system – locally, nationally and globally. We will connect with those in our network who are most well-informed to help guide us in this process.

What we’ve done: We have provided time and counsel to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Diversity & Inclusion Committee on a variety of initiatives including ways of improving their external communications and assisting with their scholarship and grant application process.

What we need to do: This continues to be a long-term goal of ours, and we will refine our commitment to engage more deeply in this area with nutrition and dietetic organizations globally.

 

  1. CONTINUOUS LEARNING

Our commitment: We are committed to continuing the journey alongside our team by providing resources and supporting group discussions, explorations, and trainings so that we can all become more informed, empathetic and empowered to take on racial injustices.

What we’ve done: In 2020, we hired an expert consultant and completed a company-wide Implicit Bias Assessment and training to learn more about how we make unconscious decisions. Throughout 2020 we also facilitated internal team discussions through various articles and podcasts and created an internal task force dedicated to defining our company’s diversity and inclusion efforts in the years ahead.

What we need to do: We will continue this journey of learning and awareness as we acknowledge there will never be an endpoint to progress. In 2021 and onwards, we will continue to explore resources to improve our knowledge and practices around cultural humility and racial injustice. Finally, we will engage with additional third-party experts to develop an internal strategy.