Three industry associations have formed the Senior Living Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) coalition.
The groups joining forces are Argentum, the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) and the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC).
The coalition’s purpose will be to develop a plan and strategy around DEIB. The formation of this coalition comes at a time when labor markets are historically leveraged.
“As industry challenges continue with recruiting and retaining talent, we hope this effort can serve to catalyze thinking around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging,” Argentum President and CEO James Balda said in a statement.
Efforts will begin with these three steps:
- First, consulting firm The Alexa Group will conduct detailed interviews with industry thought leaders.
- Second, The Alexa Group will form an industry workgroup to address the identified challenges.
- Third, the coalition, and the established workgroup, will collaborate with Ferguson Partners to develop and conduct a survey so as to gain industry insights.
The initial workgroup will hold its first two meetings on Feb. 16 and Feb. 22 with the potential for additional sessions.
Civil unrest and national reflection on racial injustice followed the murder of George Floyd in summer 2020. Senior Housing News reported at the time that the consensus among senior living leaders was that the industry suffers from a lack of diversity, particularly among its leadership ranks.
The coalition is seeking volunteers to form the initial workgroup and is prioritizing diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, and abilities.
“It has been mentioned that talent is equal but oftentimes, opportunity is not,” ASHA President David Schless said in a press release. “This coalition is driven to an eventual goal of equally distributed opportunity.”
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