DEIBJ | Our Work - California Golden Bears Athletics

OUR WORK

DEIBJ Pillars

EDUCATE

Learning and unlearning, toward a greater acquisition of knowledge and a greater sensitivity of what one still needs to learn.

CELEBRATE

Expressing admiration and joy and affirming the value of people, places, things, ideas, spaces, and moments.

ACCELERATE

Moving forward with energy, enthusiasm, and urgency.

Mission Statement

We are driven by the belief in the value of every person in and associated with Cal Athletics, our commitment to challenging injustice in all its forms, and our desire to ensure that our influence and engagement positions each person within our office's sphere of influence to belong, thrive, and fulfill their potential. We seek to celebrate and support the diverse abilities and growth of every student-athlete, coach, staff member, and administrator so that we can leverage our influence for good and experience academic, athletic, and professional excellence. As a relatively new field, we believe that DEIBJ is vital to the well-being and success of our Cal Athletics and human family, and that it is a key prism through which to view and understand the world – moreover, DEIBJ is a lens and not a load.

Vision Statement

To be the premier leader in diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice in sport, toward individual, institutional, campus, collegiate, and community transformation.

Strategic Plan

In 2021, Cal Athletics defined Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as its top strategic priority, setting a goal to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in every part of our organization from recruiting student-athletes, to hiring and retention practices, to the culture of respect that we foster in our department. We will celebrate, recognize and value our differences and similarities alike.

The three objectives to meet these goals are as follows:
Objective I: Contribute to the University's goals of excellence by recruiting and retaining student-athletes and attracting and hiring a reflective, diverse and multi-culturally sensitive staff. (BLAC Points 1, 2, 3)*
Objective II: Support Gender Equity and Title IX.
Objective III: Continue to improve the cultural competency of the Department by providing education and training to coaches and staff. (BLAC Points 4, 5, 7)*

*In addition to Cal Athletics’ internal strategic plan, we have worked with BLAC to identify a 10-point model for ensuring success for Black student-athletes, staff, coaches, and faculty. The parentheses show which objectives are simultaneously working toward these points.

DEIBJ Buckets

DEIBJ Buckets are a means of categorizing our DEIBJ Office’s past, present, and future initiatives and identifying areas for growth. We currently have eight buckets: Accelerate DEIBJ Fellowship, Accelerate DEIBJ Listening/Lifting/Leveraging, Accelerate DEIBJ Leadership, Accelerate Key Moments, Accelerate DEIBJ Education, Documentation of Acceleration, Communication & Dissemination, and Procedural Considerations.

Projects

To make the vision of our buckets come to life, we have created and are continuing to develop several projects that aim to expand our DEIBJ efforts across the Cal Athletics Community and beyond. Some of our recurring programming are listed below:

BeLOnG Blogs seek to educate, celebrate, and accelerate DEIBJ through providing a space for others in the department to express themselves and share their stories through writing. Student-athletes, staff, coaches, and alums from various backgrounds have served as contributors to the blog, highlighting their unique perspectives and sharing their stories.
DEIBJ Playbooks are monthly sessions that deepen the knowledge of Cal Athletics staff, coaches, and student-athletes about a variety of topics, including Latinx, Asian American Pacific Islander, Black, and Women’s heritage months. We have hosted professors and scholars from across the country to facilitate and lead our community conversations.
Our DEIBJ Office has accelerated our celebration of heritage months as a means of educating our department and improving the sense of belonging. For example, in May 2021, we celebrated Cal Athletics’ first AAPI Heritage Month. Celebrations include written and video features, social media posts that educate our Cal Athletics community, and educational emphases during our monthly All Staff, coaches, and director’s cabinet meetings.
Listening / Lifting Sessions are regular events hosted by our DEIBJ Office in order to engage the Cal Athletics Community in important conversations and topics surrounding DEIBJ, including topics dedicated to Black staff and coaches, the LGBTQ+ community, and heritage months. These sessions are open to all Cal Athletics Community members and anyone from the general campus community interested in the topics at hand. We have hosted alums in some of our sessions to help enhance our offerings and ensure student-athletes have better access and exposure to diverse voices.

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