Multicultural Speaker Series Featuring Anthony Arrington

Our aim for this series is to provide an opportunity for individuals and organizations to engage diverse residents and employees from multiple sectors in the Quad Cities region, broaden their networks, and enhance their awareness of diversity issues.

For this Multicultural speaker series, Anthony will discuss the value of facilitation and focusing on root issues as the most impactful approach to influencing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) culture in organizations.  He will discuss the need to define culture, determine if there is a culture problem, and uncover the roots of the problem before determining sustainable solutions.  He will highlight importance of distinguishing between collective regard and representative regard, the actual words and feelings of stakeholders, the difference between root issues and symptoms, the six root issues that define DEI&B of every organization, why training has minimal impact on change without addressing root issues first, and much more.  It will be a lively discussion. 
 
Objectives:

1. To educate participants on the value of uncovering root issues before taking action on solutions.
2. To help participants understand the importance of extracting the authentic words and feelings of the people in their organization to truly determine if there is a DEI&B culture problem.
3. To offer suggested steps for organizations embarking on or in the midst of their DEI&B journey.

About Anthony Arrington: 
Anthony is a Certified Diversity Executive (CDE)®, Certified Diversity and Belonging Facilitator (CDF), and Certified Culture Assessor (CCA).  A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he received his BA in Communication Studies from The University of Iowa.  
 
He has over 25 years of leadership, training, and consulting experience across multiple industries, including a decade of combined recruiting and DEI consulting experience.  Throughout his career he has been an advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Anthony has worked with organizations to motivate a change in culture through crucial facilitated dialogue and the desire to listen to understand. He skillfully uses facilitation, consulting, coaching, assessments, and storytelling to help organizations transform their thinking, understand the value of DEI&B, and embrace their role as intentional drivers of this mindset throughout the fabric of their organization.  
 
Anthony volunteers his time serving on multiple boards and committees in his community, especially those dedicated to advancing the opportunities and voice of underserved populations.  As a founding member of Advocates for Social Justice in Cedar Rapids, Anthony was instrumental negotiating the establishment of the city’s first ever only the second Citizen’s Review Board in Iowa, which is dedicated to law enforcement oversight and equity in policing and criminal justice.  He is a sought-after presenter, and host of the podcast “Diversity Straight Up”. The Manpower branch under his leadership was the recipient of the 2016 Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber Diversity and Inclusion Award, and he was named to the 2020 and 2022 Corridor Business Journal’s Most Influential Leaders list.