Diversity Resources & Best Practices

Having diversity as a fundamental value of your lacrosse organization is a worthy goal.

Bringing together varied life experiences and perspectives adds significant value to your community and reinforces the concept of inclusivity. Despite the benefits, however, diversity continues to be one of the most elusive challenges in lacrosse.

The 10 best practices listed below were compiled to assist organizations with ways to integrate inclusivity and accessibility into your program. In-depth descriptions with overarching strategies, including practical, ready-to-use information, can be accessed via DEI RESOURCES box further down this page.

DEI Best Practices

Communicate the importance of inclusion within your team and organization. Defining diversity as an organizational priority states the significance of these expectations and objectives with your administration and program.

Create an inclusive team environment and practice inclusive team behaviors. Guidelines can help your organization create an inclusive team environment both on the field and in the office.

Create strategic partnerships with organizations that have diverse populations. Cultivating strategic partnerships with other organizations that have a direct impact on underserved youth can help extend your organization’s reach.

Review your local diversity data annually to assist in setting goals.
Identify diversity recruitment opportunities by measuring your lacrosse program’s actual diversity and compare it to your local city’s diversity.

Implement a protocol that outlines the process for securing diverse leadership in your organization.
The staffing process should be consistent and clearly defined to all involved in your organization.

Mentor and create a pipeline.
A mentorship program can create a pipeline for diverse individuals to serve in leadership roles within your organizations and create an ongoing support structure for your mentees.

Examine your assumptions.
It is very common for coaches to incorrectly assume that each player on the team shares his/her own background.

Allocate funds for outreach initiatives to alleviate barriers to participation.
Allocate money in advance to go towards scholarships and assistance to invest in participants with financial needs.

Revamp your outreach efforts with creative ways to add diversity.
Consider utilizing new approaches and strategies to expand inclusion among players and staff.

Continually evaluate your Diversity and Inclusion Plan.
Create accountability for the items in your program’s inclusion plan, including goals and timelines.

DEI Resources

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