Let's Talk About Diversity Inclusion
Dionne is not new to the issues surrounding diversity inclusion. In 1996 she spent six years working for The Voice Newspaper (Britain's Favourite Black Newspaper) in the aftermath of the Stephen Lawrence murder, however her first official role that incorporated Diversity was working for The Shaw-Trust, helping people with disabilities to be able to access work and re-enter the workplace.
In 2008 Dionne spent a couple of years as Equality and Diversity Lead at Croydon College, south east London, responsible for the equality and diversity of over 6,000 staff and 15,000 students.
Dionne was involved in working with the HR Managers to be aware of the benefits of Positive Action to overcome many barriers that both staff and students many have to accessing classes in the case of students, or joining the staff team for applicants applying to work within the organisation.
As part of the Staff Induction at the college Dionne provided sessions on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to inform staff of the code of conduct and expectations and the colleges zero tolerance to any form of bias, stereotyping, bullying and harassment. She also implemented awareness sessions specifically aimed to run throughout Anti-Bullying Week and various other interventions aimed at making the college a more inclusive place to study and work.
Dionne also provided Equality Impact Assessment (EIA’s) training to upskill all senior members of staff and department heads to make sure that the college was compliant in completing their EIA’s.
Dionne was also responsible for writing the Annual Equality and Diversity Report which included the retention and achievement of all 15,000 students and also the recruitment practice covering ethnicity, gender, age etc of all staff applicants of the college. During this time she was also responsible for writing the colleges Single Equality Strand in line with the Equality Act 2010 bringing together all the Protected Characteristics into one single policy.
Since being made redundant from Croydon College in 2009, Dionne went on to become Founder and Director of Lewis-Reid Ltd, a London based Training and Coaching company delivering a wide range of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training interventions, including; Mental Health Awareness, Disability Awareness, Equality Analysis Assessment, Engaging Equality - Working with Diversity, Unconscious Bias (including stereotypes and biases), Bullying and Harassment.
These sessions have most often, but not exclusively, been delivered to senior and middle managers within the Civil Services i.e Department for Works and Pensions (DWP), Ministry of Defence (MOD), Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Local Authority (LA’s) and Housing Associations
(HA’s) at an senior and middle management level to a total audience of approx. 6,000 people over the past 11 years.
Dionne says,"It's only by these, sometimes difficult and painful, discussions and training that we can hope to change the fabric of society so we can move beyond companies putting up hashtags and memes and do some serious work to dismantle racism and in so doing, creating a more inclusive workplace."
In 2008 Dionne spent a couple of years as Equality and Diversity Lead at Croydon College, south east London, responsible for the equality and diversity of over 6,000 staff and 15,000 students.
Dionne was involved in working with the HR Managers to be aware of the benefits of Positive Action to overcome many barriers that both staff and students many have to accessing classes in the case of students, or joining the staff team for applicants applying to work within the organisation.
As part of the Staff Induction at the college Dionne provided sessions on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to inform staff of the code of conduct and expectations and the colleges zero tolerance to any form of bias, stereotyping, bullying and harassment. She also implemented awareness sessions specifically aimed to run throughout Anti-Bullying Week and various other interventions aimed at making the college a more inclusive place to study and work.
Dionne also provided Equality Impact Assessment (EIA’s) training to upskill all senior members of staff and department heads to make sure that the college was compliant in completing their EIA’s.
Dionne was also responsible for writing the Annual Equality and Diversity Report which included the retention and achievement of all 15,000 students and also the recruitment practice covering ethnicity, gender, age etc of all staff applicants of the college. During this time she was also responsible for writing the colleges Single Equality Strand in line with the Equality Act 2010 bringing together all the Protected Characteristics into one single policy.
Since being made redundant from Croydon College in 2009, Dionne went on to become Founder and Director of Lewis-Reid Ltd, a London based Training and Coaching company delivering a wide range of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training interventions, including; Mental Health Awareness, Disability Awareness, Equality Analysis Assessment, Engaging Equality - Working with Diversity, Unconscious Bias (including stereotypes and biases), Bullying and Harassment.
These sessions have most often, but not exclusively, been delivered to senior and middle managers within the Civil Services i.e Department for Works and Pensions (DWP), Ministry of Defence (MOD), Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Local Authority (LA’s) and Housing Associations
(HA’s) at an senior and middle management level to a total audience of approx. 6,000 people over the past 11 years.
Dionne says,"It's only by these, sometimes difficult and painful, discussions and training that we can hope to change the fabric of society so we can move beyond companies putting up hashtags and memes and do some serious work to dismantle racism and in so doing, creating a more inclusive workplace."