by Ori Levi

On April 10, the City of Hope Committee for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) will launch the 2006 Diversity Survey. The survey is the second to be sponsored by the CDI and runs through April 25.

In spring 2003, the CDI conducted the first City of Hope diversity survey to measure employees’ attitudes toward diversity and their perception of how well City of Hope supports diversity and inclusion. According to Chris Roederer, CDI executive sponsor, the 2003 survey findings led City of Hope to create and implement an action plan to support the diverse needs of the organization.

“We had a number of important projects and programs come out of the action plan, including human relations training, a quarterly CDI newsletter, seminars on diversity and inclusion, the CDI intranet site and regular CDI meetings,” Roederer said.

The Human Relations Training course is one of the more noteworthy results of the survey, according to Kate O’Malley, CDI advisor. “The course helps supervisors to manage and communicate with individuals from varying backgrounds. It’s about dignity and respect for all,” she said.

On April 10, employees will receive an e-mail with a link to access the 2006 survey online. Employees can use any computer with Internet access to take the survey.

To ensure respondent privacy and confidentiality, an outside survey vendor will administer the survey. When delivering results and reports, the vendor will not identify survey participants or link names or e-mail address to specific results or comments, according to O’Malley. 

“We’d really like to see all City of Hope employees take a part in the survey,” said Mark Crowell, director of Organizational Development and Planning and a founding CDI member. “Employees can complete the survey at work, and their input will be used to assess the effectiveness of present diversity and inclusion programs and to develop future programs that will impact the City of Hope community. It’s a great opportunity for everyone to have a say in the organization’s future diversity initiatives.”

The CDI first formed as an adhoc group in February 2003 at the request of Roederer, chief corporate services officer. By August 2003, the executive team formally sanctioned the CDI.

Employees interested in more information about the CDI or the upcoming survey may contact Levi at ext. 62314 or via e-mail at olevi@coh.org. The CDI intranet Web site is www.coh.org/cdi, and visitors can access the 2003 survey results from there.