Participate in Free Diversity & Inclusion Focus Groups
Transitioning to the “new business norms” after COVID-19 will require insight into and understanding of the experiences that people have endured in order to develop informed strategies for workplace re-entry after COVID-19.
To help equip leaders with these insights, Pope Consulting invites members of your organization to participate in virtual sessions on April 29th or April 30th with complete anonymity of who they are and who they work for.
Participate in Free Diversity & Inclusion Focus Groups
We’re all experiencing significant stressors right now:
~Social distancing, self-quarantining, scavenging for toilet paper, hand sanitizer, plastic gloves, face masks, and other essentials.
~The stress of furloughed jobs, layoffs, and lost business revenue
~Anxiety waiting for test results for ourselves, family members and friends
~Grief from taking care of sick loved ones, perhaps even losing them
While we all share these experiences, we don’t always share a common reality. Imagine the additional strain of verbal, psychological, and sometimes even physical abuse.
This is what many Asian-Americans are experiencing as they get blamed by some for COVID-19.
Unfortunately, biases and fear travel in the same direction. As fear increases, some people discharge their pain by blaming others. Here are some startling real-life examples:
- Bullies attacked an Asian American teen at a California school, accusing him of having coronavirus. He ended up in the ER.
- A man in Florida beat an Asian American woman who was 6 months pregnant because he thought she had coronavirus.
- A 23 year-old woman was punched in the face walking down the street in New York by a man screaming, “where is your corona mask, you Asian (expletive).”
- In an elementary school, 4th grade students chanted “Kill the Chinese.”
The wounds left behind by these experiences won’t magically disappear when everyone returns to work.
With this in mind, our online interactive Focus Group sessions will feature separate sessions for Asian-Americans and other Americans that will provide a safe place for these important discussions. Again, these sessions will be completely anonymous — participants will not know any of the names of individuals or organizations who are participating.
We will share the outcomes and recommended guidelines with our primary contact(s) in each organization that participates to help better prepare for the emotional, psychological, and cultural impact of COVID-19.
Anyone who is interested in participating can register by contacting: brandi@popeconsulting.com or call her at 833 DnI Pope (833.364.7373 Ext: 4). Please indicate which group (Asian-American or all others) and which time zone you live in. She also needs your name and email address.
