In response to federal efforts to halt certain federal workforce diversity training programs through Executive orders, APA produced a “Summary of Psychological Research and Science of Diversity Training”, a review of the literature regarding diversity training compiled by Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI) in conjunction with APA’s Public Interest Directorate.
The Department of Labor is requesting information in conjunction with Executive Order 13950, which sought to ban most diversity training across the federal workforce. Since the order was signed in September, several federal agencies and the military have halted all diversity training, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of State. Recently, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was demoted due to his support of diversity training.
In response to the executive order, Sandra L. Shullman, PhD, president of the American Psychological Association released a statement reaffirming the importance of diversity training and the positive benefits of evidence-based diversity training on both employees and employers.
If you want to take action and tell the Department of Labor about the importance of diversity training, you can respond to the agency’s request for information.
For more information, please contact Leo Rennie or Sophie Friedl.