Employee Resource Groups

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The Employee Resource Group program has been an impactful addition to the structure of the National Wildlife Federation. This episode will feature reflections from a few ERG members on the ways that ERGs have impacted their NWF experiences.

Speakers

Bianca McGrath Martinez – Manager HECHO Program
Brendon Barclay – Manager of Education and Engagement
Lindsey Bacigal – Communications Coordinator
Naomi Alhadeff – Manager, Montana Education Programs
Kaila Drayton – VP of Operations
Nicole Litwiller – Equity and Justice Storytelling Fellow

Transcript

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Lindsey Bacigal
Having a space where the few of us can come together and community is really important to us. We feel like this space is where we can learn and grow from one another. We can share stories and lessons learned. And also just share our cultures with one another.

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Nicole Litwiller
Hello, and welcome back to Seeds of Culture Change, a podcast where we're discussing the National Wildlife Federation's journey towards equity and justice. My name is Nicole.

Kaila Drayton
And I'm Kaila.

Nicole Litwiller
And we are your two co-hosts along this journey, guiding along the podcast. Kaila, how are you today?

Kaila Drayton
I'm doing well. I actually took time to eat lunch today. I'm caffeinated. And I'm ready to go.

Nicole Litwiller
Wow, the big two.

Kaila Drayton
I know, right? How are you?

Nicole Litwiller
Pretty good. Spent my morning at a coffee shop, which is pretty typical for my mornings. And yeah, feeling ready to be in front of the microphone and record with you this afternoon. So in my recording studio, my recording studio doubles, or triples I suppose, as both recording spot for podcasts, office space for work, and art studio. So I have a lot of like art projects that I've worked on, kind of over the years, many of which are unfinished. But I'm wondering if you have any creative projects going on in your life that you're really excited about right now?

Kaila Drayton
That I'm excited about. Well, I just decided to get into watercolor painting. So I am by no means an artist, I can't draw, I can't paint, I can't sketch, I can't do any of that. This has been more of an exercise in just allowing myself to do things that bring me joy without having to earn them first. So I had a very big project in my backyard and I worked really hard on it. But it also required physical labor. And so I felt like I earned my backyard afterwards. Like I really get to enjoy it. So I've struggled for days looking at my paint and like looking at my little beginner's book. And I would like flip through my notebook of paper, but I wouldn't actually dip the paintbrush into the paint because I felt like I hadn't earned it yet. So that's been a very kind of cathartic project for me. I painted some mountains, and I painted them horribly. And I'm very proud of my horrible blue mountains.

Nicole Litwiller
I love it. I think that's great. Watercolor's also, like, so hard, too FYI.

Kaila Drayton
Is it?

Nicole Litwiller
I think it's one of the hardest mediums.

Kaila Drayton
See, I thought it was supposed to be easy.

Nicole Litwiller
I feel like it probably depends on how you use it. But it's just, I had an art teacher tell me that it's almost more like colored pencil than it is paint, which is very confusing because you're using a paintbrush. So it's just, it's a challenge for me. I always struggled with it.

Kaila Drayton
Interesting.

Nicole Litwiller
But you can get some very beautiful results.

Kaila Drayton
I don't even understand that reference, that is how little I know about what I'm doing. So, which of your unfinished art projects are you most excited to get finished?

Nicole Litwiller
Yeah, well, I am notorious for starting projects and not finishing them. So that's very, can be very stressful at times, especially when it means like, I feel like I can't put any of the projects away, which just leads to mess. So, super fun. But I would say I have started a large galaxy painting. And I'm done with the galaxy part and I'm really happy with how that turned out. It was really fun to just like kind of- I had to move quickly so I could blend things before the paint dried and it was just, I had some music on in the background. And yeah, felt just like a really freeing exercise to do. And I have a plan for how to finish it off. There's a song that I like that has a line in it that says 'I am a universe wrapped in skin' and so I'm going to kind of be inspired by that line in the song to create this galaxy painting with like a woman's figure on top.

Kaila Drayton
Are you, well now that you've talked about it, are you gonna like share it with our audience?

Nicole Litwiller
Oh man, that means I have a deadline that I have to get it done by? Maybe that's what I need actually.

Kaila Drayton
No pressure, no pressure, but we would love to see it when you're done.

Nicole Litwiller
Yes, well, thank you for humoring me. I'm excited to hear more about your, your watercolor adventures as you go. And I'm sure you will see lots of progress as you continue practicing and learning about how watercolors work.

Kaila Drayton
Oh gosh, yeah, the learning part. You know, I said that I have a book. Am I actually reading it? I just flipped through the pages and I'm like, 'Oh, that's pretty.'

Nicole Litwiller
Yeah.

Kaila Drayton
And then I don't read the guide. And I'm like, ‘Why didn't it come out right?’ Because I don't like when people tell me what to do. So multiple challenges here everyone. Well, with that all being said, today we have a very special episode, where we are going to be hearing from some of the folks who lead or are involved in our Employee Resource Groups here at NWF

Nicole Litwiller
Yes, and unfortunately, we were not able to hear from representatives from every single ERG that we have at the National Wildlife Federation. But I'm really excited to share the responses that we do have. It'll probably be a bit of a shorter episode than usual, but I think small but mighty is maybe a theme for this episode because I really appreciated learning from the guests today.

Kaila Drayton
And with that, here are some words from our ERG members.

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Bianca McGrath Martinez
Hi, my name is Bianca McGrath-Martinez, and I'm the program manager for HECHO, or Hispanics Enjoying Camping Hunting and the Outdoors, which is a program of the National Wildlife Federation. I'm also the co-founder and current co-lead of the Latinx, Hispanic, and Multicultural Employee Resource Group, or ERG. So I want to speak to the importance of this space and I think the way that I can do that is to share the story of why this space came to be. I was motivated to look for a resource like the Employee Resource Group program, because I experienced a microaggression early on in my time at the Federation. If you're not familiar with that term, a microaggression is a statement or action regarded as indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group. When I experienced this microaggression, I chose to ignore it and move on. Months later, I met a colleague who had the same experience as I did, and I realized that had we had the opportunity to be in community with each other and have a space to talk about our experiences as Latinx people we may have caught on to this issue earlier and prevented sooner. I think this story speaks to the importance of our ERG program. It is a space to be in community with one another to realize our collective power and to influence change in organizational practices and contribute to the growth and evolution of the Federation. The Latinx, Hispanic, and Multicultural ERG has had such a transformative impact on me and my experience as an employee of NWF and as a Latinx person in the conservation movement. I would say that the biggest impact the ERG has had on me is showing me that there is space for my culture in this work, and providing me a pathway to build community in the National Wildlife Federation. The impact that the energy has had on NWF I think is still growing, but I believe that by creating a space for Latinx staff to feel safe, heard, and supported will have long lasting impact on the organization in terms of retention and overall staff health. So if any National Wildlife Federation employees are listening to this and are interested in joining our group, please email me at bianca@hechoonline.org

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Brendon Barclay
Hi, my name is Brendon Barclay. I'm the Manager of Education Engagement for Georgia with the South Central Region division of the National Wildlife Federation. Our program and my focus and management is environmental education, conservation, and civic engagement among students K through 12, and college age. I'm glad to be a part of the ERG in our organization. The Black ERG was the group when I first joined the National Wildlife Federation that welcomed me. We had a series of meetings where we got together; we were focusing on team development, we were focused on being able to be a part of this very large organization and to be successful. One of the ways that I've seen the impact that the organization, the Black ERG has had on the overall part of National Wildlife Federation was the experience that I had, where blatant racism was just what was happening. I had taken a group of students to Cloudland Canyon, and our reservation had gotten mixed up. We were a group of about nine people. It was myself and I had eight minors, high school students. There was one yert available or cabin available, and they would not allow us to rent it because someone the next day was going to use it. And they feigned that it wouldn't be able to be cleaned in time for the people the next day. So we went to this plateau. And there was a number of people with telescopes, obviously pitching their telescopes to stay through the night, we pitched our tent over by the pavilion, which we had rented and had gone stargazing. When we came back, the ranger had begun to take our tent down, and summarily forced us off the site while the people that didn't look like us were able to stay with their telescopes. I went and drove another hour or so to find a place where we could stay overnight. And then we came back because we had the reservation confirmed for the following night, as well, and that one didn't have the mix up. The way the organization responded when I shared this story was very refreshing. We had a senior vice president, reach out to me and share her concern and support. The organization's Director and CEO reached out via the Vice President and was willing to contact even the governor and the powers that be to correct this egregious offence. And I just know that kind of sensitivity and awareness is part and parcel to the Black ERG. The work that the ERG has done in the last 18, 24 months with all of the different civil unrest that we've experienced from George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, right here in my neck of the woods, and others, and helping an organization like ours be more sensitive, and aware of what People of Color experience and ways then that we can partner together with the general body so that we can stand in solidarity as one human population together. And I definitely see that as the impact that the Black ERG has had and the way the National Wildlife Federation is responding to the call to be supportive, and for us to all stand together as one. So that's my experience, I look forward to continued participation and a fruitful time of us working and brainstorming and thought leading in this great and wonderful organization.

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Naomi Alhadeff
Hello, my name is Naomi Alhadeff. And I work for the National Wildlife Federation. And I represent one of many within the Jewish ERG or an Employee Resource Group. I've been with the National Wildlife Federation for almost five years, and I think the ERG has been around for about the last two of those years, approximately. And creating the space and friendships that I have with colleagues not only all over the country, but internationally as well, has allowed me to be able to call on them when I needed them, at least in a Jewish way. And recently, it's impacted me because I lost a very close family member. And when I reached out to the group, and shared with them, the details of the Shiva, not only were they also responsive and communicative to let me know their thoughts and feelings and their prayers are with me, but to let me know that if I had needed to talk to any of them that they were available. And I think the thing that impacted me the most was, during one of the Shiva nights, one of my colleagues from the ERG actually showed up on Zoom, and said a few words about my family member. And I just felt so connected to something that you know, normally doesn't bleed into the other life, you know, your work and your personal life tend not to overlap. And this was an opportunity where it did but in a Jewish way, that's normal. And it felt normal, and it felt good. And it felt really special to have a colleague who didn't know my family members show up and be there and support me in a way that I wasn't expecting. I think the National Wildlife Federation has been impacted by all of the ERGs in some fashion, both internally and externally. But I feel the National Wildlife Federation has been impacted by the Jewish Employee Resource Group, because they've given us the space and honestly platform to communicate about perhaps less known Jewish holidays throughout the year. Specifically as a conservation organization, we wrote about a Jewish holiday that celebrates trees in the middle of winter. And it gave us an opportunity to share what the holiday was and why we were celebrating it what it, means to the Jewish people. And there have been other holidays. I mean, some of the more obvious ones like Hanukkah and Passover, those opportunities, those stories have been told. And even down to sharing recipes with the National Wildlife Federation staff at large. But I think a more practical impact from the Jewish ERG and again, the others as well, have been the no meeting holidays, the no meeting days. We've identified that staff were regularly needing time off for Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Pesach, Sukkot, Hanukkah, all of these holidays. Some of them were perhaps more obvious, but we needed to explain, you know that the Jewish holidays follow the lunar calendar. And therefore we needed to be off in the evening and throughout the day, rather than from sunup to sundown. So I feel that the no meeting days has really allowed the other non-Jewish staff to recognize, you know, that some of us might be out, and that we really prefer and would like to be respected that we're not going to be around for meetings or for one on ones. So I think the no meeting day calendar has been a really powerful tool that as a, as an organization has allowed us to recognize that there are a lot of different faiths and cultures out there. And not all of us are following the more Christian, Gregorian calendar. To be honest, I think the Jewish ERG is an important space in NWF because it's a space that's just for us. It's an internal camaraderie group of people who are allowed from our employer to take the time, take the quiet take the moments that we need to interact with each other in whatever Jewish way that we identify. You know, I think, I don't know if other organizations have a Jewish ERG like this, I just learned of another conservation organization that does have one but that's the first time I've heard about it. Having this space is important, honestly, just for ourselves, as we as Jews, however, again, as you identify, but to be quite frank, it's providing some loyalty. I find that NWF, by allowing the space and time, has proven has shown me that they're committed to fostering our unique culture and fostering it in a way that can and is embedded into our work culture.

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Lindsey Bacigal
Chokma, saholchifoat Lindsey. Chikashsha saya. Aamintili Anishinabewaki. Hi, folks. My name is Lindsay bicycle. And I am Chickasaw. And I'm from Michigan. I'm the Communications Coordinator with the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition based in the Great Lakes Regional Center of the National Wildlife Federation. I'm going to be talking about the Indigenous Peoples ERG. And just so folks know, we're also the newest ERG. So how I kind of answered the questions are a little bit different, just because we've been around for less than a year now. So there aren't that many Indigenous staff at NWF. So having a space where the few of us can come together in community is really important to us. We feel like this space is where we can learn and grow from one another. We can share stories and lessons learned. And also just share our cultures with one another. I think a lot of times that non-Indigenous folks can forget that Indigenous peoples are incredibly diverse. There's actually so many, so many communities, even just to the US alone, there's over 500 federally recognized tribes. And that's not even including just state recognized ones or once they're not recognized whatsoever. And that's again, just in the US alone. So there's so many Indigenous peoples all over the world with many different cultures and histories and stories. And so with that each of our members bring something different to the table because of our different backgrounds and the different peoples that we come from. Which is also just what I'm most looking forward to as being a part of this ERG. I want to learn more about Indigenous histories and cultures and stories. And I think that really just taking the time to sit and listen to one another is really powerful. And it's a great way to build community and also to show respect to one another to really just kind of take that time to really actively listen and to hear, really hear what each other are saying. And I really hope to see that listening extend beyond the ERG and also just into NWF as a whole because too often Indigenous peoples and Indigenous sovereignty have been ignored within the conservation movement, or really just the conservation movement has been at odds with Indigenous peoples. So in recognition of this, I think that as NWF works to become an equitable and anti racist organization, that that has to include both an acknowledgement of harms that have been done, but also partnership with Indigenous folks to move forward in a good way. And as an ERG, we're really just hoping that we can work with leadership and staff to uphold Indigenous peoples, our rights, and our sovereignty within the work across the Federation and beyond.

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Nicole Litwiller
So I'm really grateful to have the input from these various members of different ERGs across the National Wildlife Federation and really appreciated hearing some of their own storytelling about their experiences. And, Kaila, you are a co-leader of the Black ERG. And I'm wondering if you want to provide some of your own stories and experiences with what it's been like to be a part of an ERG?

Kaila Drayton
Yeah, so I co-led the Black ERG along with Keith Ward, who I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, it was definitely teamwork makes the dream work. And I'm so glad that both of us could could lead that space, I think that it would have been a lot for one person. We led the ERG right when it formed; so from inception for about two years, and we just recently handed it off to Brendan, who you just heard from. But we helped facilitate the creation of recommendations from the Black ERG that went to the Executive Team. And they were centered on making NWF a more equitable and inclusive place to work not just for Black employees, but for everyone. It was certainly the highlight of my career, I think, to be able to leave that space and to, to elevate the voices of my Black colleagues was unparalleled. And the change that came from those recommendations, the changes that we implemented across the organization, from wellness, to having a therapist on board, I think that we've definitely seen a shift at NWF to centering employee wellness, whole body wellness. And I think that I am hopeful that those changes stay in place, and that we keep building upon them. What were some of your reflections?

Nicole Litwiller
Yeah, well, I think after each story that was shared, I both had kind of a sense of excitement that this is a part of the culture at NWF now that this, this structure exists, paired with kind of grief and sadness that they need to exist in the first place. And so many of the stories that were shared highlighted experiences that folks have had in this organization where they have felt othered or where they have experienced microaggressions. And I think- I'm not a person who is in an ERG, but I can imagine that it would feel really helpful to be a part of a community who you can bring those experiences to and have folks who understand what you went through and support you through that. And it's just really unfortunate that folks are still experiencing those things at NWF. And it's not a surprise, we are a part of a larger society that is still facing these things too, very obviously. And so yeah, I just found myself having a lot of like mixed emotions, as I was listening. Lots of gratitude for the creation of these ERGs and the way that they've impacted the organization, as you were saying, paired with, yeah, again, this this kind of grief that the reason they have to exist is because full belonging isn't really a thing at NWF at this point. And it's something that we need to continue working towards.

Kaila Drayton
I think to add to that complexity is NWF is kind of still figuring out the role of ERGs. Do they exist as a community space? Do they exist so that the organization can tap into certain groups of people? There are moments when it does feel extractive, not so much the space in and of itself, but when folks around the organization say, you know, like 'let's send this to the Black ERG for review. Let's send this to, you know, the Indigenous ERG for review.' It kind of starts to feel like we're not your selection panel, right? Like none of us there are getting paid to be members. We do at this point, pay a stipend to our ERG leads and each ERG has, you know, a couple thousand bucks that they can spend throughout the year. But it is an incredible amount of emotional labor to be this go between, especially if you're leading the ERG space, this go between the rest of the organization and your ERG members. And I think that that's the space that we're in right now - figuring out how do we honor these spaces without just continually asking the members to do, to review, to look at, to perform, and really figuring out that balance.

Nicole Litwiller
Yeah, that definitely makes sense. I'm wondering if you have any reflections from, because as you said you've been a part of an ERG since this program began at the National Wildlife Federation and so you've seen various iterations of what this has looked like. Do you have any reflections or lessons learned that you would like to share that might be helpful for folks in other organizations who might be hearing this and being like, oh, we should look into starting our own employee resource group program?

Kaila Drayton
Yeah, I think that clarity is key. Again, going back to what I was talking about figuring out how to honor the spaces without extracting from them. I think that one of the biggest steps is figuring out how the ERG interacts with the rest of the organization and setting that expectation upfront. And being really clear that, you know, if I'm leading the Black ERG, I'll come to you. Right, I'll come to you so that we can talk about how we, you know, talk about cultural celebrations, or I'll come to you if we need to talk about X, Y, and Z. But to have multiple people emailing and knocking at the door almost daily, to be like, 'Could you send this to the Black ERG? We'd like to pass this by your members.' And it's like, I understand that folks are trying to be collaborative, but when you multiply it by, you know, several hundreds of people that we work with, it starts to be really overwhelming. And so again, clarifying the expectations for folks who lead the ERGs clarifying the expectations around who is interacting with the ERG and how; I think that that really sets the foundation up for success.

Nicole Litwiller
I know these programs did not initially start out having any funding built into their existence. Is that a part that you feel like is also really crucial to the existence of ERGs?

Kaila Drayton
Yeah, absolutely. So one, paying as many members as you can, if you could pay everybody to be part of the ERG, that would be amazing. Absolutely paying the leads. And then, you know, putting your money where your mouth is, if you think that ERGs are important for your organization, you need to resource them. So at this point, our ERGs receive $10,000 annually, and that probably only scratches the surface on what those groups could be doing with the money if they had if they had more. But also being very grateful that, that we even have $10,000 when we you know, the ERG started and we didn't have any and Chanté Coleman and I went to our CFO and and asked, you know, every year can we have a little bit of money to resource the ERGs until the CFO just said, you know, this should be baked into the baseline and should be available in perpetuity. So, super grateful for that. But yeah, absolutely think that organizations need to pony up some dollars to fund their Employee Resource Groups.

Nicole Litwiller
I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and some of your experiences about what it's been like both to be a member of an ERG and then also to lead one. And I just, I want to offer a lot of gratitude to you for the amount of energy that I know you've put into this work. Because I know from conversations I've had with you that it is not easy, and it takes so much energy. And none of that is owed to the organization, especially when they have harmed you time after time. And so I just have a lot of gratitude for you and all of the folks in the various ERGs for the ways that they are showing up at this organization. And yeah, just really appreciative of just your existence and the work that you bring to this place. So thank you.

Kaila Drayton
You are so kind, friend.

Nicole Litwiller
So yes, with all that being said, that will close out our episode today, we do have a couple of links to resources that various ERGs have provided if you would like to learn from some of their work, and I highly recommend checking those out. They will be in our show notes as well as our email if you want to contact us for any feedback or thoughts that you've had on this episode. But with that, we will talk to y'all next week.

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Nicole Litwiller
This podcast is created and hosted by Kaila Drayton and Nicole Litwiller. It is produced by Nicole Litwiller. Stephen Angello is our editor and audio engineer. All the music you hear throughout the podcast is composed by Luke Litwiller. Thank you to the Equity and Justice team and many others within the National Wildlife Federation for your support in the creation of this podcast, and for your work towards equity and justice. If you have any reflections or comments you'd like to share with us, please send an email to seedsofculturechange@nwf.org. Please visit www.nwf.org and click the donate button if you would like to financially support the National Wildlife Federation's work. And don't forget to like, comment and subscribe so that other agents of organizational change can find this podcast. Thanks for listening, now go plant some seeds of change.

Kaila Drayton
Please stop, drop, and Google before you email your ERG representatives. Thank you and goodbye.

Show Notes

Contact: seedsofculturechange@nwf.org

LGBTQ+ ERG:

Indigenous People’s ERG:

Latinx, Hispanic, and Multicultural ERG:

Jewish Heritage ERG

If you are NWF staff, visit the Equity and Justice page on Field Notes and click ‘content.’ From there, search ‘Jewish Heritage ERG’ and you will find many fantastic resources that the ERG has provided for NWF Staff!