By Adrienne Ruffin
Adrienne Ruffin, a leader at the LeadingAge LTSS Center, reflects on her personal—and professional—journey to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of aging services.
When I arrived at LeadingAge in May 2001 to build a grants and contracts infrastructure for the organization’s new research center, I knew very little about aging services. What I did know was that LeadingAge and its members had a great love for and commitment to older people.
As an African American, that commitment resonated with me.
My family circle always included older people, including older relatives, older neighbors, older church members, and older people living in the broader community. This didn’t seem out of the ordinary to me. In the African American community, the saying, “It takes a village” means that everyone in a community has a role to play—not only to help raise a child but also to provide others in the community with support and encouragement.
Coming from this age-inclusive background, it’s not surprising that I looked forward to interacting with LeadingAge members during my first Annual Meeting in San Diego. But when I arrived at the convention center that year, I was surprised to find few people who looked like me.
The lack of diversity I witnessed in San Diego was new to me, after working for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), where I ran a $42 million grant program to build critical institutional capacity at 42 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU). It was also awkward and shocking.
I was not prepared for the isolation I felt in that large Annual Meeting crowd. I wondered how I would be able to find a home for myself in a professional community that did not seem to notice that it consisted almost solely of white men and white women. I also wondered how the community from which I came—the community of people who looked like me—had been excluded from this group of people who loved and cared for older people.
Almost 20 years later, I am still at LeadingAge, still happy to be working with researchers at the LeadingAge LTSS Center, and pleased to report that the field of long-term services and supports (LTSS) is slowly becoming more diverse. I am grateful to be playing a part in bringing about that change by leading an initiative to build partnerships and implement strategies to help LeadingAge members create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces.
It has been, and continues to be, a rewarding task. I’ve had an opportunity to meet “like-minded” members of all races who are concerned about their workplace cultures and their organizations’ lack of diversity. I’ve also had an opportunity to meet other leaders of color who are ready to be part of the movement to help guide and influence LeadingAge’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) journey.
It takes a village!
During 2021, researchers at the LTSS Center conducted a study designed to support LeadingAge’s strategic goal to advance DEI in the LTSS workplace. That research led to the launch of three activities to support and encourage the recruitment and retention of diverse leaders in our field:
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- Our Leaders of Color (LoC) Network brings together senior, mid-level, and emerging leaders of color employed by LeadingAge member organizations. The network is designed to support and facilitate career advancement in the field of aging services. It serves as a sounding board for members to share work-related challenges and success stories around race and racism, and as a forum to exchange resources and ideas and hear experts discuss relevant topics. I hope you will join the network.
On April 8, the LoC Network will host a virtual Spring Event to explore the professional journeys of four senior leaders and to collect feedback from leaders of color about how this networking group can best serve their needs. Register for the event if you would like to join us.
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- Our Leaders of Color (LoC) Member Community group is an online meeting place for senior, mid-level, and emerging leaders of color interested in connecting with one another to ask questions, exchange knowledge, share resources, and discuss experiences and topics of interest to people of color. You can access the LoC member community group through the LeadingAge website.
- Through our HBCU-LTSS Careers Initiative, LeadingAge and UNCF are developing collaborative partnerships between organizations representing the LTSS sector and institutions of higher education, including HBCUs. Our goal is to increase LTSS career awareness among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and improve racial and ethnic diversity in mid-and senior level LTSS positions.
We understand it will take time to see the results of our efforts, but we are excited about the opportunity to continue working with our members and partners to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive LTSS workplace.
It will take a village!
Adrienne Powell Ruffin, DSL, is vice president, LTSS Center strategic initiatives, in the Washington, DC office of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. Read more about Adrienne