CHILDREN’S BUREAU OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Children’s Bureau was founded in 1904 by Mrs. E.K. Foster, a Los Angeles community leader, and a group of volunteers who shared a concern for the plight of vulnerable children. Successfully they advocated for legislation to protect these children. Today, Children’s Bureau continues to be a trusted, innovative leader in child well-being. The organization’s goal is to ensure every child thrives in life and is protected from child abuse.

Through its board of directors, executive leadership team, and DEI leadership and cohort teams, Children’s Bureau has strived to incorporate a sense of belonging for every employee. This begins in the interview phase. Every hiring manager is given a DEI Talent Acquisition Packet Kit. Hiring managers are trained on understanding the importance of DEI and given a list of DEI-focused interview questions to help them evaluate a candidate’s understanding of the values and importance of DEI. Hiring managers are required to ask at least one DEI focused interview question for all candidates they consider. Every employee attends a training called “Perceptions and Perspectives” which prepares them with diversity, equity, and inclusion acumen. Last year, Children’s Bureau’s DEI Movement was in full swing, with the “Perceptions and Perspectives” training provided to all front-line staff (more than 400) through ten modules. These modules covered perspectives, implicit bias, microaggressions, diversity as collective similarities, intersectionality, and equity vs equality.

This organizational way of thinking has led to weekly engagement events that include games, trivia, stretch and meditation, and other ways to connect, even while being virtual and working remotely.

Return to the 2022 Diversity, Equity + Inclusion Awards recap