As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, we are committed to eradicating national origin discrimination in the workplace. According to the EEOC, national origin discrimination involves treating people (applicants or employees) unfavorably because they are from a particular country or part of the world, because of ethnicity or accent, or because they appear to be part of a certain ethnic background (even if they are not). It can also involve treating people unfavorably because they are married to or associated with a person of a certain national origin. Furthermore, the discrimination can occur when the victim and the perpetrator are the same national origin (1). Additionally, discrimination can also take place because an individual’s name or spouse’s name is associated with a national origin group (2). The impact of workplace harassment, hostile work environment and discrimination on job satisfaction, employee productivity, as well as on mental and physical health are well documented. However, the victims are largely invisible to society and they often feel isolated and boxed in. Furthermore, the economic implications arising from discriminatory employment actions create disparities and inequities that go beyond the victim and the ripple effects impact the livelihood of their immediate families and dependents. On the employer side of the picture, these are very costly missteps not only in terms of money, but misused resources, and lost productivity with potential loss of reputation and federal funding. According to the most recent data, there were 7,009 national origin workplace discrimination charges filed to the EEOC in 2019 (3). Of these, a small 5.1% complaints with reasonable cause received $37.5 million in monetary benefit not including monetary benefits obtained from litigation and out of court settlements.
We are utilizing a research-proven multi-sectorial novel approach to eradicate national origin discrimination in the workplace. We have created an open forum, bringing like-minded stakeholders, individuals, institutes of higher education, public and private employers together for collective impact to champion diversity and inclusion in recruitment and retention and eradicate national origin discrimination. We are leading collaborations and partnerships with institutes of higher education and creating professional development opportunities and collaborating on research opportunities to understand the unique challenges and promote equitable opportunities for underserved people of diverse backgrounds. We are strengthening the social fabric of our country by sharing inspirational stories and examples of those who rose above the discrimination and reached unimaginable success and laid an inspirational path for others to follow. We are also working with our legislators at the local, state, and national levels to continue to advocate and lobby to eradicate national origin discrimination and champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are looking into adding an important component to our multi-sectorial and comprehensive approach by providing mental health programs and resources for people battling national origin discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
We are providing education, leadership, open forum, mental health services, and amplifying the collective impact via coalition, and advocating to law makers for effective policy measures to end and prevent national origin discrimination. Please explore our website and social media platforms to learn more about our work and our vision and mission statements. We welcome you to join us in this important journey and our vision of a society that we are humans first and together we are much stronger than the descriptors that divide and categorize us. Your donations are highly appreciated and are 100% tax deductible (IRC section 170).
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