Chandler has a long career working on social justice. Before YW Boston, she worked at several nonprofits, including as vice president at Achievement Network, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping urban schools improve student performance, and as deputy director at the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, which provides low-income residents with legal help.
The new initiative at YW Boston include the Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity, which help businesses and other organizations more deeply understand racial and ethnicity issues through discussion sessions. Chandler said this program helps people participate constructively in conversations about race and helps foster an environment that propels women and people of color into leadership roles.
A study by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. analyzed 366 public companies and found that organizations in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to see their earnings surpass national industry medians.
“Millennials are looking for inclusive work environments,” she said. “If a company wants to compete moving forward, they need to help people understand how to communicate and understand differences across race and ethnicities.”
Other initiatives include the LEADBoston program, which helps mid- to senior-level leaders better understand social justice issues affecting the city, and the Youth Leadership Initiative, which educates high school students about social justice and develops them into young leaders.
The organization plans to pilot a fourth program next summer focused on gender in the workplace.
Chandler said she hopes to increase the organization’s visibility by demonstrating the effectiveness of these programs through quantitative data and testimony from participating companies.
“I want this organization to thrive,” she said. “I hope [participating] companies will be able to show an increase in leadership over time for groups that are significantly underrepresented in leadership positions.”
Allison Hagan can be reached at allison.hagan@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @allisonhxgan.
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