Not Your Average Speaker Series: Culture Shock

Grand Rapids "Nice."  You may have heard the term before.  West Michigan has a great reputation for its Midwestern niceness to newcomers to the area.  But how welcoming and inclusive are we as a community, especially to cultures that are different from the norm here, particularly to people moving here from all over the globe, taking up positions in technology, life sciences and health care? 

Rapid Growth continues its monthly speaker series events with the focus of this event on cultural awareness, cultural bias, diversity, and "inclusiveness" as it relates to retaining talent in West Michigan.

We have a great panel lined up to talk about what West Michigan is doing right, and where it struggles, to provide an open and accepting culture, particularly for newcomers and young people of diverse backgrounds. We'll look at it from multiple viewpoints, from a major health care provider in the area, a parent and school board member, the head of an arts organization and a small business owner and transplant to West Michigan.

Our panelists include:
Jane Gietzen - Grand Rapids Public Schools Board Member, parent of adopted Chinese children, and IT Director at Spectrum Health
Caroline Older - Executive Director of the Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids
Deborah Phillips - Chief Administrative Officer, Priority Health
Floriza Genautis - Owner, Management Business Solutions

The lively discussion will be moderated by Skot Welch of Global Bridge Builders and Radio in Black and White, who will delve into real-life scenarios and issues occurring right now in our community.

As a precursor to the event, we encourage people to take a demonstration test at Harvard University's Project Implicit site that studies conscious and unconscious bias:

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/selectatest.html

Come join us December 1st at the Wealthy Theatre.  Admission is free for this event, and beer and wine are available to purchase for Community Media Center members (a great value at only $12/year, which can be paid for at the event).

Event sponsored by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, and produced exclusively by Rapid Growth Media.

Doors open at 5:00 PM.  Please RSVP at our Facebook Event Page, or use the form below.