Photo by Doug McGoldrick

In her role as executive director of the Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance (LEDA), Gloria Lara (MBA 1983) focuses on a big question: Once a community, business, or organization becomes more diverse, what happens next?

LEDA, a nonprofit that focuses on diversity and inclusion in businesses and organizations in western Michigan, sprang up when the area—once largely white—began to undergo a significant demographic change. Latino migrants and immigrants began to move into the area for agricultural jobs. “LEDA, initially, was established to get people to understand, number one, the populations are shifting, and number two, they need to be more accepting and open.”

For Lara, it’s not all about diversity for diversity’s sake, although representation across an organization is a valuable first step. For her team, it’s about what follows. “We’re updating our programming to focus more on things like implicit bias and the actions you can take as an individual or as an organization or as a community to be more welcoming,” says Lara. “I get employers telling me, ‘Well, you know, we tried hiring diverse people but they don’t stay.’ There’s a reason they don’t stay. They don’t feel like they belong.”

LEDA starts inclusion education at a young age, offering programs like Calling All Colors, which allows students in middle and high schools to discuss race in their communities and calls on them to make their schools a welcoming environment. They offer research-based workshops for parents, caregivers, and educators to teach them how to speak with even younger children about race and how toddlers’ understanding of race plays a role in their development. LEDA is now launching a new initiative, the Community Diversity Workshop series, which will focus on equality in specific sectors of the community.

Lara’s goal is to make everyone feel like they belong in western Michigan—and in the organizations and companies that call it home.

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