DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION
ORI’s mission is to understand human behavior and improve the quality of lives through the prevention and treatment of health, education, and social problems. To achieve our mission, we value scientific independence and sound scientific methods; socially relevant research; democratic governance; employee well-being; collaboration with diverse, vulnerable populations; and promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism within ORI and our community. Through ORI’s mission and values, we strive for diversity, respect, inclusion, authenticity, and equity in our workforce, our research, and in our community relationships.
At ORI, diversity, equity, and inclusion applies to people with any characteristic protected by law as well as those not explicitly protected but needed to create a welcoming and inclusive organization that values the full spectrum of human diversity. These characteristics include but are not limited to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, ethnicity or national origin, disability status, neurodiversity, genetic information, protected veteran status, socioeconomic status, and family structure.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at ORI as a Workplace
We are committed to fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging at ORI. We are committed to increasing the diversity of our scientists and staff. We recognize that the products of our research will help identify and meet the needs of vulnerable, underserved, underrepresented, or marginalized populations when our workforce reflects their diversity.
We actively encourage and submit applications for NIH diversity supplements to support early career researchers from diverse backgrounds.
We value and embrace the whole person in our workplace and actively cultivate an organizational culture that values, empowers, and respects diverse perspectives and experiences in our decision-making. In our inclusive workplace policies and participatory governance system, employees’ voices from all sectors of our organization are heard, considered, and valued. We commit to fostering belongingness in our workplace, through, for example, employee events and family-friendly policies.
Our active Diversity-Equity-Inclusion working group brings a diversity and inclusion perspective to our business and hiring practices, internal policies, and employee awareness, guiding our progress in these areas. We commit to reviewing ORI policies to ensure that they are equitable, recognizing that ORI has operated within a dominant culture that historically benefits White people. While we have made strides toward diversity, equity, and inclusion, we recognize that this is an ongoing process that requires continual work to create an equitable and inclusive workplace for all.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in ORI’s Research
We support diversity, equity, and inclusion in research at ORI. We encourage research that includes diverse, vulnerable, underserved, underrepresented, or marginalized populations and the development and evaluation of educational and behavioral interventions intended to improve outcomes, avoid harm, and reduce disparities in health, education, justice, and well-being.
We strive to maintain the highest standard of ethics in our research. One component of this is careful consideration of both the potential vulnerabilities of research participants and of the social justice issues relating to our work. This is the responsibility of our scientists, the staff they oversee, and our Institutional Review Board, which oversees the ethical conduct and safety of all research at ORI.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Community Relationships
We work to build supportive, reciprocal relationships with community organizations serving vulnerable, underserved, underrepresented, or marginalized populations.
Strong relationships with community partners in our research increase the diversity of perspectives and contributions to ORI’s science. Relationships with practitioner organizations, such as research-practice partnerships, increase our ability to work with and support vulnerable, underserved, underrepresented, or marginalized populations. ORI strives to support efforts toward diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout our community partnerships.