DEI Initiatives
Current Social Justice Initiatives
Continuing the Wesley House Association Collaboration in St. Louis
Beginning of partnership with Lorenzo’s House in Chicago
Additional volunteer training on social and racial disparities in Alzheimer’s onset, cultural sensitivity, and acts of overt and covert racism
Introduction of monthly chapter-led case studies on health disparities and Alzheimer’s
DEI Training
The DEI Committee created a DEI training in April 2022 for volunteers and chapter directors. This training provided historical context, DEI terminology, and sample scenarios. Directors and volunteers completed a self-graded assessment to practice responding to DEI-related scenarios. This year, we addressed questions and concerns submitted through our anonymous DEI Training feedback form to improve our training. With this feedback, we expanded our DEI training to include a more in-depth understanding of equity, justice, and microaggressions through additional example scenarios. We also discussed what to do when confronted with a microaggression and what to do when you have committed one. We strive to continuously create more holistic and representative scenarios, and we will continue to monitor our anonymous feedback form to guide any future improvements to our DEI training.
Case Studies
The DEI committee continued to develop detailed case studies to enhance discussions among chapters. Each case study mimics real-world experiences that our volunteers may encounter. These case studies will be provided to chapter directors to initiate ongoing conversations pertaining to DEI in different real-world settings. Volunteers are encouraged to participate in these conversations during reflection meetings and to expand their working knowledge on the role that DEI plays in the world around them, especially in the role of bettering their community and their buddies’ lives. For the upcoming year, National Alzheimer's Buddies will continue this DEI initiative and will strive to diversify case study topics.
Community Chapters
The Social Justice Committee is spearheading the creation of community based chapters that aim to serve underrepresented and underserved older adults with dementia and Alzheimer’s. Our first community based chapter is located in St. Louis, Missouri. Washington University (WashU) is currently collaborating with the Northside Memories Program for regular visits between undergraduate students and older adults with dementia. In addition, WashU has also partnered with the Wesley House in St. Louis where volunteers attend events to interact with and educate members of the St. Louis community about NAB and dementia.
Much like the St. Louis community based chapter, our new Chicago based community chapter strives to aid underserved and underrepresented members of the Chicago community. The partners of the Chicago based community chapter include Northwestern University and Lorenzo’s House.