Today’s organizations are in a constant state of change.  There are many reasons for these changes, but one of the biggest is diversity.  As the community around the organization grows, the organization reaches out to reflect the diversity of that community.   The globalization of all size communities through the media and new technologies increases the need to look at the innumerable diverse factors that lend themselves to today’s work and social circumstances.

Indeed, cultural and ethnic differences may be a source of unproductive conflict, increased employee turnover, misdirection, and even a loss of revenue.  AND differences can be more than just the cultural and ethnic differences too—it could be the challenges of single parents, first and second shift employees, corporate locations, or.... Those same differences, however, may be a source of energy and creativity that can benefit individuals, companies and communities.

The Jefferson City Multicultural Forum, as a part of our mission, is offering a unique training program to help businesses and organizations as well as the community as a whole meet their needs in understanding the importance of diversity.

The program is an interactive approach to understanding what diversity is all about and facilitating discussion of how diversity fits into each individual and organization’s realm.

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The program utilizes the BaFá BaFá training module that immerses individuals into different simulated cultures enabling them to experience first hand the difficulties of trying to cope in another culture.  Participants gain an awareness of unproductive and inaccurate ways of thinking about and responding to different cultures.  Participants analyze the experience from both a personal and organizational perspective and then use that analysis to develop a specific set of action steps to implement the changes they feel are important.

The program is designed to:

• Build awareness of how cultural differences impact the individual and the organization.
• Motivate participants to rethink their behavior and attitude toward others.
• Help participants avoid stereotypes that create barriers and magnify misunderstandings.
• Allow participants to examine their own bias and focus on how they perceive differences.
• Identify diversity issues within an organization that must be addressed.
• Create an awareness and then move the participants to action.

Logistics

The program is facilitated by Forum members whose background is in the training field and are well qualified to offer these services.  It is presented in a two to four hour format (depending on organizational need) and can accommodate up to 60 participants per session.

Facility requirements include a large meeting area that will accommodate up to 60 participants in a classroom setting and at least one breakout room.  One electrical socket should be easily available in each room.  Flip charts and/or white boards should be available for facilitators’ use.

Not for profits: $30pp
For profits: $50pp
(minimum 15 participants, maximum 60)

For more information and/or to request a proposal, please call: (573) 636-3763 or email info@jcmcf.org.

JCMCF

The Forum developed out of a trip that the Jefferson City Chamber of Commerce sponsored to Rogers, Arkansas in the fall of 1999.  The purpose of the trip was to investigate how Rogers had worked with the enormous influx of immigrants to the area.

Mid-Missouri business and community leaders recognized their area of the country was also experiencing growth in the population of other cultures to the area.  A task force of sixty members went to Rogers to be proactive in meeting the needs of these new populations as well as working to acclimate the current community members to the changing face of the area.

Unlike Rogers, however, the task force recognized that the Jefferson City community already contained a large multicultural community within its African American population and the surging growth of foreign students at Lincoln University.  The task force felt that in order to meet the needs of immigrating populations, it also needed to consider these individuals in relations to the community’s majority population.

To this end, the task force founded the Jefferson City Multicultural Forum as a 501(3)c organization in January 2001. 

The forum meets the third Tuesday of every month with committee meetings held on an as needed basis.

Click here for a brochure.