Tactics for the Public Good: Evaluating a Community-Based Diversity Intervention

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: Civic Education as Humanist Praxis: Consciousness- and Community-Building for Equity

Abstract

Communities worldwide face intensifying demands to adapt to changing conditions: ecological, economic, demographic, cultural, political, and more. Education researchers face new opportunities, and obligations, to help their communities flourish. This study evaluates a collaboration for the public good involving government, non-profit, religious, and higher education stakeholders from across one rural Midwestern community. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we evaluate the effectiveness of a “diversity training” intervention prepared in conjunction with these stakeholders and presented for local government human services staff. The intervention used a video and an interactive panel to introduce participants to perspectives from a prominent local immigrant minority group.

Authors

• Laura Maki, Minnesota State University, Mankato

• Martin Lang, Gustavus Adolphus College