Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has always been at the core of WTS. WTS International’s mission is to attract, connect, sustain, and advance the future of a diverse and innovative transportation industry. 

Vision:

WTS-Boston recognizes that achieving equity and access for women and other historically disadvantaged communities in transportation involves creating an environment that welcomes and engages people of all identities and diverse backgrounds—varied experiences, perspectives, geography, profession, discipline, sector, age, ethnicity, race, culture, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, differences in ability, immigration status, nationality, national origin, education, socio-economic status, family structure, military/veteran status, and religious/non-religious beliefs—who are passionate about strengthening and advancing the industry.

Goals:

• Ensure an inclusive, welcoming environment at all WTS-Boston events by bringing in the diverse values and characteristics of our individual and group members.
• Increase collaborative efforts and outreach to diverse organizations with related goals and interests.
• Identify and increase recruitment of diverse members. 
• Use gender-inclusive and non-sexist language that affirms and respects how people describe, express, and experience their gender. We encourage members to share their personal pronouns and names with WTS-Boston leadership and at events if they are comfortable.
• Each year, the committee will identify speakers to inspire/motivate/engage/educate the WTS-Boston membership on DEI-related topics. 

DEI Resources:

1. Code Switch Podcast, NPR, https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch
2. David Pedulla, Diversity and Inclusion Efforts That Really Work - Five best practices, Harvard Business Review, May 2020, https://hbr.org/2020/05/diversity-and-inclusion-efforts-that-really-work
3. Diversity Wheel as used by John Hopkins, https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Diversity-Wheel-as-used-at-Johns-Hopkins-University-12_fig1_320178286
4. Jordan Bryan, How 2020 Accelerated Conversations on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Gartner, February 2021, https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/how-2020-accelerated-conversations-on-diversity-equity-and-inclusion/
5. Krys Burnette, Belonging: A Conversation about Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Medium, January 2019, https://medium.com/@krysburnette/its-2019-and-we-are-still-talking-about-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-dd00c9a66113
6. Mary-Frances Winters, Equity and Inclusion: The Roots of Organizational Well-Being, Stanford Social Innovation Review, October 2020, 2020, https://ssir.org/articles/entry/equity_and_inclusion_the_roots_of_organizational_well_being
7. Pronouns.org – resources on gender/personal pronouns, https://pronouns.org/
8. Tamika L. Butler, Esq., Transit Equity, Commute Con, 2020, https://commutecon.com/commutecon-2020/transportation-equity-tamika-butler
9. The Genderbread Person – A teaching tool for breaking the big concept of gender down into bite-sized, digestible pieces, https://www.genderbread.org/ 
10. Tina Q Tan, Principles of Inclusion, Diversity, Access, and Equity, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 220, Issue Supplement_2, 15 September 2019, Pages S30–S32, https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiz198

For more information on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at WTS-Boston, please contact the DEI Committee Co-chairs: Ali Mattson ([email protected]) and Sydney Peterson ([email protected]).