Life Development Institute (LDI) recognizes the importance of teaching key life skills that empower students to create a collaborative and inclusive community where each member offers individual support while being heard, respected, and valued. To help build skills, competence and appreciation in becoming a more connected with others, LDI established a Diversity Certificate Program that partners with Arizona’s Diversity Leadership Alliance (DLA), and completion of specific LDI diversity courses.
DLA is the premier Diversity Education organization in Arizona, and provides training/resources for HR professionals representing the corporate/business community, law firms, and government agencies. DLA’s main goal has been to help mid-level and executive management implement recruitment and retention efforts that understand, recognize, and value diversity as an effective way to attract and retain top talent.
In addition to their adult leadership programs, Diversity Leadership Alliance has also created a Youth Leadership Program that is designed to assist students with transitioning from school to work, as well as provide them with tools and resources to help build leadership skills. Students participate in workshops, the new DLA mentor program, and are eligible to apply for DLA scholarships.
- DLA Workshops: Monthly workshops that provide attendees with access to “world-class diversity practice leaders who promote leadership skills and provide education.” The workshops combine educational content with actionable takeaways.
- DLA Annual Conference: DLA’s Annual Conference is the highlight of the year and provides multiple workshops, which includes a full day of Youth Leadership workshops. Keynote speakers are nationally recognized.
Life Development Institute Diversity Courses
LDI’s mission “to provide non-traditional, college-capable students a practical and inclusive bridge to improve college/career readiness and success, build cultural competence, and develop personal leadership skills” comes to fullness through the combination of DLA involvement and successful completion of the following diversity courses:
- Cultural Awareness: Developing critical thinking skills for recognizing, analyzing, and mediating cultural and psychological factors impacting conflict and accord between diverse cultures through connected multicultural events in the local community.
- Disability 101: Recognizing, accepting and preparing how to effectively work with specific conditions for themselves and in others who have similar disabilities. Strategies to improve functional performance in different environments, identify triggers that may make the condition worse and how to be comfortable in getting help when needed.
- Doing the Right Thing: A focus on practical ethics through an exploration of ideas, values, and beliefs designed to help students to respect another person’s differences through identifying and processing ethical dilemmas.
- Resiliency: Developing skills of reframing the mind and understanding the power of resilience through observation of others, while learning how to claim their personal achievement, take control of their future, and accept themselves for who they are.
- Self-Esteem: Skillful practices and specific methods for building and keeping self-esteem through personal assessment of attitudes, values, support systems, and goals.
Businesses understand the importance of developing a workforce that knows how to work together towards a common goal and provides consistently great customer service at the cost of billions in training annually.
This Diversity Certificate can provide a little extra edge to LDI students that other job seekers (disabled or not) lack as they are more skilled on how to work with and value customers, coworkers and managers from diverse backgrounds or cultures.
