All people in California are healthy, financially stable, and safe. This was the aspirational vision for racial equity that inspired the strategies in the California Department of Water Resources’ Racial Equity Action Plan. Andrea Riley and Dena Hunter will highlight DWRs diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, including the development and implementation of the Racial Equity Action Plan.

Though the United States of America prides itself on justice, equality, diversity, and inclusion, the fact remains that many facets of our society are as divided as they have always been. Instances of ableism, ageism, sexism, and gender identity discrimination continue to make the headlines…and hardly a day goes by without a newscast about an unlawful act of ethnic discrimination. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, Statista.com, and Zappia.com, in 2021, the U.S. had a combined total of over 1,133,800 African American physicians, civil engineers, attorneys, police officers, registered nurses, and teachers. However, one field continues to lag behind others. The total number of archaeologists in the U.S. of African American descent, according to Zappia.com and other sources, for the last few years has hovered at less than 800. Qualified applicants are not being turned away. Instead, there appears to be a “vision problem” where African American boys and girls cannot and do not envision archaeology as a viable or interesting career option. Introducing archaeology to college-bound students of color would be insightful and rewarding. The overarching goal of this grassroots effort is the realization of greater diversity in the archaeology field.

Caltrans recognizes our leadership role and unique responsibility in State government to eliminate barriers to provide more equitable transportation for all Californians. This understanding is the foundation for intentional decision-making that recognizes the past, stops the current, and prevents future harms from our actions. Caltrans is fostering a culture of belonging, inclusion, equity, and justice by leveraging the diverse lived and learned perspectives of every team member. We are centering appreciation and respect for all employees, members, Tribal communities, and broader communities at the heart of our efforts. This presentation will highlight the Caltrans DE&I approach, where you will hear from two leadership teams, The Equal Employment Opportunity Program (EEOP) and the Caltrans Office of Race and Equity. The discussion will focus on two collaborative approaches

• Internally - greater human resources are generated from various perspectives to deliver innovative products and services at their best, employee retention, and growth in upward mobility, creating a safe environment where everyone may bring their whole selves to work.

• Externally - a diverse workforce enhances our ability to engage with the community for a direct and meaningful benefit that meets communities’ needs.

It is widely known that telling science in story form, scientific storytelling, can double and quadruple the audiences, media reach and funding for research that scientists need. However, this method of communication is widely met with resistance within the science community. The average scientist still believes the saying, “Let the science speak for itself.” The problem is without a researcher, scientific communicator or organization telling others why they should listen to the research, the science is never heard. According to my exploration on this topic, the following three reasons for resistance are stated the most; (1) storytelling correlates with fiction and science is based in facts, (2) technical research is too complicated to be told in story form and thus “dumbing down” would need to occur, (3) researchers or science communicators should not put emotions or discuss themselves when discussing good science. All these beliefs have been shown to be false. This resistance of scientist to use storytelling is unwarranted and leads to good research not getting to those that could utilize it. Scientific storytelling is one of the best methods to get good science out to a diverse group of individuals, companies and organizations that need it.

Abstract: California is the largest and most diverse state in the nation with the fourth largest economy in the world. As the state works towards mitigating the impacts of climate change, drought, wildfires, and other threats to our natural resources, considering the impacts of these threats to diverse populations has become imperative. Despite the plethora of equity and diversity statements, and commitments to include a variety of voices in environmental decision-making, successfully implementing equitable practices such as reducing implicit bias in the hiring process to diversify the conservation workforce remains operationally challenging. This presentation will provide reasons on why embedding equity remains a challenge and provide a framework that organizations can use to begin the process of centering equity into all policies, processes, and actions. Using the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s efforts to integrate equitable principles into its work culture and external activities, this presentation will discuss the challenges and available opportunities for organizations to shift conversations about equity away from superficial statements into action. To achieve the state’s drought, wildfire resilience, and natural resource protection goals, CDFW has started to include equity as a core component in funding requirements, species management plans, and sensitive species decisions. This attention both fulfills CDFW’s mission AND gives voice to the most polluted and under-resourced communities to improve overall outcomes for all.