Developing and executing high-quality diversity initiatives — both internally and externally — should be a no-brainer for any organization looking to promote equity and inclusion in their community.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have become major pillars in today’s world — and for good reason too. And it’s not just a moral imperative for organizations to engage communities of all socioeconomic backgrounds — embracing minority-led businesses and amplifying non-English voices is also a strategic move for agencies looking to have a more equitable impact on their community.
One way to improve your organization’s approach to diversity is to begin working with vendors that uphold the core tenets of diversity and employ workers from many different backgrounds, whether that be in terms of the language they speak or their gender identity.
Chances are, your agency works with other businesses to outsource certain, more specialized tasks — whether that’s translation, copywriting, design, videography, etc. If you’re looking to improve your DEI strategy, working with diverse, minority-owned suppliers for these tasks can be a good start. By working with diverse suppliers to provide services in an equitable manner, your organization can become well-poised to reach communities that have historically been underserved.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the profound impact that working with diverse suppliers can have on your organization’s approach to equitable services.
Promote Economic Growth Within Marginalized Communities
By intentionally choosing to work with diverse suppliers, you contribute to the economic empowerment of underrepresented communities. This in turn helps close gaps in equity, while also allowing your organization to develop a more diverse and innovative approach to the services you offer.
Research has shown that minority-owned small businesses are at a higher risk of failure than their counterparts — during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Black-owned businesses were significantly more likely to close their doors than white-owned businesses. When you make an effort to contract diverse suppliers, you can help promote economic development for groups that have historically been socioeconomically marginalized.
Engage Multilingual Communities in New Ways
Improving language access is an important way to foster diversity within your organization. After all, DEI isn’t just about diversity in gender or ethnicity — it’s also about linguistic diversity. As such, working with specialized language service providers to translate your content and marketing materials is an important part of promoting diversity within and outside of your organization.
By translating your message into another language, your message has the potential to resonate with members of your community that you may not have been reaching before. For example, roughly 39% of the United States’ Spanish-speaking population has limited English proficiency — that means that translating your content and messaging into Spanish could have a profound impact on your organization’s engagement levels.
Given the United States’ growing diversity, multilingual engagement is an absolute must. Making your services and programming accessible in multiple languages — whether that’s Spanish or another language spoken widely throughout your locale — ensures that you’ll be able to reach people who have historically had difficulty in seeking them out.
Develop More Innovative Solutions to Complex Problems
Employing vendors from a diverse range of backgrounds can also make your organization more innovative. When you bring fresh perspectives and worldviews into your process, your team is bound to come up with more varied and creative ideas than it would if it were composed of people from similar backgrounds. This results in more innovative solutions to problems and can help your organization achieve its goals and beyond.
Amplify Non-English Voices and Support Linguistic Diversity
Just as it’s important to promote the economic growth of minority-led businesses, it’s also critical that we amplify non-English voices in both our internal and external communication. By boosting non-English messaging, your organization can show its support for linguistic diversity and enhance your message’s ability to resonate with prospective clients.
This goes beyond mere translation; it involves understanding the nuances of different languages and the cultures to which they belong. Organizations that prioritize linguistic diversity create an environment where everyone’s voice is heard, fostering a culture of respect and appreciation for differences.
This can, in turn, improve individuals’ perception of your organization, and, in the case of internal communications, make employees from diverse linguistic backgrounds feel more welcome in the workplace.
Summary
At Avantpage, we pride ourselves on our status as a diverse supplier of language services. Our founder and CEO Luis Miguel Musi started Avantpage with the goal of making public services and healthcare more accessible to residents of the United States who have limited English proficiency.
We not only champion diversity in our vendor relationships but also within our internal teams. As of 2023, our workforce comprises 40% Latino/Hispanic employees, and 60% of our leadership positions are held by women. We take pride in being a minority-owned and small business, actively contributing to the economic empowerment of underrepresented communities.
Here are just a few ways that working with diverse suppliers can help your organization grow to its fullest potential:
- Promote Economic Growth Within Marginalized Communities: By working with diverse suppliers, your organization can contribute to the success of minority-led businesses, in turn stimulating economic growth in your community.
- Engage Multilingual Communities in New Ways: Translation, interpreting and localization services allow you to reach communities that do not speak English, in turn expanding your audience significantly.
- Develop More Innovative Solutions to Complex Problems: A team that has access to fresh perspectives and diverse backgrounds is bound to come up with more creative and innovative solutions and services.
- Amplify Non-English Voices and Support Linguistic Diversity: By boosting non-English communication internally and externally you can improve clients’ and employees’ perception of the company.
If you are looking for a diverse supplier of language services, Avantpage is here to help. We offer translation, interpreting, localization and more — contact us today at (530) 750-2040 or [email protected] to learn how Avantpage can help you meet your DEI and language goals.
