The Children’s Center of Hamden is committed to fostering equality, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of the agency. It is our policy to treat all individual clients and their families, employees, contractors, volunteers, and partner organizations equitably. This applies to all people regardless of their race, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin, language spoken, religious or other beliefs, position at our agency, financial circumstances or any relevant quality.
In line with this commitment, we encourage and support the differences that a diverse workforce and governance brings to the agency. This policy applies to recruitment and hiring terms and conditions of employment including pay and promotion, performance evaluation, disciplinary policies and every other aspect of employment. It also applies to our relationships with individual clients and their families as reflected in our Client Rights policies and to our Board of Directors as reflected in the Board bylaws.
The Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards will guide the organization’s policies and their interpretation to ensure individual clients and their families have equitable access to services that are responsive to their needs and addresses barriers towards positive outcomes and inclusiveness.
The Chief Executive Officer has overall responsibility for the application of the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy. The Board of Directors, Management, Supervisors, and all employees have a legal duty not to discriminate against other staff, interns, contractors, clients and their families and partner organizations. Everyone is expected to promote the spirit of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy to the fullest extent possible. Ongoing modeling, supervision and training to employees are provided. Leaders are responsible for creating a culture of inclusiveness and opportunities for employees, family members and clients to report acts of discrimination or disrespect. Concerns or incidents of disrespect that are reported or become known are investigated fully and may result in progressive discipline up to and including termination. Our policy is to eliminate all unlawful and unfair discrimination.
The Cultural Diversity Committee will monitor and review the effectiveness of this policy and report findings to the Board of Directors and all agency employees. By remaining committed to the CLAS standards, The Children’s Center of Hamden strives to promote a culture where people feel safe, valued, respected and welcomed to be who they are.