rss
Posted: February 15th, 2008 Tracy Russ
The Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce sponsored a 2-hour introductory Crossroads session for Chamber staff and area chambers on February 6th. Over 70 staff and members from area chambers participated. Area chambers included geographic groups i.e. Ballantyne Chamber, racial/ ethnic groups i.e. The Asian Chamber, and business sectors, i.e Health Services. The participant group was both diverse and highly engaged.
The Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) viewed the Crossroads session as a unique opportunity to get valuable input on what the DAC and the Chamber should be doing to promote the Chamber's vision for diversity. Chamber President Bob Morgan introduced the session stating why the Chamber wants to be a part of Crossroads. The Crossroads stories were read by four Chamber staff members. A poetic response followed each story. Table facilitators were members of the DAC or senior staff of the Chamber. Participants discussed what struck them from the stories at a personal level.
The key question to elicit input for the Chamber was "What should the Chamber do to support Charlotte/Mecklenburg moving towards Class Act and Eye to Eye?" Tables were asked to state one of their best ideas. The 30 or more ideas that emerged from table discussions were collected and will serve as key data for the developing a DAC action plan. If the Chamber chooses to join the Learning Network as a Crossroads organization, one of those ideas will likely be their Crossroads initiative. The session resulted in "a lot of buzz" over the next few days as participants shared their Crossroads experience.
