Trinity Youth Services (TYS) continues to seek ways to evolve and develop the agency, to ensure we are creating an undeniably equitable environment for all staff members. The fluidity of an agency and its success depends on the environment that we create. For this reasoning, we’ve partnered with Claremont Lincoln University (CLU) to create a series of trainings for our staff members.
Members of Trinity Youth Services’ Diversity, Inclusion, Value, Equity (DIVE) Team attended “Equity in Action,” a four-part webinar series where faculty members from CLU shared resources and ideas relating to the four domains that make up their Claremont Core®: Mindfulness, Dialogue, Collaboration, and Change. Presenters included Dr. Stephanie Varnon-Hughes, Dr. Nita Evans, Suzanne Atkin, Dr. Robert J. Razzante, Dr. Kendra L. Smith, and Dr. David Ross.
Mindfulness focused on understanding the interconnected elements of the self to elevate leadership. Dialogue focused on active listening to empower genuine dialogue with others who are different from us. Collaboration focused on leveraging the intelligence of diverse stakeholders to find common purpose. Change focused on adapting from core process learnings to form a plan, enact and catalyze sustainable meaningful change.
“I truly enjoyed the training. I liked that it gave an opportunity for everyone to share their experiences. It also reminded me of the biases that I currently have and provided ways I can work to overcome them,” says Angel Torrientes, Training Specialist.
“With so much coming at us over the past year, the Equity in Action Webinar provided an opportunity to slow down and process some of the overwhelming events that were affecting all of us. I was able to hear other perspectives while sharing my own, and was given ideas on how to incorporate mindfulness, dialogue, and collaboration into future goals and plans,” says Gail Polk, Community Outreach Coordinator.
“I really thought it was great and necessary to learn about dialogue, a lot of the times we engage in dialogue and it may not be the right time or in the right space and learning about dialogue and mindfulness from the Equity in Action webinars was very appropriate,” says Nestor McFarlane, Team Supervisor.
Each webinar helped create mindful inquiry, skillful dialogue, effective collaboration, and positive change and growth for our DIVE members. “The opportunity to create the Equity in Action curriculum in partnership with Claremont Lincoln University has been a tremendous gift. In these challenging times, it is more important than ever to create within organizations a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion, doubly so in human services organizations that directly serve populations of color,” says Cher Ofstedahl, Chief Executive Officer.
Thank you so much to Claremont Lincoln University and their amazing faculty members, TYS is beyond grateful to have been given the opportunity to learn such valuable and powerful skills for effective leadership. TYS plans on sharing these practices throughout the entire agency.
Isabel Millward-Pena, Communications Specialist
Isabel contributes content for our social media, blog, newsletters and promotional materials. She recently earned a bachelor’s degree in English from California State University San Bernardino and is currently working on her master’s degree. Isabel began working at Trinity as an intern, was hired as clerical, and was then promoted to communications in our development department. Prior to her work at Trinity, she was a substitute instructional aid and a supervisor at Starbucks. She has also volunteered as an aid at local elementary schools and notably achieved “Partner of the Quarter” at Starbucks in 2017. Isabel is an active member of Trinity’s Diversity, Inclusion, Value and Equity (DIVE) team and volunteers her time at the Children’s Foundation of America.
Claremont Lincoln University (CLU) and Trinity Youth Services (TYS) are partnering to provide tuition assistance for TYS employees. This partnership will offer scholarships toward all CLU master’s degree programs and to workshops, both online and on-site.
CLU, an online by design graduate school providing socially conscious education, offers master’s degrees in Human Resources Management, Social Impact, Peace and Social Justice, Healthcare Administration, Sustainability Leadership and Organizational Leadership with concentrations in 7 disciplines: Civic Engagement, Ethics, Healthcare, Higher Education, Human Resources, Professional Studies, and Technology Management.
“We are thrilled to offer this educational opportunity for Trinity Youth Services employees,” said CLU COO, Joseph Sallustio. “Graduating with our master’s degrees provides students with personal and career development, and through their socially conscious capstone work, students will continue to deliver the care and services TYS is known for in Southern California and Houston, TX.”
“The TYS staff of over 300 work every day on our mission to create a better future for children and families through quality foster care, adoption, residential therapy and mental health services,” said TYS COO, Cher Ofstedahl. “This opportunity from CLU will not only foster our employees’ individual and social impact, it will increase the impact they have with the over 1,500 children TYS works with each year. The CLU scholarship opportunity rounds out our employee education benefit package, which also includes tuition reimbursement for employees who get their degrees and commit to using their learning to improve children’s lives, and our student debt refinancing opportunities. With the addition of the CLU scholarship, we believe we really empower staff to use both experience and education to help children and families build a brighter future.”
The partnership will go into effect immediately, and both CLU and TYS look forward to the outcomes this opportunity will have for the students, the staff, and the community.
About Claremont Lincoln University:
Claremont Lincoln University is an online, non-profit graduate university with a mission to equip students with 21st Century leadership skills. Their socially conscious online master’s degrees teach the engagement skills, behaviors and mindsets needed to navigate diverse interests and find common ground for peaceful and inclusive solutions. For more information about Claremont Lincoln University, visit https://www.claremontlincoln.edu/.
About Trinity Youth Services:
Since 1966, Trinity Youth Services has been helping children and families build a better future. TYS provides 24/7/365 programs and services, including foster care, adoption, residential treatment and fully integrated mental and behavioral health support for children removed from their families due to abuse, neglect or trauma.
