Engage! Cleveland's Annual DEI Conference Helps Employers, Businesses Build Inclusive Workplaces

This week, emerging professionals have the chance to unlock the future of diversity and inclusion in the workplace at Engage! Cleveland’s 2024 Diversity Equity and Inclusion Conference.

Engage! Cleveland, a community engagement group focused on young leaders and established professionals, is hosting its second annual conference focused on DEI. The event, which is being held at The Aviator in Brook Park on Sept. 12 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., offers emerging professionals the chance to gather and learn about intersectionality in the workplace through sessions and speakers. 

Here is the list of sessions that comprise the 2024 event:

• Decoding Intersectionality — presented by Loren and Katherine Moye.
• Equity in Action: Addressing Bias and Promoting Inclusion — presented by Erica Merritt, Founder and President of Equius Group.
• Building a Culture of Belonging — presented by Matthew Grimes, Head of Diversity, equity, and inclusion, Cleveland Guardians.
• Accessible Environments: Inclusion in Practice — panelists include, Nicole Crews, Director, Global Inclusion and Diversity, Eaton, Beth Glas, Executive Director, Linking Employment, Abilities and Potential and Leon Harris, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, The Centers.
• Cultivating Safe and Accountable Work Environments — panelists include, Gulnar Feerasta, Managing Director, The LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, Lavone Lee, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, American Greetings and Elaine Suarez, ODI Program Specialist, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
• Developing a Strategic DEI Plan — presented by Margarita Diaz,  Director of Health Equity, Inclusion and Diversity, The MetroHealth System.

Belle Mercurio, marketing manager for Engage! Cleveland, says the organization’s DEI focus started in 2020 on social media. An initiative called Take Over Tuesday: Band Together CLE invited different organizations to “take over” the Engage! Cleveland’s social channels to promote what they do. These social media takeovers received positive feedback prompting Engage! Cleveland to host their first Diversity Equity and Inclusion Conference in 2023.

“We asked members of the community who were part of DE&I initiatives or held those positions locally who wanted to share their stories, advice, and resources with our audience,” says Mercurio. “We developed something deeper that can give our audience actionable items and takeaways to make their workplaces more inclusive.”

Mercurio says the event is designed to provide implementable steps that attendees can bring back to their organizations. The professional development group works to create an inclusive and safe space for professionals to discuss and learn about DEI-related topics.

Companies aren’t the only ones with something to gain from the event. Exposure to different learning opportunities and best practices make emerging professionals who are applying for jobs more desirable to perspective employers, Mercurio says. 

The organization also strives to connect emerging professionals and community/business leaders in the Cleveland area through conferences, events and mentorship programs. It aims to attract, engage and retain emerging and diverse talent to Greater Cleveland by meet young professionals at their level and with their interests in mind.

“A pillar of EC is continued learning. We know continued learning is what employers want,” Mercurio says. “We want to develop programming for professionals as they move throughout their career.”

With an intentional curation of session topics and speakers, Mercurio feels that this year’s event speaks to Engage! Cleveland’s mission. 

“It’s really about these stellar people all coming together and being in the same room,” Mercurio says.