Austin wants to talk about diversity.

Sunday, March 25, 2001

Austin wants to talk about diversity. Recently, that fact was proven when a standing-room only crowd attended a town hall meeting that included employees of The Welcome Center.

Next week the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce is joining with The Welcome Center and Riverland Community College to again gather people in the community who want to talk about diversity. The focus of this event, however, titled "Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: A Conversation About Our Cultural Diversity," is business and employment.

At 5:30 p.m. Monday and Thursday at the Ruby Rupner Auditorium in the J.C. Hormel Nature Center, Chamber Executive Director Sandy Forstner will welcome attendees, describe the agenda and goals for the night and introduce the panelists for the event.

Liliana Silvestry of The Welcome Center has gathered a number of residents who are new to the community. The first half-hour of the diversity seminar will consist of these residents speaking about their experiences in Austin. They have traveled to Austin from many locations, including Texas, Madagascar, Sudan, Chile, Mexico, Vietnam and Cuba.

According to the promotional flier, the focus of the first portion of the seminar will be to "get a solid grasp of who our new community members are, what they need and why they are such a valuable addition to our community."

During the second half-hour, human resources manager Dale Wicks of Quality Pork Processors Inc., store manager Paul Boisjolie of Hy-Vee Food Stores and Terry Brink, management services director of Cedar Valley Services Inc., will speak about the successes they have had in attracting and keeping people of diversity as employees.

The final half-hour will be a question-and-answer period. Those present can ask whatever question comes to mind or share their experiences in the community.

Forstner said he has three goals for the event. The first is to educate both workers and consumers about what is available in the community. The second is to educate business owners and employees of the community as to how they can attract workers and consumers. And the third is to inform those present about classes Riverland will be offering.

Riverland will be conducting Spanish classes for use in the workplace. English-language students will learn job-specific technical terms in Spanish so they can better converse with their Spanish-speaking co-workers. Additionally, knowing some Spanish phrases will help English-speaking employees to be more welcoming to Spanish-speaking customers.

"You begin building relationships that way," Forstner said.

The event is open to the public, so you do not have to be a business owner or new resident to attend. In fact, Forstner encourages everyone to bring a friend.

"The whole idea is to raise ideas of what’s working and raise awareness of what we can improve on," Forstner said.

Forstner wants people in the community to preregister, but he said people can register at the door, too. All proceeds from a free-will donation will go to The Welcome Center.

"I hope we all come out of it with a few new ideas and all learn something in the process," Forstner said.

On each of the two nights, the event will last until 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

Call Kevira Mertha at 434-2233 or e-mail her at newsroom@austindailyherald.com.