On Thursday, June 17th, Fire Chief Robert Creecy of the City of Richmond’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services hosted a session of Recruiting & Retaining Diversity in The Fire Service. Afton Chemical Corporation, which is located overlooking the James River in downtown Richmond, generously offered the use of its board room, employee dining room and provided meals and refreshments.

The total number of participants was 41. They came in teams that included the fire chief, labor leader, recruitment officer, minority group representatives and human resources staff from: Richmond Fire and Emergency Services, Newport News Fire Department, Norfolk-Fire Rescue, Portsmouth Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services; Chesterfield Fire and EMS, Hampton Fire & Rescue, Henrico County Division of Fire, Hopewell Bureau of Fire, and Petersburg Fire Department.

The participants’ evaluations were the most positive to date. And we believe that represents our dedication to ‘continuous improvement’.

Of the 36 participants who completed evaluation forms, the workshop got a 100% rating for being effective.

My overall rating of this workshop:

Outstanding - 9

Highly Effective - 23

Effective - 3

Somewhat Effective - 0

Ineffective - 0

Of the 36 participants who completed evaluation forms, only one person selected ‘neutral’ to recommending the workshop to others.

I would recommend this workshop to the leadership of other fire departments, local unions and city/county HR departments.

Strongly Agree - 26

Agree - 9

Neutral - 1

Disagree - 0

Strongly Disagree - 0

Here are the comments participants wrote about what parts of the workshop were most significant in broadening their perspective for recruiting and retaining diversity in their department:

“Having courageous conversations with people I was never able to before.”

“Good instructors, videos were enlightening. The 4 M’s are a good approach.”

“Working on the action plan.”

“All parts were good.”

“Management, labor, HR all in same place.”

“I found the discussion dialog very broadening in my personal perspective.”

“The chance to convene and reach consensus on next steps to take.”

“Common goals. Working with all the organizations to reach goals. Training.”

“Hearing from people in different departments and with different issues and solutions.”

“The mentoring portions of the workshop were the most significant I thought.”

“Getting the BIG picture of ‘who’ is the target and what will attract them.”

“Determining the message.”

“Sharing ideas. Presenters and participants.”

“It was all pretty effective in achieving it.”

“The dialog in developing the action plan was very significant.”

“Consulting with the other groups.”

“Re-thinking the diversity recruiting process to start from the inside and work out into the community with a story, well-thought out message to reach the target audience.”

“Making me consider how to possibly revamp the recruitment program w/assistance of my supervisors.”

“When we worked through our action plan.”

“Understanding which issues challenge our department in accomplishing this.”

“Communication with labor reps.”

“The group activity when the groups were mixed”

“The process used to solving problems.”

“The perspective that everyone has different mindsets which must be acknowledged and included.”

“Understanding the need to target market to a new audience.”

“Group discussion.”

“It was helpful to work on department specific issues.”

“Roleplay activity.”

“4 M's concept opened my thought process about target groups and our methods for reaching them.”

“Discussion on mindset and change.”

“Presenting plan to other groups. Great feedback.”

“The diverse make-up of the class promoted a good exchange w/ differing viewpoints. This allowed better understanding of the issues that may come and barriers to promoting diversity.”

“The ability to work closely with key members of our department to discuss ways to improve.”