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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Statement

At Community Communications, Inc., d/b/a WMFE, a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is part of everything we do, as evidenced by our mission “to provide Central Florida with journalism and fact-based content that empower the community to better understand and participate in our diverse and complex world” and our vision that commits us to “lead the community conversation based on substantiated facts and respect for diverse perspectives.”

We define diversity in many ways, including race, gender, disability, geography, religious belief, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin, education, professional experience, and socio-economic status.

We recognize that we have historically underserved diverse members of our Central Florida communities. Our vision and strategic plan prioritize working with those communities to find ways we can fully live up to our commitment as a public media organization to understand and address their news and information needs.

Over the past year, our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts have included:

  • Adoption of a new vision, strategic priorities, and three-year plan that prioritize:
    • listening to the community
    • building trust and engagement with existing audiences and underserved communities.
    • increasing representation of diverse communities in our content
    • strategies that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, innovation and collaboration on our staff and Board.
  • Hiring and onboarding of our new director of community collaboration, focused on “building and nurturing genuine connections between WMFE and the diverse communities it serves, to further the goal of creating and distributing content for and with those communities.”
  • Tracking demographics of people interviewed for local news stories, including race/ethnicity, gender pronouns, and geographic location, to support the goal that the diversity of our on-air and digital sources should mirror Central Florida’s population.
  • Creation and launch of Central Florida Seen & Heard, a biannual series where we take an in-depth look at issues vital to communities across our region. The first series, Immigration Divide centered the voices of our undocumented community and their loved ones in an exploration of Florida’s new immigration law.
  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Staff workshops on Bias and Microaggression.
  • Creating a Staff Welcome Committee to help new hires feel embraced by WMFE’s culture of inclusion.
  • Recruiting new members of our Board of Trustees and Community Advisory Board that reflect our region’s diversity.
  • Using intentional techniques to attract diverse candidate pools in recruitments for eight staff positions.
  • Comprehensive workplace culture survey administered by an independent third party, including high scores on DEIB questions.
  • Reviewing on an annual basis with WMFE’s Board of Trustees those practices that are designed to fulfill the station’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to meet the applicable federal and state laws including FCC, the station’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Diversity Eligibility Criteria.

DEI plans for the coming year include continuing the strategies and activities outlined
above, plus:

  • Hosting four listening sessions in collaboration with community partners to foster meaningful discourse, identify information gaps, and build community trust.
  • Adopting an intentional two-year focus for our trust and engagement building efforts in metro Orlando’s Black community, aged 25-55.
  • Building internal capacity to engage with our Latino community.
  • Launching the new local show Engage that will explore Central Florida’s issues and culture with new voices, new perspectives, and thought-provoking interviews.
  • Onboarding at least four new Trustees that reflect our region’s diversity.
  • Reviewing on an annual basis with WMFE’s Board of Trustees those practices that are designed to fulfill the station’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to meet the applicable federal and state laws, including FCC, the station’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Diversity Eligibility Criteria.

Approved by the Board of Trustees December 6, 2023