Advancing Supplier and Governing Board Diversity
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Deadline for submissions is the 15th of every month.
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August 2019 Newsletter Preview
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I. What’s New:
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National Wellness Month
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Legislative Update - SB 534
II. Spotlight on Diversity:
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Supplier Diversity:
Decoding the Diverse Supplier Ecosystem: A New ERA, A New System
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Governing Board Diversity: CA Secretary of State Alex Padilla Released First Report on Corporations with Female Board Members
III. Announcements:
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3rd Quarterly Task Force Meeting
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Save the Date
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8
th
Annual Insurance Diversity Summit
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Share your Success Story!
IV. Diversity Events Calendar – Aug/Sep
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All during August, National Wellness Month focuses on self-care, managing stress and promoting healthy routines. Create wholesome habits in your lifestyle all month long and see how much better you feel!
Research has shown self-care helps manage stress and promotes happiness. Whether you challenge yourself to a new yoga pose or try a different spa treatment, make a small change and impact your health in positive ways.
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Taking Care Of Yourself
To be able to care for the people you love, you must first take care of yourself. It’s like the advice we’re given on airplanes: put on your own oxygen mask before trying to help someone else with theirs. Taking care of yourself is a valid goal on its own, and it helps you support the people you love.
Caregivers who pay attention to their own physical and emotional health are better able to handle the challenges of supporting someone with mental illness. They adapt to changes, build strong relationships and recover from setbacks. The ups and downs in your family member’s illness can have a huge impact on you. Improving your relationship with yourself by maintaining your physical and mental health makes you more resilient, helping you weather hard times and enjoy good ones. Here are some suggestions for personalizing your self-care strategy.
Understand How Stress Affects You
Stress affects your entire body, physically as well as mentally. Some common physical signs of stress include:
- Headaches
- Low energy
- Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation and nausea
- Aches, pains, and tense muscles
- Insomnia
Begin by identifying how stress feels to you. Then identify what events or situations cause you to feel that way. You may feel stressed by grocery shopping with your spouse when they’re symptomatic, or going to school events with other parents who don’t know your child’s medical history. Once you know which situations cause you stress, you’ll be prepared to avoid it and to cope with it when it happens.
Protect Your Physical Health
Improving your physical wellbeing is one of the most comprehensive ways you can support your mental health. You’ll have an easier time maintaining good mental habits when your body is a strong, resilient foundation.
- Exercise daily. Exercise can take many forms, such as taking the stairs whenever possible, walking up escalators, and running and biking rather than driving. Joining a class may help you commit to a schedule, if that works best for you. Daily exercise naturally produces stress-relieving hormones in your body and improves your overall health.
- Eat well. Eating mainly unprocessed foods like whole grains, vegetables and fresh fruit is key to a healthy body. Eating this way can help lower your risk for chronic diseases, and help stabilize your energy levels and mood.
- Get enough sleep. Adults generally need between seven and nine hours of sleep. A brief nap—up to 30 minutes—can help you feel alert again during the day. Even 15 minutes of daytime sleep is helpful. To make your nighttime sleep count more, practice good “sleep hygiene,” like avoiding using computers, TV and smartphones before bed.
- Avoid alcohol and drugs. They don’t actually reduce stress and often worsen it. If you’re struggling with substance use, click here for helpful resources.
- Practice relaxation exercises. Deep breathing, meditation and progressive muscle relaxation are easy, quick ways to reduce stress. When conflicts come up between you and your family member, these tools can help you feel less controlled by turbulent feelings and give you the space you need to think clearly about what to do next.
Recharge Yourself
When you’re a caregiver of someone with a condition like mental illness, it can be incredibly hard to find time for yourself, and even when you do, you may feel distracted by thinking about what you “should” be doing instead. But learning to make time for yourself without feeling you’re neglecting others—the person with the illness as well as the rest of your family—is critical.
Any amount of time you take for yourself is important. Being out of “caregiver mode” for as little as five minutes in the middle of a day packed with obligations can be a meaningful reminder of who you are in a larger sense. It can help keep you from becoming consumed by your responsibilities. Start small: think about activities you enjoyed before becoming a caregiver and try to work them back into your life. If you used to enjoy days out with friends, try to schedule a standing monthly lunch with them. It becomes part of your routine and no one has to work extra to make it happen each month.
The point is not what you do or how often you do it, but that you do take the time to care for yourself. It’s impossible to take good care of anyone else if you’re not taking care of yourself first.
Practice Good Mental Habits
Avoid Guilt
Try not to feel bad about experiencing negative emotions. You may resent having to remind your spouse to take his medication, then feel guilty. It’s natural to think things like “a better person wouldn’t be annoyed with their spouse,” but that kind of guilt is both untrue and unproductive. When you allow yourself to notice your feelings without judging them as good or bad, you dial down the stress and feel more in control. When you feel less stressed, you’re better able to thoughtfully choose how to act.
Notice The Positive
When you take the time to notice positive moments in your day, your experience of that day becomes better. Try writing down one thing each day or week that was good. Even if the positive thing is tiny (“It was a sunny day”), it’s real, it counts and it can start to change your experience of life.
Gather Strength From Others
NAMI support groups exist to reassure you that countless other people have faced similar challenges and understand your concerns. Talking about your experiences can help. The idea that you can, or should be able to, “solve” things by yourself is false. Often the people who seem like they know how to do everything are actually frequently asking for help; being willing to accept help is a great life skill. If you’re having trouble keeping track of your sister’s Medicaid documents and you’ve noticed your coworker is well-organized, ask them for tips about managing paperwork.
You may feel you don’t have the time to stay in touch with friends or start new friendships. Focus on the long-term. If you can meet up with a friend once a month, or go to a community event at your local library once every two months, it still helps keep you connected. It also gives you the chance to connect with people on multiple levels. Being a caregiver is an important part of your life, but it’s not the whole story.
fireworks.
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NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
What started as a small group of families gathered around a kitchen table in 1979 has blossomed into the nation's leading voice on mental health. Today, we are an association of more than 500 local affiliates who work in your community to raise awareness and provide support and education that was not previously available to those in need. Click
here
to learn more about
NAMI.
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SB 534 Legislative Update
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We are excited to announce that Senate Bill (SB) 534(Bradford) that is sponsored by Commissioner Ricardo Lara has successfully passed out of the Assembly Insurance Committee unanimously with 12 Ayes on July 10, 2019. SB 534 is currently headed to the Assembly Appropriations Committee following the Legislative Summer Recess on August 14, 2019, and if passed, will move to the Assembly floor for a vote before it reaches the Governor's desk.
THANK YOU to all our stakeholders that submitted a letter of support and for your commitment to our mission and to the success of SB 534.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
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SUPPLIER DIVERSITY SPOTLIGHT
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Decoding the Diverse Supplier Ecosystem: A New Era, A New System
By: Robin Dillard and Ciara Lilly
(Originally published: December 31, 2018 By BEQPride Magazine)
History
Supplier Diversity has its roots in the American Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s. Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a 1961 Executive Order by President John F. Kennedy amended a federal order to take affirmative action into consideration for federal contracting. In 1968, a combination of social, political and economic conditions compelled companies like IBM, General Motors, AT&T and others to launch their Supplier Diversity Programs.
Supplier Diversity
The notion of supplier diversity has evolved since its inception over a half-century ago. What started as an executive order to take affirmative action into consideration for federal government contracting turned into the catalyst for a movement. Today, supplier diversity is a crown jewel of many modern-day corporate procurement functions.
A Supplier Diversity program is a proactive business program which encourages the use of minority-owned, women owned, veteran owned, LGBT-owned, service disabled veteran owned, historically underutilized business and Small Business Administration (SBA)-defined small business concerns as suppliers.
But much has changed as well. Without proper context and insight, the world of supplier diversity can feel elitist, fraught with uncertainty and arguably a waste of time and resources for the average small business owner. There can be a sense of fatigue on the part of advocates and corporate diversity professionals who are balancing return on investment and making a meaningful impact.
To make sure we continue to move forward — even accelerate — toward the long-term and intended outcomes for supplier diversity, we must get clear on what we’re doing, pay attention to what’s happening and collectively move toward an inclusive future by design.
Two truths about supplier diversity: Shared purpose, generative ecosystem
Seeing the diverse supplier system as a living ecosystem first is essential. It can help both business owners and contractors (“corporates”) understand its biology, providing a sense of agency for the former and new lines of sight to new talent, ideas and resources for the latter.
Political, demographic, economic, environmental and social forces have always motivated and/or influenced and shaped how each participant operates within the diverse supplier ecosystem. Over time, participants self-organize, evolve their capabilities and roles and tend to align themselves with the directions set by its leaders or representative governing body. Meetings, forums, committees, events and other activities are all intended to spur business opportunities for the diverse suppliers. This ecosystem has grown from the outset of those early supplier diversity initiatives (e.g., business development councils, the growing interest of the diverse business owner community) and have become increasingly complex.
A Diverse Supplier Ecosystem is a business ecosystem that is the network of organizations — including suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors, government agencies, corporations, nonprofits and so on — spanning across industries involved in Supplier Diversity through both competition and cooperation.
Make no mistake, the steadfast organizing principle for the diverse supplier ecosystem is long-term economic vitality, a shared purpose that requires a generative system of equity, access and growth. “Shared value ecosystems are inherently generative,” says Lynn Reyes, strategist and business value artisan. “Healthy and inclusive ecosystems have exponential power to create net new value for its participants and the system itself.”
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Throughout the diverse supplier ecosystem, the network of suppliers, nonprofits, government agencies and contractors organize to identify potential targets, develop (relationships or capabilities) and engage for business. There are literally millions of small diverse businesses eligible to participate, an untold number of potential business opportunities and year-round events at national, regional and local levels.
To read the full article, visit the original post
here.
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During 2019, Higher Ground Consulting in conjunction with the Business Equality Network, LLC (and pürEpiphany) will be creating a series of articles that will address how to thrive in the diverse supplier ecosystem in anticipation of Inclusive Sourcing 2045. These articles will pay attention to the supplier’s need to navigate the ecosystem quickly, the advocate and buyer community’s need to reach a broader pool of qualified and prepared diverse suppliers and the nonprofit organizations’ ability to grow their national, regional and local membership.
BEQPride Magazine
Business Equality Pride (BEQPride) is the first publication from the BEQ family of national print and digital magazines exclusively addressing the needs of LGBTQ small-to-medium sized businesses, entrepreneurs and professionals.
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GOVERNING BOARD DIVERSITY SPOTLIGHT
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CA Secretary of State Alex Padilla Releases First Report on Corporations with Female Board Members
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California Secretary of State Alex Padilla issued the first report on corporations’ compliance with Senate Bill 826 (2018). This bill requires all publicly-held domestic or foreign (out-of-state) corporations whose principal executive offices are located in California to have at least one female director on their boards by December 31, 2019, either by filling an open seat or by adding a seat. The Secretary of State's office is tasked to review and issue reports regarding the corporations' compliance with the bill’s provisions.
“California is once again leading the nation,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. “Building more representative corporate leadership is an important step in creating an equitable economy. The data we collect will be informative as we support the goals of making a more inclusive California.”
Starting on January 1, 2019, Publicly Traded Disclosure Statements filed with the Secretary of State’s office by publicly traded corporations included a question asking whether the corporation had at least one female board member. The Secretary of State’s office has launched a new webpage -
womenonboards.sos.ca.gov - with reports on the corporations that have indicated compliance with SB 826 and the universe of identified companies that will have to comply with this law. Methodology and additional resources are available as well.
# # #
About Women on Boards
In 2018, Women on Boards (Senate Bill 826) was signed into law to advance equitable gender representation on California corporate boards. California is now leading the way as the first state in the nation to require all publicly-held domestic or foreign corporations whose principal executive offices are located in California to have at least one female director on their boards by December 31, 2019, either by filling an open seat or by adding a seat. One or two more women directors would be required, depending upon the size of the public company's board by December 31, 2021.
Women on Boards is an important step in diversity and inclusion, as well as for the advancement of women. When Women on Boards passed in 2018, one-fourth of California’s publicly-held corporations had no women directors on their boards. The Secretary of State's office is tasked to review and issue reports regarding the corporations' compliance with the bill’s provisions.
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3rd Quarterly Insurance Diversity Task Force Meeting*
*Quarterly Task Force meetings are open to the public
SAVE THE DATE:
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 2019
TIME: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (PST)
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SAVE THE DATE:
8th Annual
Insurance Diversity Summit
San Francisco, CA
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Registration Opens Summer 2019
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Do You Have an Insurance Supplier Diversity Success Story?
We Want to Hear from You!
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Do you have NEW or RENEWED Business Relationship/Networking opportunity that has created opportunities for your business within the Insurance Industry?
Do you have NEW or RENEWED Procurement or Contract Opportunity(ies) within the Insurance Industry?
If you said, "Yes," to any of these questions - We Want to Hear from You!
Take 1-2 minutes to share your success story with us. Each step you take towards securing any insurer business for your company is a measure of your success, and we would love to hear about it! Visit
Diversity Success Story Survey
or contact us directly at
diversity@insurance.ca.gov
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DIVERSITY EVENTS CALENDAR:
August & September 2019
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AUGUST
Hosted by: National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC)
August 13-16, 2019
Tampa, Florida
Hosted by: California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce (CHCC)
August 21-23, 2019
Stockton, CA
Hosted by: Western Regional Minority Supplier Development Council (WRMSDC)
August 23, 2019
San Ramon, CA
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SEPTEMBER
Hosted by: California Asian Chambers of Commerce (CACC)
September 6, 2019
Silicon Valley, CA
Hosted by: African American Board Leadership Institute (AABLI)
September 9, 2019
Los Angeles, CA
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To submit a request to add your Supplier Diversity or Governing Board Diversity-related event, please contact us at:
diversity@insurance.ca.gov.
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# # #
The Insurance Diversity Initiative was established in 2011 to address diversity issues within California's $310 billion insurance industry. Specifically, these efforts are meant to increase procurement from California’s diverse suppliers, as well as to increase diversity amongst insurer governing boards. To accomplish these goals, the Department conducts outreach, creates partnerships, hosts events, and most importantly, administers surveys to collect and publicly disseminate information about the state of diversity in the insurance industry.
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INSURANCE DIVERSITY INITIATIVE
Office of Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara
California Department of Insurance
(916) 492-3623
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