On Monday, July 20, the NACD Board of Directors conducted a virtual board meeting in place of the 2020 Summer Conservation Forum and Tour, which was to be held this week in Bismarck, N.D., but was moved to a virtual format given the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The organization’s governing body voted to amend the national association's bylaws to permit virtual board meetings in times of state or federal emergencies and conducted the business meeting over Zoom.
During the meeting, the NACD Board of Directors took up, voted on and approved a formal statement on diversity, equity and inclusion:
“The NACD Board of Directors formally denounces racism and discrimination in any form. We are committing to gain greater awareness and understanding of issues important to diverse communities, and we support actions to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in conservation. We are taking additional steps to encourage greater diversity in our national board, calling for the formation of a task force to examine DEI in our internal governance; and we call on conservation districts and state associations to examine their own programs, policies and procedures related to diversity, equity and inclusion as well, in order to make conservation delivery accessible and available for all Americans.
We also call on conservation districts to actively engage all members of their local communities to understand conservation issues important to diverse populations, to encourage greater diversity in local elections and to encourage even greater transparency and open dialogue in conservation district programs. NACD recognizes that if we do not fully embrace diversity, equity and inclusion in each and every local conservation district, then we cannot possibly be a diverse organization at the national level.
At our core, we are a grassroots organization representing every community in the United States – and we understand that expanding our commitment to DEI takes this same fundamental approach – a voice that starts in the thousands of local communities that we serve and grows emphatically, energetically and compassionately into a cohesive national transformation that takes root across the country. NACD is fully committed in its efforts of diversity, equity, and inclusivity to work with clients, conservation districts, partners, and others to achieve our fundamental goal of transforming how we reach and work with communities across the country.”
The statement is publicly available on NACD’s website. Yesterday’s meeting was the Board of Directors’ first meeting since the 2020 NACD Annual Meeting in February and marks the first time board members have met virtually. The Board of Directors is next scheduled to meet in February 2021.