If You Haven't Already...

Dear Reader,

If you haven't already, please sign up to receive updates at www.ohdi.blogspot.com. That's the blog I manage for one of my main activist projects.

There you can see weekly video updates 'showing' the growing support of the online petition that supports this initiative.

Thanks for reading.

Alan L. Bounville

Unexpected Family Time Courtesy of Orlando Health

Dear Reader,

On the flight home the other night from my weekend in Orlando actively engaging supporters and dissenters of the petition that is encouraging Orlando Health to be more culturally competent, I couldn't help but think of the inadvertent outcome of my trip.

I was not planning a trip to Orlando so soon after moving to New York. I was not planning on using the buddy passes my best friend had put aside for me to go spend a day sweating my butt of looking like a freak outside my old job - those passes were supposed to take me to Puerto Rico or Aruba - somewhere away from my school and activist work. Then again, I never planned on working in a city for ten years where the topic of diversity/multiculturalism is so downplayed in importance by many companies and individuals.

As I stared out the plane window and started digesting the past year plus that led to this activity, I breathed a sign of relief that I was heading home - to my new home where discussions about diversity/multiculturalism are vibrant, active and ongoing. I started to appreciate the openness of the dialogue here in New York City and at New York University. It is a great feeling to know I can walk into NYU's Center for Multicultural Education and Programing or into any of my classes and discuss this ongoing work with people who understand exactly why I am doing what I am doing to prod along Orlando Health to a more vibrant future of its own.

But, a thank you of sorts goes out to Orlando Health for not being as inclusive as it needs to be - because had the organization been doing the right thing all along, I would have had no reason to go back to Orlando so soon and therefore, I would not have been able to experience...

• The conversation I had with my nephew about his first months in high school and what his plans are for his future.
• The time I spent with my oldest niece working with her on homework - defining for herself what the Declaration of Independence means.
• Listening to my second youngest niece tell me about how softball is going.
• Jumping in the trampoline with the two youngest nieces and popping them like popcorn.
• Singing with my youngest niece as I drove her to school. (My favorite part of this experience is when we played the humming game and she hummed the melody to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star three times. As it turns out, she knows three different sets of lyrics that use the same melody. To her, each time she was humming the song for me to guess what it was, she was humming a different song all together.)
• The meaningful and funny conversations I had with my sister and brother-in-law.
• Having brunch with my friends - some of whom are team members at Orlando Health.

So, yes thank you Orlando Health for dragging your feet towards the change you will be forced to make as the momentum for the petition and proposal we presented to you gains traction. The silly part of all this is - the longer Orlando Health waits to do the right thing, the more time they will give me with my family and in the end - I won't be the one looking bad for pushing so hard for this billion dollar + a year organization to fall in line with other business leaders in Central Florida. Orlando Health - the longer you wait the more positive memories you give me and the worse you look.

Parting questions (please post your thoughts)...

Why do Central Floridians or anyone traveling to the Orlando area put up with companies like Orlando Health not embracing the version of cultural competence companies like Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, AT&T, IBM, Universal Orlando, etc., etc., etc. embrace?

Why is it multi-market or multi-national companies that do business in Central Florida (like those listed above) are more inclusive than the companies without any out of market controls?

Why is Orlando Health not open to team members forming affinity groups to discuss diversity/multiculturalism and its impact on the mission of Orlando Health?

Thanks for reading.

Alan L. Bounville

PS The video footage from this past weekend is being edited and a recap video to share with others will be available very soon. Also, the next phase of this movement will also be announced upon release of the video. Keep getting signatures on the petition.

A Few Quotes to Keep Me Motivated on a Sleepless Night

Dear Reader,

I've been finishing the final details in preparation for tomorrow's activity I will be doing to encourage Orlando Health to be more culturally competent. I have all my ducks in a row so to speak - support materials printed in case any one wants to ask in depth questions about the difference between what Orlando Health currently promotes as its cultural competence and what really defines cultural competence. I have all my other printed materials in order as well to collect paper petitions and promote the online petition. And of course, I have finished my very visual display that will show all who see me all of the other voices that have come forward thus far in this movement.

But, the focus here this early morning is to share with you a few powerful quotes that have kept me fueled this evening. The quotes come from a fantastic book, Voices of a People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. Enjoy...

"If there is no struggle there is no progress...This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both." - Frederick Douglass (inside front cover past table of contents)

"(T)he plantation owner came, and said, 'Frannie Lou...If you don't go down and withdraw your registration, you will have to leave...because we are not ready for that in Mississippi' And I addressed him and told him and said, 'I didn't try to register you. I tried to register for myself." - Fannie Lou Hamer (p. 24) This was given as part of her testimony in 1964 in regard to her right to register to vote and the apparent oppressive nature of the plantation owner for whom she was a share cropper.

"Whenever injustices have been remedied, wars halted, women and blacks and Native Americans given their due, it has been because "unimportant" people spoke up, organized, protested, and brought democracy to life." (p. 24)

I hope tomorrow (that being Saturday) I am an unimportant person.

Thanks for reading.

Alan L. Bounville

Preparing for this Saturday's Encouragement Activity at Orlando Health

Dear Reader,

Tonight I am printing petitions, slips of paper to promote the link to the online petition, the Human Rights Campaign's Health Care Equality Index, legal documents to have on hand showing anyone who asks that I am well within my first amendment rights, other support materials - all the while ordering my signage and visual display materials in support of Orlando Health becoming more culturally competent. I do this in preparation for a Saturday in my hometown. A Saturday that will matter more to me than many Saturdays have in the past. This Sunday I can say to myself, "I did something yesterday. I don't quite know what, but something."

Like all activities to inspire people to dream for something better, I won't know the outcome of Saturday's activity until it is complete. And then, I still might not know how it fits into this big puzzle. But what it does do is add another piece to the puzzle so eventually the picture will become crystal clear to Orlando Health and all of Central Florida how much needed are the changes promoted in the petition to encourage Orlando Health to become more culturally competent.

I will say this - I have modified (for the better I feel) what I will be doing outside Miracle Miles (an event I managed for 2 1/2 years by the way - helping it grow by 800 runners just last year - I say this not so show how effective I can be but to show how much I love this organization and want them to do the right thing in the areas outlined in the petition - I was dedicated to the Orlando Health mission then - and I stay dedicated to it to this day. Wow, that was a long parenthetical statement) and the Community Block Party this Saturday.

I feel one of three things will take place while I'm out there in front of the thousands of people who will be out at these combined events.

1. No one will care. I will be looked at as some wacko disgruntled ex employee (which I am not as my above parenthetical statement attests).

2. People will not be happy with me and make that known somehow.

3. People will be intrigued by what I am doing, ask questions, realize the present reality of Orlando Health's current policies, see all the other people who have supported this effort so far and jump on board and sign the petition on the spot.

In reality, I would imagine what I will experience will be a combination of the three. But, like the petition itself, what I will be doing on Saturday is an experiment. When one engages in trying to impact change, it can never be known exactly what the right mix is for the desired outcome. Thus, Sunday I will know I did something that mattered, but I may not know how it builds the history of this movement- yet.

But no matter what happens on Saturday - it's all good. It's another piece because...

I assure you, after over a year working towards the vision of a more inclusive Orlando Health - know that Saturday is just as I propose - one more step. I have no intention of giving up after this if this doesn't work. I have no clue how much will need to be done for the vision of the future to become the present reality. I only know that I will persist.

And, I say 'I' because in this moment I am only talking about my experiences in this movement. I am not the defining factor that will cause Orlando Health to finally make the changes it needs to make to be more culturally competent. I am just a person who sees a better way and has worked with a group of people who still work at the organization and are not able to be as bold as I to encourage change.

You though - you are also a person. You may decide you will get behind the existing efforts. You may (or may have already) sign the petition. You may end up out at the events this Saturday with your friends and family and all wear stickers to support the movement that is encouraging Orlando Health to be more culturally competent. You may do something completely different to help reach Orlando Health so they start publicly making change for the better in the area of diversity/multiculturalism.

And as should always be the case, no matter what Orlando Health promotes they are doing in this area now or in the future, I assure you I will - and you should as well - be keeping my eye keenly trained on their activities. The organization should have changed years ago when other business leaders in Central Florida started the journey to become more culturally competent. It is very important that when Orlando Health start this vital work they do so for the right reasons and in the right way. This is not a smoke and mirrors marketing strategy like making sure all advertising has multiple ethnic faces represented. This is about a deeper understanding about what it means to be culturally competent. About how to better recruit and retain a diverse team member base. About how to reduce disparities between ethnic group's health outcomes. About providing equal benefits to all team members.

And it's about a never ending commitment to diversity/multiculturalism to better achieve the mission of Orlando Health which is, "To improve the health and quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve." Which individuals and which communities does Orlando Health serve best at present? This is the question a culturally competent organization should always be asking itself, especially when lives are on the line in its work every hour of every day.

Thanks for reading.

Alan L. Bounville