Current Projects

Community Stakeholder Meetings: The Diversity Council has identified as one of its priorities the need to establish processes that allow for stakeholders, both individual citizens and organized groups, to provide public input to the Council. The Stakeholder Committee will recommend the location, format, and frequency of public meetings to gather input. The Diversity Council members assigned to this committee are Carol Twedt, Clara Jacob, and Betty Oldenkamp.

The Conference Committee: Because education is one of the priorities of the Diversity Council, it was decided that a Conference should be held, effectively replacing the earlier Race Concerns Task Force Diversity Fair and the earlier education and business focused DiverseCity conference. The Conference Committee includes a large number of representatives from businesses and organizations within the community, and is co-chaired by Clara Jacob, Tracy Vik of the Sioux Falls School District, and Debi Folkerts of Citi. Subcommittees include Speakers/Content; Sponsors; Vendors/Booths; Logistics/Registration; PR/Marketing; and Veterans’ Day Observance. The 2008 Diversity Conference will be held November 11 at the Washington Pavilion; the theme is “Today is Tomorrow: Creating an Inclusive Community.”

Business Development Committee: This committee is working on strategies for supporting minority-owned businesses in all phases of development. This is an effort being led by our Diversity Council members from the Chamber of Commerce, Multicultural Center, Minnehaha County and the City of Sioux Falls. They are also excited to be working with partners from the Small Business Administration and hope to roll out some initiatives soon.