DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION

At Valley Youth House, we believe diversity and inclusion are key to achieving our mission. We celebrate the diversity of culture, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, and economic status of our team members, our clients, and our partners.

Valley Youth House (VYH) embraces the principles and practices that acknowledge that all people are to be valued and treated with dignity. Our Agency is dedicated to welcoming, respecting, and appreciating the combination of everyone’s individual differences, life experiences, originality, self-expression, distinctive abilities, knowledge, and unique skill that our youth and families invest in our programs, and our employees bring to their work.

At Valley Youth House, we believe diversity and inclusion leads to higher satisfaction and empowerment, brings new ideas that promote creativity and growth, and ensures an environment where everyone’s unique skills and perspectives are valued.

As an agency we commit to using our voice and platform to fight against injustice. While we may not have the solution to change the world, we do have the power, resources, and heart to change ourselves and our community.

With this commitment and urgency in mind, we are taking the following steps to bring about equality, civility and justice for all:

Listen with our Hearts – Valley Youth House will provide opportunities for youth, families and staff to openly discuss how the issues of racism and discrimination have impacted them personally. By providing Safe Spaces for people to share, we will build understanding and compassion for each other as a foundation for our continued work.

Plan with our Heads – Valley Youth House staff will work with youth and community leaders to develop an annual strategy to address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion both within our agency as well as in our local communities. We will share these plans publicly and hold ourselves accountable to improve the climate and reality within our agency and our respective communities.

Speak Up with our Voices – We are committed to making Valley Youth House an actively anti-racist organization. This means we will actively speak out and address acts of racism, racist comments, and racist practices, policies and procedures. We know that racism and injustice disproportionately impacts many of the youth that we serve, and we will advocate for them with our public officials and the general public.

RECENT STEPS TOWARDS GOALS:

Established 5 year DEI Strategic Plan
Published monthly newsletter, The Catalyst, for VYH staff and community
Created 5 agency-wide Affinity Groups
Instituted a Hiring & Promotion Policy
Developed an Anti-Racist Policy
Launched a pipeline for emerging leaders from historically under-represented groups called Leadership Valley Youth House
Participated in our 2nd Annual George Floyd Memorial Walk
Established a Community Garden at our Lehigh Valley office
Hosted the B. Braun Black History Connection event
Increased program funding from the Philadelphia Foundation

DEI Affinity Groups: Alphabet Housemates, BIPOC – Black Indigenous People of Color, LV Star, White People Confronting Racism, and York County Social Justice Committee

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION COMMITTEE

CHAIR

Richard Liu, MPH
Associate Director, Global Marketing, Virology
Merck & Co.
pronouns: he/him/his

COMMITTEE

Kevin Greene
Chief Operations Officer
Faces International

Dr. G. Christopher Hunt, Ed.D.
Vice President and Dean for Equity & Inclusion
Moravian University

Natasha Ljujic, MBA
HR Business Partner
Air Products

Marci Martinez-Howey
Associate Vice President, DEI
United Way of Greater Lehigh Valley

Heather Morris
Director, Contracts Management & Supplier Diversity
Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW)

Dr. Erica Patterson, DM
Director, Contracts Management & Supplier Diversity
Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW)

Forrest Patterson
Managing Director, Corporate Client Banking
JP Morgan

Jameel Rush, PHR, SHRM-CP
Director, Inclusion Programs
Google

Alma Scott-Buczak, SHRM-SCP SPHR
Associate Vice President, Human Resources
Lafayette College

STAFF ADVISOR

Shawn Mack
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer
Valley Youth House

smack@valleyyouthhouse.org

STAFF ON COMMITTEE

Tom Harrington
President & Executive Director
Valley Youth House

Kylin Camburn
Case Manager, Project Silk LV
Valley Youth House

Lawren Konschnik
Associate Director of Human Resources
Valley Youth House

RECENT NEWS

VYH Hosts 3rd Annual George Floyd Memorial Walk

Valley Youth House’s LVSTAR (Lehigh Valley Staff and Teens Against Racism) hosted the 3rd Annual George Floyd Memorial Walk at the Rose Garden Pavilions in Allentown. We were joined by guest speaker, VYH Board of Governors member, Dr. Christopher Hunt, Vice President and Dean for Equity and Inclusion at Moravian College, and shared 8 minutes […]

Resource Guide: 2023 DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY

Today our nation commemorates the 94th Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This holiday celebrates this civil rights leader’s life and legacy, as he worked tirelessly to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world. Many know that Mrs. Coretta Scott King envisioned this holiday to be designated as a day of service to […]

Black History Month 2022 at VYH

As our nation celebrates Black History Month, our DEI Committee has put together a 2022 Black History Month Commemorative Guide for all to utilize. In this guide, you will find historical facts, photos and videos that highlight the contributions of African Americans to our society. We hope that this serves as a guide to help […]

VYH Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Observance 2022

On Monday, January 17, 2021 our nation will commemorate the 93rd Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This holiday celebrates this civil rights leader’s life and legacy, as he worked tirelessly to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world. As our nation and local communities continue to struggle with a global pandemic, racial injustices, and […]