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DEAI Guidelines for Vendors and Suppliers
Vendors are an integral part of our organization and an extension of the museum. To strengthen and inform the collaboration with our vendors, we’ve created a set of DEAI guidelines and a vendor code of conduct for our current and potential vendors. Adherence to these guidelines will influence future vendor selection.
Our Pledge to the Community
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis values all people and commits to creating a long-term Diverse, Equitable, Accessible and Inclusive (DEAI) culture to help build the community we aspire to live in. We are also committed to serving as a safe, welcoming, and engaging community resource, to working for justice and human rights, and doing our part to improve DEAI within our community, including making a commitment to educate children and families about anti-racism. The museum is proud of the progress we have made.
However, we know that we must do more. We are just getting started. We know we are an imperfect institution, but the entire museum family, from our staff and volunteers to our board of trustees, is fully dedicated to continuing this work. We will keep you informed of our progress via updates to this page. Ultimately the museum will utilize this site to provide additional information about our DEAI journey.
Our Efforts to Fulfill the Pledge
The museum has undergone intensive work since 2020. Under the guidance of an outside DEAI consultant, the museum launched a DEAI Task Force which has dedicated more than 500 hours to conducting research, surveying staff, and drafting recommendations for the museum. In 2020, we signed onto the Indy Racial Equity Pledge, and continue to pledge our commitment to:
Create a more racially diverse workplace and foster a culture that values, respects, and celebrates the differences of each individual.
Increase spending with Black-, women-, and minority-owned businesses.
Provide extraordinary family learning experiences that educate our community about systemic racism.
Institutionalize changes so that DEAI becomes built into the fabric of how we operate and how we view all of the work we do.
Create a more racially diverse workplace and foster a culture that values, respects, and celebrates the differences of each individual.
The museum implemented an Equitable Hiring Tool in our recruiting and hiring process, providing a framework for hiring managers to help them source, recruit, and hire more diverse talent. In addition, the museum increased its base hourly rate to $15/hour, began a paid internship program, and started including wages on all job postings for more transparency. The Task Force conducted a DEAI culture survey for staff focused on gaining insight into whether staff feel they belong and are included, respected, understood and valued at the museum, and understanding staff thoughts about the museum’s DEAI work.
Increase spending with Black-, women-, and minority-owned businesses.
The museum continues to identify ways to engage and work with minority and women-owned businesses on projects of all sizes via our bidding and procurement process. While these initiatives are newer in their implementation, we are already seeing an increased level of engagement and spend, as well as indications that we are working with companies who share in our vision of success as it relates to DEAI.
Provide extraordinary family learning experiences that educate our community about systemic racism.
The Children’s Museum has a demonstrated history of not shying away from tough topics such as race, ethnicity, sexual identity, and disability. As an international leader in the field of intergenerational learning and education, the museum works hard to acknowledge and respect challenges in under-served and under-represented communities and to help every family and every voice be heard. New exhibits in the past year have included:
- Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for girls education, added as the fourth child in The Power of Children® exhibit.
- Stories from Our Community: The Art of Protest about the August 2020 creation, and subsequent vandalism, of a piece of public art by 18 local Black artists in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
- Baseball Boundary Breakers featuring stories of athletes who faced adversity and discrimination.
- The upcoming Emmett Till and Mamie-Till Mobley: Let The World See traveling exhibit sharing the story of Emmett Till’s life and murder, and the brave actions of his mother to let the world see what had been done to her son.
Institutionalize changes so that DEAI becomes built into the fabric of how we operate and how we view all of the work we do.
Over the past year, the DEAI Task Force conducted best practice research, met with staff members at all levels across the organization, hosted focus groups, and conducted surveys to develop recommendations for action steps the museum could take to create a more diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive museum. The recommendations, along with information ascertained through an audit process conducted by our DEAI consultant and results from the staff survey, have been compiled and are being aligned with our strategic plan to ensure that DEAI work is prioritized in all that we do.
