Wake Up Vet Med

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Recommendations for the AVMA

• Self-Assessment – Understanding where the organization currently stands in relation to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Perform preliminary internal audit of the association as a whole, by using AAVMC’s Intentional Organization Diversity & Inclusion Efforts Assessment Tool
  • Perform preliminary assessment of the association’s event planning protocol by using AAVMC’s Conference/Symposia Diversity & Inclusion Assessment Tool
• Accessibility – Ensure equitable process for all members, including BIPOC members, to join and grow within AVMA Leadership.
  • Reduce the duration of terms to allow more flexibility for junior members to rise up the ranks.  Current term lengths create barriers to participation as today’s veterinarians are more likely to relocate and less likely to become practice owners. .
    • Reduce the duration of committee and council terms from three (3) years to two (2) years.
    • Reduce the Delegates and Alternate Delegates term from four (4) years to two (2) years.
    • Amend all positions which require a minimum of four (4) consecutive years as delegate for qualification, to two (2) years.
    • Qualifications to serve on the Board of Directors as District Director shall be available to individuals who have been voting members for at least five (5), instead of the current seven (7) consecutive years requirement.
    • Reduce the qualifications for President, President-Elect, and Vice President from at least ten (10) consecutive years, to a minimum of five (5) consecutive years.
  • Continue to provide remote participation option for the majority of committee and board member meetings.
  • Audit and report current individual state veterinary medical associations (VMAs) and allied organization requirements for officer or state delegate nominations and appointments.
  • Amend current requirements for establishing Constituent Allied Veterinary Organizations within the AVMA House of Delegates to provide representation by BIPOC-focused organizations.
  • Review and revise, where necessary, current leadership development opportunities and programs at the local and national level to ensure they uphold each program’s original intended goals.
    • Ensure that recruitment and selection processes are holistic.
    • Require implicit bias training for those involved in selecting program participants.
  • Widely promote all AVMA staff employment and volunteer leadership opportunities including nomination periods.

• Accountability and Transparency – Implement processes for which AVMA will be held accountable in regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
  • Provide updates on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in every Annual Report, and make information publicly available on the AVMA website.
  • Create and implement a system for reporting and tracking incidents of discrimination and harassment in the veterinary profession for veterinarians, staff, clients, and students.
    • Publish data periodically (preferably in the AVMA Annual Report) to identify areas of improvement.
    • Forward reports to the appropriate licensing board or institution for follow up.
  • Collect and regularly publish data regarding race and ethnicity of all veterinary organizations, including AVMA staff and volunteers.
  • Provide updated public access to the AVMA volunteer roster with their basic contact information and recent photograph.
  • Establish a regular (minimum annually) meeting between AVMA senior staff leadership, AVMA volunteer leadership and diversity, equity, and inclusion affinity organizational leadership to discuss progress made and challenges faced with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the veterinary profession. Ideally, one meeting should coincide with AVMA convention.
• Expanding Membership – Identify opportunities to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive membership.
  • Require the “gender” and “ethnicity” questions for all AVMA members while maintaining the “prefer not to answer” option.
    • Ensure that “gender” and “ethnicity” options are inclusive.
  • Use membership data to actively recruit and encourage BIPOC veterinarians and affiliates to join and actively participate in the organization.

• Organizational Commitment – Ensure that AVMA and its leadership is culturally competent and acting in the best interests of all of its members.
  • Ensure that all newly elected, appointed, and hired AVMA volunteers and staff align with AVMA’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and recognize that by joining the organization they are also committing to these values.
    • Current AVMA volunteers and staff should also commit to these values.
  • Thoroughly vet existing and potential AVMA sponsors and collaborators to confirm their values and actions relative to diversity, equity, and inclusion align with the Association.
    • Consider investing in new sponsors who uphold these values.
  • Revise the AVMA mission as defined in Article 1, Section 2 of the Bylaws to reflect a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion for its members.
  • Require, at minimum, annual diversity, equity, and inclusion training for new and continuing AVMA staff and volunteers.
• Investment – Provide financial and structural commitments from the AVMA to improve the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion in veterinary medicine.
  • Establish a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council with appropriate funding and staffing for lasting success.
  • Recruit and hire a Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion solely responsible for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The position should be filled by a qualified specialist with an educational background in diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership. This position should report directly to the AVMA Chief Executive Officer, and all reports of initiatives by the position shall be made available to the Board of Directors.

    • Director of Wellbeing, Inclusion and Diversity Initiatives position shall, as a result, be redesignated as Director of Wellbeing.

  • Provide dedicated funds for representatives of veterinary associations focused on race, ethnicity and culture to actively participate in AVMA’s Veterinary Leadership Conference and other AVMA-sponsored events and programming.
  • Employ evidence-based practices in creating AVMA events (ie., continuing education) that are diverse and inclusive in content and presenters.
  • Develop and implement diversity, equity, and inclusion guidelines in the Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities (CVTEA) Accreditation Policy and Procedures.
  • Invest in annual training of  Council on Education (COE) and CVTEA site visitors, ensuring that diversity, equity, and inclusion content such as unconscious bias, is included.
    • Training should also assist site visitors in identifying deficiencies in diversity, equity, and inclusion with respect to accreditation standards.
  • Research and publish disparities in salary, practice ownership, career tracts, faculty positions, and similar features of the veterinary profession as it pertains to race, ethnicity, and other intersectionalities.  Utilize the data to guide AVMA diversity, equity, and inclusion programming and initiatives.
  • Fund additional research to advance matters involving race and ethnicity within the veterinary profession, including barriers to care in underserved communities of color, racial/ethnic disparities in public health, barriers to entry into the profession, etc.
• Outreach and Engagement – Advance lasting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives between veterinary partners at the AVMA, state VMAs, constituent allied veterinary organizations, academic institutions, veterinary practices and associates (all stakeholders).
  • Discontinue the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion as a subset of Wellbeing.
    • Ex: Advertise “Diversity and Inclusion in Veterinary Medicine” as a separate page under “Resources and Tools”, and not under the “Wellbeing” tab.
  • Develop and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion tools and resources for practice management as in depth as the resources currently available for Wellbeing in the workplace.
  • Provide alternative language options on the AVMA website for non-English speakers, beginning with Spanish.
  • Review scholarship requirements to make them more accessible to students with significant financial needs.
  • Design recruitment programs targeting Historically Black Colleges and Universities. (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs).
  • Create, fund and implement outreach mentorship programs aimed at opening the pipeline for individuals underrepresented in veterinary medicine (URVMs).
  • Provide dedicated resources, including funding, to support veterinarians and organizations seeking to provide mentorship and outreach to URVMs.

Actionables for Everyone

What can you do?

In furthering the goals of racial justice and anti-racism, the “Wake Up, Vet Med” initiative drafted a list of actionables for the AVMA on how to support DEI in the veterinary field. These actionables – broadly grouped into seven interconnected categories – are a good starting point for any organization or individual interested in taking concrete action on DEI issues:

1. Self-Assessment – Understand where you and/or your organization currently stands in relation to DEI. The AAVMC has a tool for assessing intentional organizational diversity and inclusion. On an individual level, consider looking at your own implicit biases with the Harvard Project Implicit bias tests.
2. Accessibility –  Ensure equitable processes for all members, including BIPOC members, to join and grow within your organization and your organization’s leadership. Consider what barriers there may be for people in your organization to be heard or to advance into leadership positions. How can you remove or lower those barriers?
3. Accountability and Transparency – Implement processes for which you and/or your organization will be held accountable in regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. What commitment will you or your organization make and how will you ensure you are keeping that commitment?
4. Expanding Membership – Identify opportunities to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive membership. Start by looking at the level of diversity your organization has and how you can expand upon it. For individuals, look at the voices in your life and that you consume in your media and entertainment. Are you including the voices of those from different racial and ethnic groups?
5. Organizational Commitment – Ensure that you, your organization and its leadership are committed, culturally competent, and acting in the best interests of all of its members. Organizations must ensure that all areas, from leadership to membership, learn about and incorporate DEI. DEI committees can lead, but they shouldn’t be the only group doing the work. Cultural competence should be promoted at all levels as it improves inter-group communication and can help decrease disparities and barriers BIPOC face. Individually, this means incorporating DEI into your life, not just in your workplace. Consider what media you consume, which voices you amplify, where you do business, etc.
6. Investment – Provide financial and structural commitments to improve the state of DEI. Donate your time and/or money to organizations that support DEI. Make sure your organization is dedicating time and resources to DEI.
7. Outreach and Engagement – Advance lasting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This can be achieved through multiple means, including mentorship, providing or amplifying opportunities, and reaching out to underrepresented groups. These are often long term, one-on-one endeavors that require commitment from a multitude of people.