Recent sweeping actions by the Trump administration have brought Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training programs and policies into the headlines, with implications for both government and the broader workforce — including nonprofits, demonstrating the need to look towards other models such as the prohuman approach.

The nonprofit sector has long been committed to being a place where people from diverse backgrounds and identities can thrive and contribute.

Nonprofits were early and eager adopters of the language and professional community that grew up around DEI, because of the persistence of negative experiences and injustices that even many of the harshest critics of DEI would admit are real.

But over the past few years, many people — even within the sector — have become disillusioned with common institutionalized approaches that fall under the DEI label.

Ironically and tragically, DEI’s most passionate proponents — and most passionate opponents — are both reacting to the same root cause: Something is broken in how Americans encounter each other across differences.

Repeated Cycles of Overreach and Backlash

The 20th Century saw tremendous progress for America’s pluralism, with advances in equal treatment for women and people racialized as minorities, and unprecedented interreligious harmony.

Yet, as that progress triumphed in law and turned towards culture, it led to repeated cycles of overreach and backlash — think of the “politically correct” conflicts of the 1990s and the “woke” / “anti-woke” dynamics of the past half-decade.

How Can We Get to Someplace Better with the Prohuman Approach?

The answer begins with a black man sitting down with a Klansman in a Maryland bar.

The man is Daryl Davis, whose efforts to build bridges with KKK members — and talking dozens of them into giving up their robes and leaving hate behind — have become legendary. (If you’re unfamiliar, watch Daryl’s TEDx talk and the documentary “Accidental Courtesy.”)

Davis is among the co-founders of a new organization aiming to help America remember how to listen again.

The Prohuman Foundation seeks to break through demonization and division by lifting up the individuality and shared humanity of every person.

In a world of bitter fights between “antiracist” and “anti-woke,” the Prohuman Approach is focused not on either of these “anti” directions, but on the “pro-” that renders both unnecessary.

Read the full article about the prohuman approach by Seth Chalmer at Blue Avocado.