Summer may be over but MLQ’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) team is still hard at work to ensure progress continues into the new season.
In July, we worked with our partner, USQ, to identify seven pillars for our collective DEI work. These pillars are based off of the main points and key takeaways from the MLQ and USQ town halls. They help guide and define the focus areas for action items being taken by both leagues. As a reminder, the pillars are equity, inclusion, leadership, learning opportunities, recruitment/retention, spotlight and safety. For more information on each, check out our July update.
Now let’s get to our August update.
PEOPLE OPERATIONS AND DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION DEPARTMENTS
Our people operations team hired an Assistant DEI Director: Ema Shiroma-Chao. She previously served as the gameplay director for Quidditch Canada from 2015 to 2017.
“Ema brings a lot of experience and passion to this position. During the hiring process I was very impressed with her previous DEI-related experience and some of the visions she has for MLQ in the future,” said People Operations Director Jamie Lafrance. “I believe Ema is the correct person to help lead the DEI team to accomplish their goals and ensure MLQ is as inclusive as possible.”
We are currently seeking a DEI director to join Shiroma-Chao and the rest of our DEI team. If you or someone you know would be a good fit, head over to our volunteer page to read up on this and other roles.
The MLQ Equity and Culture Audit is still underway. The audit consists of three parts: a media and policy scan, a survey and in-depth interviews. As of Aug. 27, both the media scan and survey have been completed and analyzed. Through the first half of September, interviews will be scheduled with stakeholders involved with MLQ at various levels. A scan of MLQ’s existing policies is currently being completed. At the end of September, a report will be made available to the MLQ directors, with concrete recommendations to pursue equity, diversity and inclusion work and initiatives in a sustainable way.
In regards to policies, MLQ has completed the internal draft of the MLQ BIPOC Clause—similar to the preexisting Coleman Clause and in a similar vein to that of the NFL’s Rooney Rule—that will apply to each MLQ franchise beginning in 2021. We will be releasing the clause after Lafrance, our People Operations Director, has reviewed it internally with each franchise. Our People Operations team is also working toward the creation of a “Progressive Correction Policy.” At times, people may require extra support or guidance and may inadvertently stray from our policies and procedures. The purpose of this policy is to provide education during the disciplinary process.
New to the docket: MLQ will develop a mentorship program as one of our fall projects.
Though MLQ is not a year-round league, there is no reason our programming needs to stop when fall hits. MLQ has a range of athletes and volunteers and many are involved in the USQ season on some level. We plan to connect established leaders and new innovators in the sport. Our hope is that this mentorship program will connect players, officials and volunteers of varying experience levels. Outside of creating collaboration between community members to share new ideas and perspectives, our aim is for these mentors and mentees to create meaningful relationships in their lives and lasting friendships off the pitch.
Each month our DEI team selects an organization to highlight that you can give time or money to in order to increase DEI within our larger society. This month’s organization is PeduL, the one-stop shop for scholarships.
PeduL was launched in 2016 by former quidditch athlete Chisa Egbelu and fellow Rutgers University grad Kayla Jackson. PeduL’s mission is to ensure that all students have equal access to academic and professional opportunities.
“It’s our thesis that people, including but not limited to, corporations and organizations, believe investing resources into society, especially our youth, will create a more sustainable and prosperous world. So, are you willing to help us prove it?” reads their website.
Want to help PeduL share their mission? Have a company with the ability to create a scholarship fund? Check out PeduL.com to learn more.
FINANCE DEPARTMENT
The MLQ Athlete Advancement Program’s BIPOC Grant currently has $1,000 committed thanks to four donors. We set an aggressive goal of $3,000 committed by Sept. 1. We have pushed out this timeline to Oct. 1.
The finances necessary to engage in a quidditch season has been an active barrier to players in the sport. This barrier is one that, in addition to the likes of legitimacy and perspective of the sport, have contributed to the lack of racial diversity across the league. This grant is meant to lessen the barrier by opening the door for more players to find their place in quidditch. It is meant to make quidditch a possibility for more BIPOC athletes by lessening the financial impact on their lives.
If you would like to help fund the MAAP BIPOC Grant, you can fill out this form.
GAMEPLAY AND EVENTS DEPARTMENTS
MLQ recently participated in the Sports ETA Symposium, an annual meeting of the Sports Events & Tourism Association (Sports ETA). Throughout August, our director team met with sports destinations to discuss bidding opportunities for future MLQ events. Our team made a pointed effort to remind interested parties that we are looking for locations that are welcoming to all genders, races and sexualities that make up the MLQ community.
“Over the course of three weeks, we met with over 40 destinations across the country. The locations we talked with were excited about the possibility of bringing a mixed-gender sport to their city and were passionate about ensuring the safety and well being of the entire MLQ community,” said MLQ Events Director Emily Hickmott. “Cities were especially interested in MLQ’s work to develop female and non-binary athletes.”
Also on the events front: MLQ has removed security as a possible in-kind add-on to bids. While security guards have by no means been a consistent staple at MLQ events, it’s clear the presence of such may have an adverse effect on the experience for many individuals and, ultimately, these parties are unnecessary.
We encourage other tournament directors to reconsider their stance on the matter and the community, as a whole, to think “do I need to call the police?” before doing so. Many altercations or occurrences that take place at quidditch events can be solved without the involvement of police or security guards. This handy guide can help you–as a tournament director or just someone’s neighbor–determine if what’s happening warrants a phone call to the police.
To continue developing an atmosphere for top-level quidditch competition across the U.S. and Canada, MLQ has been working on the creation of an anti-bias module for all officials. Spearheaded by DEI Lead Strategist Christian Barnes, with the support of Gameplay Project Manager Josh Mansfield and DEI Strategist Tawfik Abbas, MLQ’s anti-bias module for officials will be the next step in fostering a community of high-ranking officials for all competitions. The module–using feedback from players, coaches, managers and officials throughout the sport–will utilize in-game situations to establish a foundation for rooting out implicit and explicit bias that has been exhibited in the sport to date.
MLQ will use the anti-bias module for officials as a test module for the development of future anti-bias trainings for franchise volunteers, general volunteers and staff.
MARKETING AND DIGITAL MEDIA DEPARTMENT
We have completed our DEI section of the website. You can check it out here. In addition to a DEI landing page where interested parties can learn more about what DEI efforts have taken place and are currently happening in MLQ, we have also created a public resource library. This library includes articles, podcasts, toolkits and videos anyone can use to enhance their organization’s DEI or improve themselves. Topics include pronouns 101, guides to allyship, barriers to entry in sports and so much more. The page will continue to take shape over the month of September, including the addition of MLQ volunteer demographic information.
The MLQ DEI and social teams have identified commemorative days and months to highlight moving forward. These teams are currently working to determine how to approach each one in an informative and meaningful way.
The Black quidditch athlete highlight reel we’ve mentioned previously is also complete. We will be releasing it in September along with our first DEI blog post on intersectionality in our sport. DEI blog posts will become more frequent on our website.
Lastly, the MLQ marketing team and Boston leadership have been working through the brand update for the Boston franchise. Two options were presented via a marketing research survey but did not result in the feedback necessary to move forward with either at this time. The MLQ Marketing Department will continue to workshop a new brand for the Boston franchise. Due to the importance of this new brand, we are not operating on a fixed timeline.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
MLQ, as an organization, wants to foster a welcoming community within quidditch as well as society as a whole.
Friday marked the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington. We posted on our social, but for those that missed it. It’s not too late to complete all but one of our action items:
Today is the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington.
The brainchild of labor leader A. Phillip Randolph and Executive Secretary of the NAACP Roy Wilkins, the March on Washington grew into a collaboration between major civil rights groups and icons of the day. On Aug. 28, 1963, roughly a quarter-million people participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom gathering near the Lincoln Memorial. More than 3,000 members of the press covered this historic march in which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.
Today, on the anniversary of the March on Washington, we want to encourage our community to take action:
📝 Sign the Jacob Blake petition: change.org/p/tony-evers-charge-the-cops-who-shot-jacob-blake
🚶Attend the 2020 Virtual March: t.co/nt3MKvBxQY (CLOSED)
🗣Remember the speech: naacp.org/i-have-a-dream-speech-full-march-on-washington/
🗳️Register to vote: whenweallvote.org/commitmentmarch/
🧑💼Become a poll worker: powerthepolls.org/NAACP
🙋♂️Volunteer to help mobilize Black voters: blackvoiceschangelives.org/
Source: NAACP
We would also like to use this space this month to turn your attention toward World Rugby. In July, World Rugby announced it is considering an outright ban on trans women athletes, based on incomplete and misleading data on safety concerns. You can find out more information in this article from The Guardian.
World Rugby is collecting feedback until tonight and then voting on a revised policy will take place in November. This website has outlined steps you can take to help stop this ban, including but not limited to signing the petition, valuing trans stories, posting the hashtag and signing an open letter.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Feel free to contact our DEI team at [email protected]. If you’d like to get involved in MLQ’s DEI department, check out our openings.