Flynnsights // March 23, 2022

The First Few Steps of a Long Journey Ahead

Working to improve DEI at Flynn

Kelly Goforth

Director of Finance & HR

In late 2020, the Rochester Advertising Federation (RAF) launched their Pledge for Change initiative aimed at improving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our local ad community.

Now the RAF is asking for a “progress report” for the past year from Flynn and all the other companies that signed the pledge. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to reflect on where we were, the changes we’ve made, and the plans we have moving forward. Flynn had begun strengthening our DEI efforts even before we signed the pledge, including creating a DEI team. However, events across America, as well as the RAF’s pledge, led us to double down on our commitment, and redouble our effort to turn that commitment into action, including:

Adding a more specific commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion into our business strategy
Implementing mandatory annual DEI training, including a workshop facilitated by 540WMain, a local antiracist education nonprofit
Reviewing our job descriptions and hiring process to ensure equitable access
Changing our holiday policy to allow employees to take additional days off if they celebrate holidays Flynn doesn’t close for
Choosing books for our agency book club written by diverse authors and featuring inclusion and racism topics

The initiative that we’re most excited about is a new internship program we’re launching in partnership with a local inner-city high school.

This spring, we’ll be welcoming six students who are a part of a Digital Media Arts & Communication program. They’ll be on-site at Flynn two afternoons a week for seven weeks. While part of this internship will be a video component that satisfies a curriculum requirement, the students will work with every Flynn department to help provide marketing support for a local not-for-profit.

At Flynn, we believe creating a more diverse agency isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also the right way to help us reach our full potential.

We also know that we have work to do when it comes to diversity. But we’re committed to getting there. Because the greater the variety of people, backgrounds, and life experiences we can draw on, the smarter our thinking. The stronger our ideas. And the more dynamic a place this is to work.

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