Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At the Hudson Highlands Nature Center (HHNC), our employees, trustees, members, students, and community enable us to achieve our Mission. Our nature-focused and collaborative spirit is enhanced when many different people, perspectives, and backgrounds are aligned toward achieving the HHNC Mission. Through diversity and inclusion efforts, we can ensure our locations are dynamic, supportive of all our employees, and representative of our trustees, members, students, and communities. Diversity and inclusion can be essential drivers of our success.

Definitions

Diversity is the presence of people with a variety of personal characteristics—inherent or acquired—that can be used to differentiate groups and people from one another, such as ethnicity, national heritage, religion, gender and sexual orientation, place of residence, socioeconomic status, family structure, disability, education, or life experience (among others). We believe that each person possesses unique personal, professional, and cultural perspectives, talents and experiences. We recognize, respect, and value these differences. 

Inclusion is intentional behavior and practice that ensures the social and cultural acceptance, equal treatment, equitable access, and representation of different groups. At the HHNC, we want our employees, trustees, members, students, and guests to know and believe they can bring their full, authentic selves to work / class / nature play. We believe that inclusion contributes to broader knowledge and appreciation of our natural world and the dynamic role of all people in its well-being.

Diversity & Inclusion Vision,
Mission, and Focus Areas

D&I Vision: Nature education without bounds.

D&I Mission: To pursue the D&I vision the Trustees and staff will ingrain diversity and inclusion into the Museum’s culture and operations. We cultivate and support a culture of inclusion so that our organizational mission to create responsible caretakers of our environment embraces the broadest possible population.

Focus Areas: To advance the D&I mission, we are investing our resources and energy in four focus areas. In each area we will devise metrics over time to evaluate the impact of our work.

  • Creating Responsible Caretakers of our Environment: HHNC supports the next generation of diverse caretakers of our environment, and we seek diverse representation in our members, donors, and trustees.

  • Work and classroom environments: At the HHNM we create and uphold inclusive, respectful, and safe workplaces, class environments, and premises where all employees, trustees, members, students, and guests can thrive, grow, collaborate, and learn.

  • Representation: We consider diversity as a component of recruitment, retention and promotion for workforce and Board Trustees, to ensure the HHNC staff and leadership further reflects the communities we serve.

  • Community Access: HHNC equitably provides educational opportunities in regional communities and continuously explores ways to enable equitable access to diverse populations; we support initiatives focused on bridging diversity gaps in our primary fields—including nature education and environmental stewardship.

  • Programming & marketing: We evaluate programming and marketing for relevance to and acknowledgment of diverse populations and audiences to ensure our work embodies the ideal that nature is for everyone.