Boston Children's and the Center for Educational Excellence and Innovation (CEEI) are launching a Speaker Self-Identification Campaign, a voluntary initiative aimed at gathering important information about the identity of our speakers. One of the enterprise wide goals at Boston Children's is to "Educate & Empower Diverse Talent", the data collected in this form aims to support this goal. By verifying key aspects of your identity, we hope to foster a more inclusive and diverse environment in line with our mission of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and to educate and empower diverse talent within our organization. This form is completely voluntary, and will not impact your eligibility as a speaker whether or not you complete this form. Additionally, the data provided will not impact your eligibility to speak at a Boston Children's course.

The campaign will ensure confidentiality and align with our values at Boston Children's. The data collected through this campaign will be included in our annual report and this sensitive information is securely stored and is not visible on an individual level. The data from this form will only be accessed by the Center for Education staff working on this initiative.

The key areas we are looking to understand are race, ethnicity, gender and disability status.

Improved Data Means Greater Visibility

It is critically important that this demographic information is accurate and complete so that we can understand our speaker population and assess our significant equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. Without your input to verify this data, we are limited in our understanding of our speakers and learners' value and where we can make improvements.

What Will This Information Be Used For?

The Speaker Self-Identification Campaign by Boston Children's aims to gather important demographic data about our speakers. This data may be used to satisfy legal obligations, and also may be used in the aggregate for purposes aligned with our mission, including tracking enterprise metrics and satisfying grant application obligations. The collected information helps identify areas of strength and opportunity while providing valuable background information for speakers and learners. It ensures consistency in experiences across different identities and promotes a diverse and inclusive environment at Boston Children's.

Data Security and Confidentiality

Protecting data is a priority for our team. All information is confidential and securely maintained in a database with limited access within the Center for Education Team.

We genuinely want to get to know you better! Having accurate information about our speakers is a critical first step on that path of understanding. While we recognize there is more work to do, having good data helps us understand our current state, advocate for meaningful initiatives, and monitor our progress along the way.

If you have any questions about the Speaker Self-Identification Campaign, please contact continuingeducation@childrens.harvard.edu.