NCIHC Retains BCT Partners to Guide DEI Efforts

WASHINGTON - March 30, 2022 - PRLog -- The National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC) has retained BCT Partners to assist in creating a strategic diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan. According to Rosanna Balistreri, President of the Board of NCIHC, "It is important that as NCIHC grows, we remain current with policies and procedures that are inclusive and equitable, to ensure that we promote diversity among our leadership and membership."

BCT Partners is a national consulting firm that works with government agencies, corporations, nonprofits, and foundations to provide insights about diverse people that lead to equity.  BCT has been recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best Management Consulting Firms of 2021, Manage HR Magazine as one of the Top 10 Diversity and Inclusion Consulting/Service Companies and by the Black Enterprise BE100 list as one of the nation's largest African American-owned businesses.

BCT Partners will conduct an organization-wide review of current DEI policies and practices at NCIHC, culminating in a report highlighting NCIHC DEI strengths and challenges, with recommendations for improvement that are consistent with emerging national best practices. The Board will then implement a DEI Action Plan to reduce unconscious bias and adopt inclusive leadership.

NCIHC members will have several opportunities to participate in the assessment. A nation-wide survey of members will be conducted to examine their DEI priorities for organizational action. Members will also have an opportunity to share their views directly with a BCT consultant in a Language Access Café listening session during the upcoming Annual Membership Meeting April 29^th and 30^th.

BCT Senior Director for Health Equity David Hunt will be the Project Manager for the assessment. Mr. Hunt is a former civil rights attorney with over 25 years of DEI consulting and training experience. He is nationally known for his work on racial and ethnic disparities, cultural competence in health care, and global medicine. The American Hospital Association selected Hunt to lead the #123forEquity Program, a national effort to reduce racial and ethnic disparities by tying patient race, ethnicity and language data to patient outcomes. Mr. Hunt is also an expert on legal requirements for language access in healthcare. He has delivered keynote addresses on this topic for both the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association, published articles in leading medical journals and textbooks, and regularly conducts language access audits for leading hospital systems.

The National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (https://www.ncihc.org/) is a multidisciplinary organization whose mission is to promote and enhance language access in health care in the United States. The Council pursues its mission with a commitment to:

• Social justice
• Respect for and acceptance of all peoples, including small language communities, native peoples, and cultural communities whose tradition is oral
• The empowerment of limited-English-proficient communities