Powered by employees and empowered by RAND, ERGs offer welcoming and supportive spaces to promote connection, growth, and understanding.
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Our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are employee-led communities open to all staff that help make RAND an even better place to work by
BELIEVE seeks to create a safe and open space for colleagues who identify as Black, African American, and others from across the African Diaspora, to connect, communicate, celebrate, support, and develop. Our efforts are aimed at fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace, recruiting and retaining Black employees, and countering racial disparities and inequities through education and awareness.
Dionne Barnes-Proby
Senior Social Policy Researcher / Director, Summer Associate Program / Faculty, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Fawna Joi Smith
Administrative Assistant
DEVO aims to support and empower colleagues with disabilities and differing abilities, as well as caregivers and allies. We promote awareness and understanding of issues, support inclusion through community and accessibility, and advocate for opportunities to bring a disability lens to RAND's research and outreach.
Chandra Garber
Senior Communications Analyst
Amber Lapp
Administrative Assistant
EACH focuses on fostering connection, professional development, and community engagement among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and all RAND staff, while raising awareness of the immigrant experience and providing cultural insights to the greater RAND community.
Jocelyn Maciol
Director of Operations, Arroyo Center
Lance Tan
Research Quality Assurance Administrator
Latinx y Más fosters workplace connections, provides social support, and increases cultural awareness of Latinx culture and norms at RAND while promoting inclusiveness of Latinx staff in all of RAND’s research divisions, departments, and the Pardee RAND Graduate School.
Gabriela Castro
Policy Analyst
Lilian Perez
Associate Policy Researcher
LGBTQ+ ERG seeks to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning+) identities at RAND and provide a space for the community to thrive—increasing morale and retention and providing a place to attract LGBTQ+ talent into the community and broaden further inclusion and understanding.
Christopher Joseph Doss
Policy Researcher
Megan Schuler
Policy Researcher
Have a question about Employee Resource Groups at RAND?
Email ergs@rand.org.
Guest speakers offer presentations and dialogue on topics related to DEI. Ariella Barker, an attorney and policy adviser, explained the impacts of disability and how people can be more respectful and inclusive of people with disabilities. Author Elijah Anderson discussed his 2022 book, Black in White Space: The Enduring Impact of Color in Everyday Life. Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, shared her approaches for advancing equity amidst the disproportionate toll COVID-19 continues to have on communities of color.
Staff-led tributes honor and uplift our diversity. We celebrate Black History Month, Women's History Month, AAPI Heritage Month, Ramadan, Mental Health Awareness Month, National Immigrant Heritage Month, Pride Month, Juneteenth, Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Indigenous People's Day, Día de los Muertos, Veterans Day, and more.
ERGs host conversations that allow us to learn about each other's lived experiences and unique perspectives. RAND staff and board members have shared their varied experiences as refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Cambodia; what it was like growing up as a child of deaf adults; what it's like to work as a civil rights attorney in cases involving legal protections for LGBTQ+ populations; and what it means to be Arab American today.
ERG-sponsored events provide opportunities to learn about colleagues' passions and traditions. Past events included building a community ofrenda/altar to honor the departed on Día de los Muertos; discussing customs from the African continent and resources participants could use to learn about their ancestry; and a Smithsonian docent's Lunar New Year tour of works of art across Asia to learn about food and culture through art.
Roundtable discussions and open dialogues address difficult topics like the effects of discrimination on mental health; coming out generally and at work; the intersection of class and race; and debunking racial stereotypes. RAND researchers have shared their expertise on secondary traumatic stress and strategies for mitigating its effects; and on the research investments, policy, and action that are needed to address anti-Asian racism and hate now and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Presentations and Q&A sessions focus on what allyship looks like and how to be a better ally to marginalized communities. Past meetings have explored historical motivations for allyship and the meaning of anti-racism. Others have featured parent allies sharing strategies to help answer questions that children and teens pose about race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
Our creative environment thrives on new ideas and spirited debate. We're looking for talented individuals with unique backgrounds, work experiences, and outlooks.
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