Going into the University of South Carolina Dance Marathon’s 25th year as a student organization that works to raise funds and awareness for the kids at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital, we strive to increase our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within our organization to better represent the UofSC student body. As students of UofSC we live by our creed which states, “I will discourage bigotry, while striving to learn from differences in people, ideas and opinions”. As an organization committed to our mission of “Change Kids Health: Change the Future” we look forward to shaping our organization as a more inclusive community.

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Education

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At USCDM, we recognize that without education, improvement and change is difficult to achieve. We hold our members of our internal team to the highest of standards and will implement Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training for all members of our team through working with the University of South Carolina’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

•   Participate in the “Shaping What’s Good” sessions through the UofSC Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the beginning of one’s term.

•   Members of USCDM will watch and engage in discussion in the National Dance Marathon Leadership Conference in July 2022 in the DEI sessions.

•   Will continue to partner with the UofSC Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to continue internal education and discussions throughout the year.

•   All Executive Board members will go through Safe Zone Training

  Recruitment and Engagement

•   Reach beyond our typical contacts to recruit and engage more internal leadership and participant involvement to be more representative of our campus.

•   Collaborate with student organizations to learn about their mission and their needs to collaborate and increase USCDM engagement in a way that is beneficial to both organizations

•   Increase transparency on the demographics of who our funds support at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital

 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Sub-Committee

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At USCDM we recognize that we have fallen short in addressing Diversity, Inclusion and Equity and to combat this in the upcoming year, members selected from our leadership involved in different branches of Dance Marathon will be members of the USCDM DEI subcommittee. This committee will meet bi-weekly to set goals, address issues and determine where improvements can be made from an internal view to improve USC Dance Marathon and ensure an inclusive environment for all. The internal workings of the committee will be shared with USCDM staff.

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Committee Make-up:

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•   Heads: President and Chief of Staff

•   2 members (Either Staff or Director) from each branch of DM

•   2 members from Morale

•   2 members of Ignite

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Accessibility

 

While USCDM’s primary mission is to raise funds to fund the Child Life Program at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital, we want to carry out our mission through ensuring our organization is accessible to each and every student on the UofSC campus and in the Columbia community. We will uphold these goals through:

•  Providing closed-captioning on our media.

•   Lowering USCDM Hero registration at $15 which includes a t-shirt, meals and

  activities the day of our Main Event.

•  Keeping our One Team One Dream dues minimal and optional for members who

  choose to purchase additional merchandise.

•   Providing on-campus events and engagement free of charge for students to help

• engage in our organization.