Behavioral Health & Recovery Services Blog

MCOD stands for Multicultural Organization Development, and since 2015 BHRS has been working on our MCOD plan to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion principles in the workplace. This framework was established to support BHRS’ ability to work effectively and respectfully with people from diverse cultural, linguistic, and social backgrounds.

To achieve this, the MCOD Action Plan was developed to focus on three key areas:

1) The recruitment, retention, and promotion of diverse staff at ALL levels, including leadership,
2) the creation of a brave workplace environment in which speaking out, respectful dialogue, and acknowledging differences is accepted and encouraged, and
3) promoting transparency and collaboration in decision-making and policy-making to ensure that those who are most impacted have meaningful participation.

Each of these areas has specific strategies, activities, and tasks to make progress towards a more inclusive organization. To begin this work, BHRS rolled out a survey in 2019 to measure our culture among staff. Since 2019 leadership team members have been surveyed to better understand the organizational climate and sentiment around MCOD. For example, 73% of BHRS leadership members currently agree that BHRS values diversity at all levels of the organization. In addition, BHRS executive team members were assigned, and subcommittees were formed to oversee the progress in each plan area. As we begin 2022, we look forward to supporting the subcommittee work and beginning to engage all BHRS staff in these efforts.

For more information on the MCOD action plan please click here. For any questions, please contact Frances Lobos at flobos@smcgov.org

Written by Frances Lobos, Office of Diversity & Equity