Speaker Series on Belonging Inspires Coworkers

January 31, 2024

Mercy Home strives to create a culture that reflects and respects the identities of its coworkers, its young people, and the communities we serve. To encourage dialogue among coworkers, we recently welcomed invited Curtis Hill, a Chicago native and influential speaker in diversity, equity, and inclusion, to speak about his Culture of Belonging strategy. The strategy empowers audiences to transcend superficial judgments and underscores the importance of cultivating profound connections with others. It also demonstrates how this transformation can significantly enhance individuals, financial outcomes, and efficiency in the workplace. 

Hill emphasized the importance of feeling and knowing that one belongs and why creating a culture of belonging is so important to the success of an organization like Mercy Home. 

Meg Prahin, the director of learning and development, explained that speaker series events like this one benefits all our coworkers. “Our perspective is that ultimately we’re going to be the most productive toward our mission if we’re connecting to each other as people and creating a culture where people know they belong,” she said. “They can show up as their best authentic selves at work, and [in Organizational Development], we really believe that’s the foundation for people being able to do the best work.”

Prahin added that this is especially important at a place like Mercy Home, where we work hard to create a sense of belonging and inclusion for our young people.

“If we can’t do that as coworkers, there’s going to be a disconnect,” she said. “We really believe that one flows into the other.”

Hill’s engaging and interactive presentation was a hit among our coworkers, and they left feeling energized and inspired. Prahin heard feedback that our coworkers appreciated his energy level and passion toward the concepts of belonging and connectedness. 

Presentations like this also give our coworkers a chance to interact with those outside their own departments and make new friendships across the Agency.

“We can get kind of siloed in our programs and departments,” Prahin said. “I thought this was really nice to connect us to each other across departments and with people you might not get to connect with in that way on a daily basis. It was nice seeing people across the Agency come together in a fun and meaningful way.”