Sponsorship | Past Winners | Purpose | Entry Form

Congratulations to our 2023 IDEA to Action Competition Winners

2023 Grant Competition Overview:

Competition open NOW through August 11.

You Should Apply If:   

1. Your business is in Washington  

2. You’re doing something interesting in the DEI space 

3. You want to win support for your work and progress in the DEI space.

Why You Should Apply: 

1. $1000 to each category winner! 

2. Recognition at the LWHRA Symposium (that’s exposure to over 5500 HR professionals all at once)  

3. Participate in a panel discussion sharing best practices and inspire others to improve their workplace. 

Your Submission Categories: 

1. Company size under 100 employees 

2. Company size 101- 500 employees 

3. Company size 501+ 

What you’ll need to apply: 

1. A quick, 300 words or less essay (details below) 

2. A 1 min max video (nothing fancy - grab your cell phone, show, and tell)  

Easiest Essay You’ve Ever Written: 

1. Summary: Tell us about your business.  Also, what are you doing to affect DEI and how does it align to your existing workplace initiatives? 

2. Inspiration: What inspired you and what’s your strategy?   

3. Progress: What have you done so far and what’s coming next? 

4. Challenges: What challenges have you encountered and how did you overcome them?   

5. Results: What have you achieved already? How will you know when you’ve achieved success? Why should you win?

Contest Goal:

To highlight companies making a true impact in the IDEA space. Committing to action and taking one step together is how true change takes place.

IDEA Purpose:

At LWHRA the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee provide members with tools, knowledge, and the ability to help their organizations promote the values and practices of a diverse and inclusive workplace. We have come together to introduce the Business Case Contest where businesses must commit to making Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) to Action a part of their strategic plans. IDEA should treat equity as a 'need to have', not a 'nice to have', recognizing the social and economic benefits that flow from workplace parity–something that is a part of every decision a company makes. 

2023 Grant Competition

Companies with implemented IDEA programs can participate. 

IDEA to Action Partnership Opportunities:

CHAMPION $3,000

• Exclusive Opportunity - Only 1 available

• Participation and recognition during Symposium Awards Presentation

• 3-5 minute commercial at Symposium Awards Presentation

• Logo representation at the IDEA to Action Awards Presentation at Symposium

• Featured in any IDEA to Action marketing promotional material

• Linked logo included in all LWHRA bi-weekly newsletters

• Listing on the IDEA's LWHRA webpage

• Access to LWHRA Logo for partnership promotion (upon request) as an IDEA sponsor

ADVOCATE $1,500

• Recognition from emcee during the awards presentation

• Logo representation at the IDEA awards presentation

• Featured in any IDEA marketing promotional material

• Linked logo included in all LWHRA bi-weekly newsletters

• Listing on the IDEA's LWHRA webpage

• Access to LWHRA logo for partnership promotion (upon request) as an IDEA sponsor 

SUPPORTER $500

• Logo representation at IDEA Awards presentation

• Featured in any IDEA marketing promotional material 

• Linked logo included in all LWHRA weekly newsletters 

• Listing on the IDEA LWHRA webpage

• Access to LWHRA logo for partnership promotion (upon request) as an IDEA sponsor 

For more sponsorship information contact the office at:  office@lwhra.org

2022 Contest Winners

EASTSIDE FIRE & RESCUE

Eastside Fire & Rescue (EF&R) serves the communities of Issaquah, North Bend, Sammamish, Woodinville, and Fire Districts 38 and 10, which includes Carnation. The fire-service is a tremendously fast-growing industry that has historically been a white, male-dominant profession.

In our Strategic Plan, one of our objectives is to “Identify a strategy to recruit, develop, and retain a professional and diverse workforce.” EF&R is making purposeful strides to increase diversity, equity and inclusion within the fire and emergency services.

“We want folks to embrace it to enforce it, not enforce it to embrace it.”

-Lawrence at 828 Consulting

EF&R has created a 15-person DEI Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to focus on four specific areas as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Agency. These include Leadership and Planning, Outreach and Recruiting, Hiring and Retention and Inclusion. The DEI TAG has been working with 828 Consulting to help guide and facilitate this process of awareness and understanding. Through our DEI work, we are asking WHY we have been doing what we have been doing. One of our main focal points is recruiting people from diverse socioeconomic and racial backgrounds.

To begin a career in the fire service, there is an expensive testing process. To truly break down the barriers for potential applicants, if we are awarded the LWHRA IDEA grant, we will offer ten (10) $100 scholarships to help off-set these costs to encourage more diverse applicants, who typically may not have had access to this process.

Utilizing a DEI grant to begin this inclusive piece of the hiring process will create positive change within the fire service on the eastside. This is a small, yet meaningful step forward, and EF&R is ready to blaze the way!

Harebrained Schemes

Harebrained Schemes is an award-winning, medium-sized video game company with 65 employees in the Seattle area.

Harebrained Schemes has a long history of diversity within our games and is known in our industry as a welcoming company. Still, after the murder of George Floyd and Breona Taylor and the violence in 2020, employees expressed the need for our leadership team to address DEI issues in the day-to-day running of our organization to make sure we are an equitable organization that supports them. With our progressive work culture,

We formed an employee council called JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion).

We invested in a long-term relationship with a local, internationally recognized team of experts from the Institute for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion (ISDI).

The consultants trained the leadership team to ensure full-on support from the top down.

A survey was conducted by ISDI to identify gaps in JEDI-related issues.

The gaps were used to conduct focus groups, diving deeper into JEDI-related issues.

Three employee-led teams were formed to develop recommended actions to be reviewed by the leadership team. We have conducted activities such as a 21-day challenge to educate our team on related topics and reviewed content for internal opportunities.

The biggest challenge has been choosing what to work on in the time we are given while operating as a gaming studio. Additional challenges include managing the impact of the commitment to participate and compensating team members for the emotional and physical engagement.

Success has been achieved by promoting an inclusive voice across the organization. We have reported progress to everyone and we now have a foundation from which to increase our impact through the JEDI lens.