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The Michigan Sport Business Association is committed to fostering an inclusive environment. Sport provides a platform for social change, and as a club built on that foundation, it is of the utmost importance that we address and educate one another on the injustices of the past and the struggles of today. We must recognize the marginalized sport figures and students who continue to break down barriers on and off the field in their fight for equality. Our mission is to connect, educate, and inspire future generations of sport business professionals. We strive to celebrate diverse identities, backgrounds, and experiences. We acknowledge our duty to develop a culture where all members feel a place of acceptance.
Through our Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee, we provide resources to educate our members on all aspects of diversity and inclusion with access to our resource database and member training sessions. We are dedicated to ensuring that everyone within our SBA community feels a sense of belonging, value, and universal respect, and are equally as committed to putting in the work to make sure their fellow members do as well.
We encourage members to give feedback and help improve SBA through our DEI Suggestion Form so that we can continue to grow to become strong, inclusive, and open-minded leaders.
The DEI database is a resource for all SBA members to learn more about DEI and how implementing those practices relates to the professional workplace. There are articles, books, documentaries, movies, podcasts, and course suggestions. All resources are filterable by topics within the industry and media types.
Diversity allows for the cultivation of different ideas. Our goal for the new DEI Database is starting conversations, educating our members, and growing as an organization. There is a suggestion form to let our DEI Committee, Riley Day and Holly Ades, know how SBA can improve our DEI efforts- we encourage all feedback!
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MARCH, 2023 | WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION
As Women’s History Month 2023 commenced, SBA acknowledged some of sports’ most accomplished and successful female athletes and pioneers.We admire the work that our female athletes and industry professionals do to break past boundaries and pave the way for future success of women both on and off the field. Our celebration culminated with a special post on our social media platforms to recognize and celebrate our women of Michigan’s Sport Business Association as some of the industry’s Leaders and Best with a host of success and innovations to come.
FEBRUARY, 2022 | BLACK HISTORY MONTH
To expand on our Black History Month initiative, SBA released a story series highlighting four Black trailblazers in the Sport Industry over the course of the month. To kick off the series, SBA provided an informational introduction into the history of Black History Month, this year's theme, and DEI resources to learn more and show your support.
Our featured trailblazers, Sandra Douglass Morgan, Muhammad Ali, and Shaina Wiel have made exceptional contributions to the world of sports both on and off the field, and we will continue to celebrate their accomplishments through our ongoing initiative.
NOVEMBER, 2022 | NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
As part of our Native American Heritage Month Initiative in November 2022, we chose to highlight an important Native American figure each week to honor the resilience and extensive contributions that Native Americans have made to the world, in and out of sports.
SEP/OCT, 2022 | HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with SBA! Join us in recognizing and honoring the rich culture and contributions of the Hispanic community in sports. Throughout the month of September, we highlighted Linda Alvarado and Esther Garcia, two influential Hispanic Americans who have made significant contributions to the industry, both on and off the field. SBA will continue to help our members celebrate a diverse sports industry and continue learning from each other in the future!
MAY 1, 2021 | INDUCTION OF NEW DEI COMMITTEE
With the official transition from the 2020-2021 Executive Board to the 2021-2022 Executive Board in effect, our inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee Members assumed their roles and got straight to work. Stay tuned for the utmost impactful work Alana Milow, Kamilah Sobers, and Emma Kichula do throughout this next year.
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APRIL 8, 2021 | SBA PANEL ON THE NFL'S DEI EFFORTS
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SBA had the privilege of hosting the NFL's Traci Otey Blunt (SVP of Corporate Communications) and Venessa Hutchinson (Senior Manager of Football Development) for a virtual conversation with our members regarding both the League's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and how to get your foot in the door and succeed in the early phases of your career.
MARCH 31, 2021 | WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH TRIBUTE
As Women's History Month 2021 came to a close, our Marketing Department took a special moment on our social media platforms to recognize and celebrate the women of Michigan Sport Business Association – the female Leaders and Best who make our organization all that is.
MARCH 27, 2021 | BLACK HISTORY MONTH VIDEO COMPILATION
As part of SBA's Black History Month initiative, our Co-Directors of Marketing, Samantha Post and Daniela Mirell, reached out to voices of color in our community – students, alumni, faculty, and industry professionals – and crafted a video compilation amplifying both their stories and their appreciation for Black History Month. The goal of the video was to provide our members and alumni with authentic insight into the hardships African Americans have faced and continue to face across the sport business landscape.
© Samantha Post and Daniela Mirell
FEBRUARY 26, 2021 | SM DEI SPEAKER SERIES EVENT #2
▶︎ 'BREAKING BARRIERS: PROMOTING INTERSECTIONALITY IN SPORT'
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Gail Newsham
Erik Robeznicks
Whitney Tarver
Steve Soboroff
The second event in the School of Kinesiology's student-led Awareness to Action: DEI in Sport speaker series revolved around examining how we, as a community, can advance equity in sport by looking at how sport is not only a barometer for progress in our inclusion efforts, but also a driver of change. With this goal in mind, the virtual event focused on how gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, and ability have affected access to, participation in, and growth of sport.
JANUARY 27, 2021 | SM DEI SPEAKER SERIES EVENT #1
▶︎ 'HOW DID WE GET HERE? TRACING THE HISTORY OF INEQUITY & EXCLUSION IN AMERICAN SPORT'
The first event in the School of Kinesiology's student-led diversity, equity, and inclusion series - Awareness to Action: DEI in Sport - focused on bringing together academic and industry leaders to explore activism, allyship, and action that we as students, faculty, alumni, and future industry professionals can take to advance equity in sport.
Dr. Louis Moore
Marissa Pollick
Joyce Wilson-Eder
DECEMBER 2, 2020 | EXECUTIVE BOARD EXPANSION
Our President, Ethan Tipping, released the news to our members that SBA's Executive Board would be expanding with the addition of an entire new department: the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee! Working in conjunction with our Vice Presidents, the new DEI Committee was created for orchestrating and implementing meaningful initiatives that foster an increasingly open space for our members, radiant with diversity of thought, diversity of people, and diversity of disciplines.
JUNE 23, 2020 | EXECUTIVE BOARD ATTENDS SOCIAL JUSTICE SUMMIT
▶︎ LED BY MICHIGAN'S CENTER FOR CAMPUS INVOLVEMENT, SBA'S EXECUTIVE BOARD ATTENDED THE 'SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL JUSTICE INITIATIVES IN YOUR STUDENT ORGANIZATION' SUMMIT
Following the Center for Campus Involvement's campus-wide virtual DEI conference, all of the student org leaders across the Sport Management Program congregated for a follow-up workshop, led by the CCI's Manager of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Kaila Sell. Members of our Executive Board engaged in open dialogue about the social identities that comprise SBA, along with organizational bias, accountability, intergroup relations, and allyhood/allyship. Each student org respectively examined their recruitment process, conjointly brainstorming ways in which we could all diversify our membership, subsequently discussing how to better provide support for current members of marginalized identities.
JUNE 8, 2020 | BLACK LIVES MATTER VIDEO MONTAGE
Our Co-Directors of Marketing, Samantha Post and Daniela Mirell, released a montage highlighting sport's role in providing a platform for social change even during the toughest of times. The video featured professional athletes taking a stand against racism from as early as the Civil Rights era up until present day. Our hope as an organization was for the compilation to empower our community by emphasizing that we are more than students just as much as those in the video are more than athletes, and together, we have the ability to make a change.
© Samantha Post and Daniela Mirell
JUNE 3, 2020 | PRESIDENT'S LETTER
Shortly after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, in addition to the outbreak of protests across the U.S. that followed soon thereafter, our President, Ethan Tipping, released a statement on behalf of the Executive Board in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Said letter detailed SBA's stance against racism, addressed the heartbreaking events that occurred that Spring, shared educational links, and elucidated our efforts to diversify and cultivate an inclusive club environment.
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