Diversity Dinners: Share a Meal, Find Belonging, Enhance Community

Healthcare professionals with underrepresented identities in medicine experience workplace bias, isolation, and stress. In 2019, the Department of Pediatrics began Diversity Dinners; loosely modeled after the social justice collaborative "The People Supper." Voluntary participants gathered over meals share experiences towards collective restoration and understanding. The goal is to find connection and individual introspection on social identity and intersectionality. Six dinners have been held with 38 unique participants. Our post-dinner survey had a 39% response rate, of which, 53% self-identify as underrepresented in medicine. Respondents's race/ethnicity (80%) was the most common identity that interested them to attend, followed by professional identity (53%) and gender (47%). All had their expectations met and 73% reported an increase in belonging in the Department. A participant shared that the dinner allowed them to "connect with residents and faculty with diverse identities and experiences, create safe, brave spaces for processing difficult experiences, celebrating wins, and supporting one another." Participant comments such as "wasn't expecting to reflect back on these dinner experiences as much as I do. That tells me how valuable these opportunities for connection are" indicate that Diversity Dinners inspire people beyond the session itself, in a way that objective measures cannot capture.