The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday launched the REACH initiative, a new, multi-year effort aimed at broadening the agency’s outreach to workers in rural and underserved communities.
REACH is being led by EEOC Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal with a focus on ensuring EEOC’s outreach and education efforts “to ensure that the EEOC is accessible to all members of the public, including the most vulnerable workers and those who live in parts of the country that are geographically removed from an EEOC office,” EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows said in a statement.
“The REACH initiative will help us to identify ways to more effectively reach underserved communities — including rural areas, many Tribal nations and other communities at [a] significant distance from the EEOC’s 53 field locations,” Burrows added.
EEOC will hold in-person and virtual discussions with targeted stakeholders across the country to identify existing barriers to reporting discrimination and solicit recommendations on how to serve those populations better. The REACH initiative also plans to examine existing research and recommendations on effective outreach strategies, tools and methods to inform the work of the initiative to identify best practices for reaching vulnerable and underserved communities and find ways to increase EEOC’s presence.
Ultimately, the initiative plans to develop recommendations to present to the EEOC chair to enhance outreach efforts.
“By ensuring that the Commission is accessible to vulnerable and underserved communities, we can advance fair and inclusive workplaces and achieve systemic change,” Kotagal said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to hear directly from local stakeholders across the country about how the agency can enhance its outreach efforts and make the promise of equal opportunity a reality for all.”
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