8 minutes
What this is — and what it is not Voluntary. No score. A floor title in People, Access and Culture. Three values kept distinct.
What you’ll be able to do Identify the practical implication of “What this is — and what it is not” and apply it to one live DHS decision connected to What Minimization Does in DHS Work. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: What should happen before the work is locked? Document a next step for What this is — and what it is not: Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed. You choose this title. Nothing here grades you. The test, if there is one, is whether Tuesday’s packet still treats everyone as the same person.
Why this title exists People, Access and Culture is a voluntary developmental program for DHS employees. It is a resource for the Equity Policy duty: analyze actions through an equity lens so disparities shrink and access improves. It is not a test, a ranking, or a required stage.
This title is the floor of Curriculum I — Intercultural development . It teaches a published map of how people and groups orient to difference — the Intercultural Development Continuum (IDI, LLC) — and then it stays in the work: a front desk, a hire, a dashboard, a toolkit attached after the vote.
In this lesson you will Know what this program will and will not do with you.
Hold three policy values as related, not identical.
See where this title sits among the others.
Decide whether to continue — that decision stays yours.
This course does not score you. If a word names something you recognize in the work, that recognition is yours.
Three values the Equity Policy names — kept distinct Intercultural Antiracist Multicultural / access
Capability to shift perspective and adapt behavior across cultural differences and commonalities. This title lives here. The continuum is the map.
The policy commits DHS to operating as an antiracist organization and defines racial equity as measurable change in the lives of people of color. That is Curriculum II — the record, Minnesota human services, culture without theater. Not this title’s whole job.
Many cultures in a common space; disability, language, LGBTQIA2S+, veterans, place. Curriculum III is Adaptation in a specific practice — accessibility, family, employment, health. The toolkit is the shared method across all three.
What this title will not do It will not assign you a stage No badge, no report, no homemade inventory. We describe Minimization as a work habit DHS culture often uses. We do not announce who you are.
It will not replace HR or a complaint door Civil rights, labor relations, Tribal consultation, and any assessment you already completed stay where they belong.
It will not mash race into “just culture” Intercultural competence without racial structure is Minimization in nicer clothes. We will say when a habit hides race. The deep record is another title.
Your turn — before lesson 2 Name one process you already touch (a form, a meeting, a hire, a dashboard).
Write one sentence you have heard — or said — about treating everyone the same.
You do not have to share it. Keep it. Later lessons will use it.
Next: the continuum itself — five orientations to difference, as a map, with Minimization marked as the habit this course will stay on.
Put this lesson to work What you can change You control whether what this is — and what it is not changes a live DHS process connected to What Minimization Does in DHS Work or remains information on a page.
What to watch for The team completes the learning, keeps the same default, assigns no owner, and never checks who carries the burden.
Your next step Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
Carry this forward Voluntary. No score. A floor title in People, Access and Culture. Three values kept distinct.
You control whether what this is — and what it is not changes a live DHS process connected to What Minimization Does in DHS Work or remains information on a page.
Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
Completion is shown by a scenario decision, a knowledge-check response and a saved one-minute commitment.
Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
Browse and download only. Course notes are not typed or saved on this page.
Reset this lesson
Course overview Next lesson Carry this into practice Notice when treating everyone the same overlooks different barriers, and test a more responsive work practice.
Return to the experience: What did you notice or try, whose perspective informed it, and what would you keep or adjust?
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
