Begin with curiosity
Notice your own assumptions and make room for another person’s experience.
Explore the foundations →Opening your page…
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Knowledge for everyday practice
Knowledge, practical tools, and perspectives for fair services and inclusive workplaces.
Equity in everyday work
The Aging and Disability Services Administration (ADSA) goals connect learning to decisions, team practices, and public service. Explore all six, find relevant tools, and plan a change you can review.
Examine a specific barrier and its causes before a decision is settled.
Make affected perspectives influential while alternatives are open.
Examine access to entry, belonging, growth, and staying in the organization.
Connect understanding and reflection to rehearsal, support, and application.
Examine barriers across the contract cycle with the people authorized to change it.
Make information and participation usable, understandable, and responsive.
A question. A perspective. A meaningful change.
Explore a question that matters, make room for different experiences, and practice a meaningful change. Follow a pathway or begin with the resource you need.
Find a pathway for your question →Recommended foundations
Build understanding, make participation more accessible, and bring equity into everyday decisions. Choose the starting point that fits your question.
Notice your own assumptions and make room for another person’s experience.
Explore the foundations →Consider language needs and qualified support before a conversation begins.
Use the language access checklist →Examine barriers, compare options, and involve the people affected by a decision.
Explore equity analysis →Learning here is voluntary. These are recommendations, not required training.
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.
Explore diversity courses: Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced
Build a foundation in cultural humility and intercultural practice.
Build on what you know
Explore foundations, intercultural practice, applied equity, and leadership at a pace that fits your work.
See what the program offers and find an easy place to begin, without needing to be an expert.
Build shared language for equity, access, culture, bias, belonging, and the experiences people bring to the work.
Develop the ability to notice different perspectives, work across cultural difference, and adapt behavior with care.
Research and sources · Common questions · Toolkit Studio
Explore at your own pace. This learning is optional. Saved notes and progress stay on this device until you delete them; anyone using this computer may see them. They are not shared with supervisors or program staff.
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.
Curiosity that does not end — and a form that still needs a who, data, and a date.
This resource introduces Peter Senge's five disciplines of the learning organization — adapted for DSD's context — and examines what it would mean for DSD to…
A comprehensive checklist for making DSD meetings accessible — covering virtual meetings, in-person meetings, and hybrid formats. This checklist addresses…
ADA Title Two is the part of the Americans with Disabilities Act that applies to us. It covers state and local government — every program, service, and activity…
Inclusive hiring means building a process that reaches a wide range of candidates and judges each one fairly. It is one of the most direct ways the division can…
Respectful interaction with people with disabilities is mostly common sense and good manners, with a few habits worth naming. The goal is simple: treat the…
A step-by-step checklist for creating accessible Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. This checklist covers slide layouts versus custom text boxes, reading…
Supported Decision-Making (SDM) is a rights-based model in which people with disabilities keep their legal rights and make their own decisions, with assistance…
IMPORTANT — Scope of this resource: This walks staff through the methodology of the DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit. It does not perform equity analyses. Actual…
Autism is a natural variation in how people experience the world, think, communicate, and process senses. The neurodiversity view holds that autistic ways of…
Aging and disability are deeply connected, and our administration brings them together for a reason. Many people acquire disabilities as they age, many people…
This resource walks through what reflective practice actually looks like as a leadership discipline — not as a vague aspiration but as a concrete, buildable…
This template supports DSD staff in planning a community engagement — a structured outreach, consultation, partnership, or co-design process with a community…
In a division like ours, some people write and interpret policy and some people carry it out in the field, with counties, Tribal Nations, providers, and the…
Trauma-informed practice (TIP) is an organizational and service-delivery framework grounded in the recognition that trauma — the experience of deeply…
IMPORTANT — Scope of this resource: This is an anonymized hypothetical example demonstrating the methodology of the DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit. It does not…
A practical walk-through for DSD staff on understanding and implementing sensory accommodations in meetings, training spaces, and service environments. This…
Person-centered planning (PCP) is both a philosophy and a structured process for developing service plans that genuinely reflect what matters to the person —…
Intersectionality is a theoretical framework — and a practical analytical tool — for understanding how multiple, overlapping systems of power and…
It is easy to measure how busy we are. It is harder, and far more important, to measure whether anything changed. Equity work fails quietly when we count…
Cultural humility is a way of showing up, not a box you check. It means approaching every person with the assumption that you do not fully understand their…
IMPORTANT — Scope of this resource: This walks staff through the methodology of the DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit. It does not perform equity analyses. Actual…
Restorative practice is a way of responding to harm that focuses on repairing relationships and making things right, rather than only assigning blame and…
A step-by-step checklist for creating accessible Microsoft Excel workbooks. This checklist covers table headers and structure, cell descriptions and navigation,…
IMPORTANT — Scope of this resource: This walks staff through the methodology of the DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit. It does not perform equity analyses. Actual…
Many of the people we serve, and many of our coworkers, are refugees or immigrants. They bring strengths, skills, and resilience, and they may also be…
A 30-second pause to catch an assumption before it shapes a decision. Use it when you are about to write a plan, make a call, or judge a situation.
Intersectionality is the idea that people hold more than one identity at once, and those identities combine to shape their experience in ways you cannot see by…
IMPORTANT — Scope of this resource: This is an anonymized hypothetical example demonstrating the methodology of the DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit. It does not…
Employment First is Minnesota's policy that competitive, integrated employment is the first and expected option for working-age people with disabilities. The…
Community engagement done well means sharing power with the communities affected by a decision, not just informing them or collecting a comment. It is how we…
Person-centered practice means the person is in charge of their own life and their own plan. We start with what matters to the person — what a good life looks…
Minnesota is home to eleven federally recognized Tribal Nations, each a sovereign government with the right to self-govern and self-determine. Our relationship…
Starting a new job involves a lot of logistical tasks alongside a lot of new relationships, new systems, and new information. This checklist is your guide for…
The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care are a set of 15 action steps published by the…
MnCHOICES is the tool Minnesota uses to assess what long-term services and supports a person needs and to plan those supports with them. Counties, Tribal…
Communication access for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing is both a legal requirement and basic respect. A few practices make a real difference, and…
IMPORTANT — Scope of this resource: This walks staff through the methodology of the DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit. It does not perform equity analyses. Actual…
The Relational-Cultural Theory and Multicultural Humility Framework (RMHF), as used in DSD's learning ecosystem, brings together two connected frameworks:
IMPORTANT — Scope of this resource: This is an anonymized hypothetical example demonstrating the methodology of the DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit. It does not…
Treat cultural knowledge as a way to ask better questions, not as a shortcut to certainty. Examine assumptions, invite correction, share decision-making power,…
Use this checklist when you are creating or revising a policy, program, practice, communication, or decision. It is a quick equity scan, a way to catch problems…
The National CLAS Standards are 15 standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,…
Cultural briefs, sometimes called cultural briefs, are short orientations to a community's general patterns, history, and common practices. They are useful, and…
A checklist for accessible communications across all DSD channels — email, DSD web pages, social media, video, audio, and imagery. This resource covers the…
Change management is how you help people through a change so it actually sticks. A good idea can fail simply because the people affected were not brought along.…
This resource introduces the allyship archetype framework — drawing on the work of Karen Catlin and related research — to help DSD staff identify how they…
IMPORTANT — Scope of this resource: This walks staff through the methodology of the DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit. It does not perform equity analyses. Actual…
IMPORTANT — Scope of this resource: This walks staff through the methodology of the DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit. It does not perform equity analyses. Actual…
A step-by-step checklist for creating accessible Microsoft Word documents. This checklist covers every major accessibility requirement — from document title and…
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers state and local government services, including effective communication and web accessibility rules.…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.The national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services in health and human services, published by the U.S. Office of Minority Health. Use…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.The DHS Equity Analysis Toolkit helps staff consider who is affected, what evidence is available, and which barriers and alternatives matter. It also addresses…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.The verified public leadership program is the State of Minnesota Emerging Leaders Institute, administered by Minnesota Management and Budget. Public evidence…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.Minnesota IT Services publishes the state's digital accessibility standard and accessible-document guidance. Verify the current version at the source before…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.Federal Title VI obligations require recipients of federal funds to provide meaningful language access. The federal LEP site collects guidance and resources.…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.This resource distinguishes between calling in and calling out as approaches to addressing harm in the workplace — and provides the 5 Ds bystander intervention…
A step-by-step checklist for creating and verifying accessible PDF documents. This checklist covers tagged PDFs, reading order, alternative text, form…
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the capacity to recognize, understand, and manage one's own emotions and the emotions of others — and to use that capacity to…
Before meeting with people, confirm the language and dialect and arrange captioning, interpreting, and alternate formats. Check the physical and online spaces,…
Send purpose and materials ahead, offer accommodation without forcing disclosure, give people several ways to take part, watch positional power, repair when…
Accommodations that work in the current role are often lost during a rotation, an acting assignment, a leadership cohort, or an interview process because nobody…
Choose three to five actions that team members can see and experience. For each action, name the person responsible, when it will begin, when the team will…
Five levels of influence, from informing people about a decision to designing it with them. Choose one honestly, say it plainly, and match the supports,…
Use this short question set for high-stakes decisions. Consider which authority and rights apply, who benefits, who carries the burden, which assumptions shape…
The DHS equity policy makes an equity analysis part of some decisions. This aid explains the difference between a scan and a full analysis, what each contains,…
Plan the session around what participants will be able to use afterward. Set one clear learning goal, use an activity based on their work, offer something…
When changing staff- or public-facing text or a process, record who is affected and how. Consider language, disability and communication access, the effort…
An eight-stage structure for hiring that tests what the work really requires, opens outreach, uses structured review and interviews, normalizes accommodation,…
A five-question check for any degree, experience, screening, or interview requirement: what work does it predict, what evidence supports that, who does it…
Start by identifying the languages people need and the vital documents that require translation and human review. Make a qualified interpreter available at…
Plan language, format, messenger, communication mode, and program design together, using the CLAS standards as a frame: who the program reaches, which languages…
A one-page checklist for a new program, service, or digital application. It covers people and purpose, access, language, the effort required of people,…
A check for the informal and formal criteria used to nominate, select, and promote people into lead roles: executive presence, quick verbal response, travel,…
One pattern that works for policies, forms, services, contracts, budgets, communications, technology, and program design: clarify the decision, identify…
Use short sentences, everyday words, one idea per paragraph, built-in heading styles, descriptive links, useful alternative text, and accessible tables. Before…
Look at the process from the person's point of view. Count the steps, documents, trips, and hours away from work. Notice when a deadline, mailed notice, or…
Equity belongs in the solicitation, the evaluation criteria, the contract terms, and the monitoring. This aid names the questions for each stage and the…
A short, accessible record for the people who gave input: what they said in their words, what changed because of it, what could not change and why, and what…
Plan who should be involved before the design is settled. Note why their involvement matters, what role they will have, whether they will be paid, and when they…
For staff with disabilities, advancement barriers are usually structural and often invisible to the people who run leadership pathways. This note adapts the…
A community brief or cultural guide is a starting point for respectful inquiry. It can help you ask better questions and plan access. It cannot tell you what…
Equity is easier to shape while an idea is still taking form. Before the design is settled, name who it is for, who may carry the burden, and which access needs…
Consider a decision from six perspectives: compliance and civil rights, diversity and representation, hearts and minds, inclusion and belonging, organizational…
The Intercultural Development Inventory is one proprietary assessment among many tools. It can inform qualified professional practice. It does not define this…
A community brief can help you prepare for Minnesota work, but it cannot describe any one person. Use it to ask better questions, check access, and involve the…
Tell the difference between a platform that works and a program that improves equity. Use a logic model, baselines, mixed methods, disaggregation with…
Mentoring explains how things work. Sponsorship puts your credibility behind someone in a room they are not in. Reverse mentoring lets leaders learn from staff…
Equity is everyone's work. Build on the people, standards, and relationships already in place. Center lived experience. Follow the evidence. Build trust over…
Advancement barriers are often invisible: unclear pathways, visible work given by habit, and classification questions that no one owns. This note separates what…
A policy analyst designing a program, a hiring manager planning recruitment, a fiscal analyst shaping a budget, and a supervisor preparing a hard conversation…
A useful working plan names who is responsible, when it will be reviewed, which access needs you considered, who you involved, and what you chose not to assume.…
A stay conversation asks a current team member what keeps them, what would make them leave, and what they would change. It is a conversation, not an evaluation,…
Many questions can be answered with a checklist, job aid, or other resource. Use the established Employee Culture, Human Resources, civil-rights, or…
The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.Federal guidelines on employee selection procedures and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's questions and answers about them. They require…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.The Government Alliance on Race and Equity describes racial equity tools as structured ways to integrate explicit consideration of racial equity into decisions,…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.A proprietary, licensed intercultural assessment administered by qualified administrators. Purpose: individual and group intercultural development. Permitted…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.Public research tools that demonstrate automatic associations. Useful for individual reflection about how bias can operate without awareness. Not a measure of a…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.A framework and set of tools for people with disabilities and families to plan a good life across the lifespan, developed at the University of Missouri Kansas…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.The State of Minnesota digital accessibility standard, currently Section 508 plus WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA, and the accessible document guidance that accompanies…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.The State of Minnesota's official equity analysis toolkit, published by Minnesota Management and Budget, used with the DHS Equity Policy. Public. Permitted use:…
Outside source; check before use. A public source outside this program. Check the current source before relying on it.Listen to the podcast about DHS equity policy and the toolkit.
Read at your own pace. Each time stamp starts the recording at that passage. The text stays here even if the recording will not play.
Listen to the podcast about anti-racism in public service.
Read at your own pace. Each time stamp starts the recording at that passage. The text stays here even if the recording will not play.
Bring equity and access into workforce, policy, program, service, engagement, fiscal, and communication decisions early enough to shape them.
Examine patterns, power, burden, disparities, and institutional conditions across more than one decision or team.
Sustain change through supervision, mentoring, sponsorship, shared governance, repair, resources, and learning over time.
Consider equity and access in a program, policy, conversation, or session you are planning.
You have a program idea and want a clear way to consider equity and access before the design is settled.
You are preparing a policy, form, notice, or letter and want to make sure it is clear, accessible, and workable for the people who will use it.
You are planning community engagement and want the work to be respectful, useful, and grounded in what people actually need.
You have noticed a concern with participation or team climate and want practical ways to improve everyday team practices.
You have a session to lead and want participants to leave with something they can use in their work.
You are responsible for a hiring process and want it to find capable people the current process may be screening out.
You own or shape a decision and want to build equity into it while it can still change, and to know whether an equity scan or a full analysis is required.
You are running a meeting and want everyone to be able to take part, contribute, and know what was decided.
You have a draft and want a structured way to check it for equity, access, plain language, sources, and burden before release.
You are shaping a contract, grant, or procurement and want equity, accessibility, and language access built into the solicitation, evaluation, terms, and monitoring.
You shape how people move into lead and leadership roles and want the pathway to work for staff with disabilities without asking anyone to disclose.
You are about to make a routine decision and want a short, honest check of who it affects and what you might change before it goes out.
You wrote something and want to check it yourself in three passes before it goes out: whether people can read and reach it, whether it assumes knowledge or norms people may not share, and whether it invites rather than warns.
