Welcome to the LGBTQ+ Business Inclusion Hub
Launched in 2024, the Inclusion Hub provides free LGBTQ+ inclusion resources tailored specifically for small businesses. Our goal is to ensure that these businesses have easy access to comprehensive resources, training programs, and support networks. We empower small businesses to develop and implement inclusive policies and practices, helping them attract and retain diverse talent. Our aim is to foster a culture of inclusion not just within businesses, but also within the communities they serve.
Engage with the Hub:
Explore Our Resource Library: Access blogs, articles, important reports, downloadable tools, and videos.
Join Our Workshops and Trainings: Participate in sessions that highlight various aspects of workplace inclusion.
Earn Your LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Certification: Through our comprehensive training program, you'll learn about LGBTQ+ consumer information, inclusive hiring and promotion practices, creating an inclusive workplace culture, and more.
Schedule a Consultation: Get personalized guidance on how to customize and implement inclusive policies based on your business’s unique needs.
Affirming Business Certificate Program
Our comprehensive LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Certificate Program offers you a FREE opportunity to become a community leader in workplace inclusion.
An affirming company is one that supports, validates, and encourages the identities and experiences of LGBTQ+ people. It provides a place or space where LGBTQ+ people feel welcome and safe. Open to small business owners, the training will help you develop or expand upon your inclusion efforts and develop a cohort of other businesses for a built in support system.
Take-Aways for Participating Businesses Who Complete the Full Program
- Individualized Action Plan for changes needed to continue development into a welcoming business
- A 1-year Business Membership with Plexus LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce
- A window and digital sticker demonstrating LGBTQ+ Affirming Business certification
- A certificate demonstrating LGBTQ+ Affirming Business
- Access to Hub Resources
- Access to Hub group for continued conversation, access to resources, and other support
- Four (4) follow-up individualized consultation sessions to discuss progress with action plan over the year following completion.
Objectives
- Business owners will improve their understanding of who makes up the LGBTQ+ community
- Business owners will be able to discuss the importance of being a welcoming/affirming business and steps needed to be a practicing welcoming business for:
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- Their bottom line
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- Their employees
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- Their customers/clients
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- LGBTQ+ community
- Business owners will understand potential risks of being a welcoming business and be prepared for risk management
- Business owners will make connections with other businesses who can provide real-time examples of being a welcoming business
- Business owners will develop an Action Plan for changes needed to continue development into a welcoming business
Modules
- Overview & Introduction to LGBTQ+ Community (LGBTQ+ 101)
- The Business Case & the Pink Dollar
- Welcoming Business for Employees (Policies, Hiring, Risk Management, & Practices)
- Welcoming Business for Clients/Customers (Risk Management, Practices & Marketing)
- Finalizing an Action Plan: Mentors, Case Studies & Real-Life Experiences
Hub Resources
Gender Inclusion & Pronouns in the Workplace
- City and County of San Francisco Department of Human Resources. (n.d.). Gender Inclusion Policies & Implementation Tools.
- Human Rights Campaign. (n.d.). Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace: Recommended Policies and Practices.
- Out&Equal. (n.d.). Supporting Intersex Inclusion in the Workplace.
- National Institutes of Health Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office. (2024). Gender Pronouns & Their Use in Workplace Communications.
- Transgender Law Center. (2013). Model Transgender Employment Policy: Negotiating for Inclusive Workplaces.
Small Businesses & LGBTQ+ Inclusion
Contact Us
Thank you to our funders, The Gund Foundation and The Cleveland Foundation.