- PNC is proud to support "Business Forward" where community leaders discuss the issues confronting business in Central Illinois.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Welcome to "Business Forward."

I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, good buddy of mine, Andre Allen.

Andre is on Peoria's City Council, but here today we're talking relatively new role: Peoria County's Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.

Welcome, Andre.

- Hey, thanks for having me, Matt.

I really appreciate it.

I watch you all the time and so to finally be here in the studio of WTVP on business board, it's a blessing, so thank you, sir.

- Well, I appreciate it.

I mean, we've got a lot to talk about, but I do wanna talk about you.

- [Andre] Sure.

- Because I always think of, you have just such a nice family and I always think of your kids.

You have the cutest kids, by the way.

- I appreciate it, appreciate it.

- [Matt] And they probably have you running everywhere.

- Oh yeah, and we got three, so we're playing zone defense and there's always a hole in the zone.

(Matt laughing) It's tough.

- Yeah, I always say, 'cause I have five, I always say, "Once you have three, it's chaos."

It doesn't matter if you have four or five, whatever, after that- - [Andre] Controlled chaos.

- Controlled chaos.

So did you grow up in Peoria?

- I did, I did, so grew up in Peoria, graduated from Peoria Public Schools, Richwoods Class of 2007.

And then after that I went to Illinois Central College for two years before I transferred and moved away and went to Eastern Illinois for my bachelor's and my master's degree so that's when I left Peoria and worked at ISU for a number of years before I moved back in 2016.

- Okay, so yeah, you just said 2007, so you just verified that I'm old.

(Andre laughing) - I don't know about that.

It's funny when I go talk to kids now and I'll say, "Yeah, I graduated in 2007," and some of them will say, "I wasn't even born then."

So I'm like, "All right, well, thank you."

So I understand the feeling.

- Oh, man, it's funny.

So this new position, you know, I've known you for a long time and you've always just been out there in that community.

Whether it's on boards, whether it's taking care of community, in your role with Methodist College.

I mean, you had a fun role there too.

- I did, I did.

- And so why don't you talk about like how you went from the idea of City Council and Methodist College to where you're at today, and then we're gonna talk some initiatives for 2023.

- Yeah, definitely.

You know, it is, you know, I believe success is when opportunity and preparation meets and I was prepared for this opportunity, but I was prepared because of, I had great mentors like yourself, community members that believed in me, that allowed me to be at the seat of tables and be at the, have an opportunity to make an impact in my community.

I had a great, great professional career at Methodist College.

I was there for six years in a number of different roles from Student Life Coordinator to Dean of Students, and then my last role was Director of Student Affairs and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and that allowed me to really get a lot of great professional experiences, also meet a lot of great people, connect in the community, so that really prepared me for this role.

My career's been in higher education and so I worked at Illinois State and I've worked at Methodist College and then also I worked at Eastern Illinois during my master's degree as well too, so higher ed prepares you for so much and you really get a chance to work with so many different diverse people and that's really where I got my passion for wanting to help.

I'm a first-generation college graduate and so my first job actually was an academic advisor working for an alternative admissions program at Eastern Illinois University for students who had the GPA to get into the university, but they didn't have the ACT and I was that young man.

You know, coming out of high school, I always wanted to go to a four-year, but I got a 16 on the ACT twice and I needed to go to community college.

It was a great opportunity because I really matured.

So when I got to Eastern Illinois, one of my first time staying out past nine and I actually did pretty well in school.

But being able to be that role model and be able to work with students like myself who were first-generation college attendees, maybe from underrepresented communities, coming from low social and economic status, they have the tools but they need the guidance and so that's really where I found my passion and that's really led me where I am today.

When I was at Methodist College, I was overseeing a lot of our diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives there, doing a lot of awareness campaigns, campus climate surveys, just really working to try to create a sense of belonging for our student body, but also our professional staff as well too, so when this opportunity presented itself with Peoria County, I was really excited because it really provided some professional alignment of where I see my career going in public service.

You mentioned I'm on the Peoria City Council and so being able to really now be all in within this public service space is truly a blessing and I'm still in my backyard, you know, so being able to really elevate and be in a community that I love, a community that I'm raising my family, it was a beautiful thing.

- The position had to be right because Dr. Shanderson was on the show last month and, you know, she's a star.

- [Andre] Yes she is.

- And you still love Methodist- - [Andre] Absolutely.

- That's what's great about it is you loved where you worked.

- Yep.

- But this opportunity was too hard to pass up.

I mean, this is is an awesome opportunity for you because like you said, both the City Council and this, it gives you an opportunity to make huge change.

- Absolutely, and Methodist College, I have so much gratitude for Methodist College.

Without Methodist College, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Methodist College allowed me to grow as a person and as a professional.

Being affiliated with UnityPoint Health, especially in this community, it gave me a level of credibility.

It allowed me to get into some spaces and some places that maybe I wouldn't have got in if I worked somewhere else or I was in a different field, so I'm very grateful for Methodist College, always grateful for the leadership of Dr. Shanderson.

I was able to be there for her first year as Chancellor at the college and me and her, we're still close to this day.

- And you know what's cool too is, you knew Debbie Simon, one of my favorite CEOs, Keith Knepp, one of my other favorite CEOs.

- [Andre] Yes, yep.

- So you've had a lot of people you could sit there and go, "Oh, I like how they did that," or whatever.

So let's talk.

So I had Warren Anderson on the show and, you know, he's the VP of DEI from Bradley and he seems to have a lot of initiatives too and goals from his lens for this upcoming year.

Do you or will you coordinate with him so there's not duplicate efforts in the community, or do you not work like that?

- Well, there could be some overlaps, so just to kind of give you a little background on my position, this is an inaugural position.

It's brand new.

It's a blank canvas, if you will, so I get to be my own professional Picasso, which is very exciting.

- It's fun.

- It's 50% internal, so doing things within inside of the Peoria County Organization.

Peoria County has over 600 employees.

When you talk about the different campuses that make up Peoria County Government, you have the Courthouse, you have the Sheriff's Department, the Coroner's Office, you have JDC.

There's so much that makes up Peoria County.

- [Matt] I never thought it like that.

- Yes, it is huge, it is huge, and so I'll be responsible leading some DEI initiative within the organizations and then 50% external, I'll be looking to meet with different community stakeholders that make up Peoria County and sometimes people forget that the City of Peoria, although is a big part of Peoria County, you have your Norwoods, you have your Chillicothes and things of that nature, and so really expanding onto some of those rural communities and supporting them with some DEI initiatives, so I could definitely see some overlap and some collaborations with DEI professionals like Dr. Anderson at Bradley University, but also too, I think it's gonna be very important that I have an internal focus first for the organization.

- I like how you said, I wasn't even gonna talk about this, but the rural areas too, because it's not just initiatives, but it's also, not just rural, it's inner city, it's everything.

It's that education piece because you hear so much about DEI, you hear about inclusion, what are all these terms, right?

And in a sense, they're not new, but they are new because now the spotlight's on these.

- [Andre] Absolutely.

- And so I think you're the perfect person to be able to sit there and educate what this means.

So let's talk about Peoria County's five essential DEI perspectives.

Okay, so access and equity, what does that mean?

- So that's what I'm looking to do right now is to define what does access and equity look like for Peoria County within the organization and without.

So within the organization we talk about access.

I'll be leading diversity hiring, so I'll be hiring a new position out of human resources that will be reporting to me.

It's gonna be entitled the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Generalist.

And so our job is to diversify the workforce of Peoria County Government organization.

We want our organization to represent the diverse population that makes up Peoria County.

Peoria County is very diverse and so we wanna make sure our workforce reflects that.

There are a lot of great job employment opportunities within the county as well too and so we'll be going to some different communities within Peoria County, especially those underrepresented communities to make sure that they have access to positions, making sure that we can provide opportunities for them so that way they can join our workforce.

When you talk about making sure that they feel a sense of belonging once they get inside of the organization as well too, you know, and so that's when it comes to that access and that opportunity space, so I'm very excited about being able to lead those charges.

- Yeah, and I think there's a good example 'cause, you know, I'm sitting here, access and equity.

I have my own thoughts on that, right?

And I'm not saying they're right or wrong.

It's again, people just need to be educated on what the terms mean 'cause they can mean different things to different people.

- And just to define equity, 'cause sometimes people get equity and equality misconstrued and sometimes people think equity means that I have to give up something and that doesn't mean, but we all know that equity actually is a tide that raises all boats.

If you're able to raise, for instance, the economic landscape of, let's take for example, the 61605 area code, which is one of the lowest social economic zip codes in the country.

If you raise the economic floor of that community that benefits those who live in the 61615.

Why?

Because our tax base raises, more people are participating in the economy, the schools improve, the businesses improve, and we have a growing ecosystem that is Peoria County.

And so we may have to give up a little bit of attention to make sure that the 61615 raises up or the 61603, but in the long run, it benefits all of us, so that's the difference between equity and equality 'cause equality will say, "Well, the same roles that need to get done as 61603 need to get done out in 61605, but we know that we need to put some little bit more attention on 61605.

It's like when you have children, sometimes you gotta give a little bit more love to one child than some others and it doesn't mean you don't love 'em all the same, but you gotta provide equity maybe to the youngest to ensure that he or she doesn't fall behind in her brothers and sisters.

- I like how you said that because it's exactly right.

Everything's got to flow to make it right and everybody wins.

- If you compare it to a heart.

A heart is made up of so many different capillaries and things of that nature, but if one chamber of the heart gets clogged, it infects the entire heart and so we gotta make sure that we unclog those veins and those capillaries to ensure that we have a healthy Peoria County.

- Inclusive participation, what does that mean?

- It makes sure that, once we achieve diversity, which means that we have all the traditional means.

So that is race, gender, ethnicity, religious diversity, but also too, thinking outside of the traditional norm.

So those are our veterans, those are our, those who have physical challenges, those who maybe be a little bit more mature and they're near, they're at that retirement age.

Those are all different demographics of diversity and so we wanna make sure though that they feel included.

And so for instance, I'll be going to the Veteran's Assistance Commission meeting this evening to make sure that our veteran population, they have a voice, making sure that, you know, we understand the sacrifices that they made and we think about what resources that we have within the county or externally to support that population.

And so that's how you achieve that is get out in the community, meeting with those different organizations, realizing their needs and then coming up with a strategy to serve them.

- Okay, yeah, I was just thinking, so everything you're doing affects all people, but really when you're teaching, is there a different way of teaching younger people?

So like if they said, "Mr. Allen, we'd like you to go to Hines School and we'd like for you to go in and teach this third grade class and speak to them on DEI initiatives."

They wouldn't say that, but, some, what's the conversation to the young kids as much as it is to the adults because sometimes it could be the same conversation?

- It very well could be the same conversation, but with the younger kids, I compare them to clay and that clay is very soft and you can mold it, you can massage it, you can introduce different ideas and ideologies and feelings and you can do a lot more.

As we get older, that clay hardens a little bit and so you can pour a little water on it, but it's very hard to kind of chink that clay down, so it can almost be even tougher and so you have to have the right person that can champion this work.

The person who understands that this work is patient, this person that understands that everyone is on a different starting block when it comes to this journey and so you have to understand how to introduce, educate, expose people and create awareness to this work.

- That's well said.

Yeah, it is, it's like clay.

You know, because when tough things were going on this past couple years, I talked to you about it with my son and you know, he just didn't understand it and it's a hard conversation 'cause he was, you know, at the time, he was seven or eight and he just was like, "Dad, that doesn't even make sense to me."

And you really don't want it to make sense to him other than to do what's right.

And I guess as a dad, you sit there over these past few years especially, and people have for generations, I understand that, but I'm just saying these.

I had a boy and I had four girls and I find, you know, I had that son and you know, you're sitting there and he's watching it and his questions were just so strong.

I called you, I don't know if you remember.

- [Andre] Yeah, I remember that.

- The kids are very observant and, you know, with the murder of George Floyd in 2020, that really created a sense of need for these type of positions that I'm in within organizations.

Many organizations looked themselves in the mirror and said they didn't like what they saw, but many organizations also looked themselves in the mirror and said, "I don't know what to do, but I know that I need to do something because what we just saw, we could not have that happen, but also we need to make sure that our organization is diverse, it's inclusive, that we're providing equity, and not only are we serving maybe our internal stakeholders and we're in about our bottom line, but how do we impact the community that we are housed in as well?"

- And you know what I like too, is that we can actually have this conversation from every angle and actually get some clarity and then it just makes you think as you're moving forward, like, "Man I gotta, I can't believe, you know, 10 years ago I saw this or felt that or this, you know," and people think that, you know, so, all right, I could go on and on 'cause I just, this topic's so engaging.

Learning and diversity.

- So that is creating professional development opportunities for our internal staff.

So I have a variety of presentations that I can do on implicit bias, microaggressions, creating a sense of belonging within your division or your unit.

Being comfortable having the uncomfortable conversations, which I think are very important as well too.

- [Matt] I guess that's what I was just talking about.

- Exactly, exactly.

- You know, having an uncomfortable conversation.

I like how, I was gonna tell you this.

So today, I'm on this statewide board and we have to take all these trainings as you know and just today, I got the DEI 90-minute presentation and I'm like, "You know what?

With Thanksgiving coming up and everything, I'm just gonna knock this out now."

So I actually studied 90 minutes before I met with you today.

- There you, there you go, there you go.

- [Matt] So it's fresh in my head.

- Yeah, yeah.

- All right, one of your favorites is this: community engagement.

- Yes, yes.

- That's one of my favorites too.

- I love it and when I was looking at the job description and when I found out that it's 50% internal, 50% external, I was like, "That's it."

You know, and I love being out in the community, you know, during covid and shutdowns and stuff too.

It was hard for me not to be out in, like I thrive off people.

I mean we're extroverts.

We like to be out here shaking hands.

Sometimes our wives get upset 'cause they're like, "Look, we gotta leave.

Don't talk to 30 people."

But I'm like, "I have to, I have to.

Like, that's how I get."

- What I do.

- That's what I do and so it was good and so having that community engagement focus is great 'cause I'm already organically involved in the community, just like you, and so to be able to represent the county in a lot of spaces and places that I was already in, that it wants to be represented at, is a blessing.

- You know what's special about having a spouse, and I'll use me and you as examples, is we, you know, when we walk into a room, if there's 100 people, typically, and I'm not bragging, but you typically know most of the people in the room and so they gravitate automatically to you and then I'm sitting here sometimes, and the older I got, I'm like, "Wait a minute, Laura's over here and no one ever really says hi to her."

Or they say hi to her a second.

- [Andre] Yeah.

- And so I had to start not only accepting that and acknowledging that, but also appreciating that she's on the same journey as I am, it just happens to be that I'm, you know, and I think about with you 'cause your family's, you're a lot younger than me and so and you have a great family and so, you know, there's times when you sit there and it's what you do, but it's easy to say it, it's hard to do it all the time, right?

- Yeah, that balance is tough.

We were talking about it earlier.

It is tough and so I try to be her cheerleader when I can and so I like to refer to her, she's the steak and I'm the asparagus on the plate.

You need us both, but she's the most important.

- Yeah, that's funny, yeah.

All right, leadership and commitment.

- Yeah, so it's just being a leader in this space and really trying to create buy-in and commitment for this work and I'm fortunate, you know, I report to Scott Sorrel, our County Administrator.

He's committed to the work.

I'm part of our senior leadership team, so right now I've been in this knowledge-finding stage and just meeting with different department heads and elected officials and things of that nature and wanting our leaders to know that I'm committed to this work and I wanna know what their definitions of DEI are for their respective units and how can I get their buy-in and how can I get their allyship because the one thing that I tell people all the time, it doesn't matter what initiative that you're championing, DEI, I'll use the example Breast Cancer Awareness.

It's a huge, huge initiative, rightfully so.

Susan G. Komen Foundation does a great job, but the reason why it is such a prevalent awareness around that disease, not because people who have breast cancer are the ones championing it, it's because the others are championing as well.

- [Matt] It makes you feel good too.

- It makes you feel good and so a lot of time in life, we wait for things to touch our front door to then have a level of empathy, compassion, understanding.

It doesn't have to hit your front door to have a level of empathy or compassion for you to support it and so that's what I always try to tell people is, especially in this work of diversity, equity, inclusion, you may not understand, or some of these issues that we're saying to you in the professional development opportunities, they may not be a kitchen table topic for your family, but it doesn't mean that you can't have a level of empathy, understanding, and you can be an ally.

- And strive to learn.

- And strive to learn.

- You know, how many leaders do you talk to and they say all the time, "Every day I wake up I wanna learn something new."

Or, "I just wanna be able to have a great 2023."

Just learn, just listen.

- Yep.

- [Matt] Shut your mouth sometimes and just listen.

- [Andre] God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason, you know, so use them ears.

- Do you have any other priorities before we go on the next?

- [Andre] Yeah.

- I know you got a million.

- Yeah, yeah, no.

- [Matt] What's at top of mind right now for you?

- So top of mind right now is I want to do a climate study of the organization to see where we are so that way we establish a baseline.

- [Matt] And that's internally.

- Internally.

Then I wanna create a strategic plan for the county of what DEI looks like for us.

And then from there, we've got a couple of large projects coming up.

We've got the City County Health Department getting built, and so looking at some of our procurement processes just to make sure that we have the minority participation, you know, things of that nature, so those are some other initiatives and priorities of mine as well too.

- Yeah, I mean, you're gonna be busy.

- [Andre] I'm gonna be busy, I'm gonna be busy.

- And you're gonna be studying a lot.

- Yeah, absolutely, and this is why I tell people that this work is patient because you really have to get in there and get organized and find the three or four pillars that you wanna focus on and it's very easy to get pulled in a lot of different ways, but I'm a ready, aim, fire type guy.

I keep the gun and the holster and until I analyze my target and know where I'm going for, so I'm excited and I have support, again, from Scott, and our administrative staff as well too.

- And think about this, some of the people that you work with on a daily basis, I mean, let's say Police Chief Echevarria, relatively new to the area, new mindset, new thoughts.

Jamie Harwood, a pro, Coroner.

He is the most empathetic soul there is.

- Yeah.

- Sheriff Watkins, and the list goes on.

You have an opportunity to be around leader after leader and to be able to talk about what your initiatives are in a way where it's gonna be like you're going back to college.

- It is, it is, and we have great leaders here in Peoria.

We've got seasoned veterans, but we're also seeing a new wave of leadership as well too, which makes it exciting, so, and we've got people that are willing to listen and come to the table.

I attended a big table event a few weeks ago sponsored by the Peoria Chamber of Commerce and when you can bring so many different people from so many different walks of life and shared experience with the common goal of making this region the best that it can be, oh, that's a beautiful thing.

- And when we're talking region, I know you work for Peoria County, but what you do affects other areas too.

It'll affect Bloomington, it'll trickle into, you know, surrounding cities and Galesburg and you name it, and that's where that collaboration piece, 'cause you know how people talk about collaboration all the time.

I always call 'em out on it.

You don't even know what collaboration is, you're just saying it.

But in your position, you're actually gonna be able to collaborate with power to these other surrounding cities and make change.

When you talk about region, I'm thinking all of middle Illinois or I'm thinking of the state of Illinois, I'm not just thinking Peoria County.

So that's how I'm thinking, just so you know.

So mentors, we've talked about this many times, but you know, when you look at mentors, how much have they affected where you're at today?

And I'm talking even at a young age, 10 years ago, you know, because I know you're that guy that has that thirst for learning more.

Talk to me about mentors real quick.

- Wouldn't be here without 'em.

First mentor is my dad.

That's someone who I can call.

- [Matt] That's where I was going at.

- Yeah.

- [Matt] That's where I was going, the dad.

- I could call Big Dre.

His name's Andre as well too.

I call Big Dre with the good, the bad, the ugly, you know, and that's my guy and he is got my back, you know, and so that's my first mentor.

And then as I continue to keep growing and getting in different spaces and things of that nature, then you find other mentors that may align where you are professionally.

So, you know, I definitely had mentors within higher education when I was in that field.

You know, fraternity brothers.

One of my fraternity brothers is the Vice President of Student Affairs at Illinois State.

I connect with him.

Dr. Rita Ali, before she was the mayor, I was connecting with her at ICC.

- The reason why I say this is because over time, what you've done is you've started collecting people, so to speak, and you put 'em in this little box over here and you've got all these people.

Well anyway, love what you're doing, keep it up.

Thank you for what you're doing, not only City Council, but in this new position.

- Thank you.

- And love to your family.

Andre Allen, I'm Matt George, and another episode of "Business Forward."

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