The American Diversity Initiative is a company that sells online courses that train company employees and individuals on critical race theory-aligned diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. ¹ The courses provide guidelines for acceptable and unacceptable behaviors regarding interacting and communicating with individuals of various ethnicities, cultures, religions, and LGBT identities. ²

Background

The American Diversity Initiative was created as an offshoot of Minority Executive Search International, Minority Executive Search, the Canadian Diversity Initiative, and Bluenose and Company. ³

The American Diversity Initiative’s courses train individuals and employees of companies on how to interact and communicate with individuals of different backgrounds and identities. It states the guidelines are designed for businesses to implement policies “where all individuals have equal access to growth and advancement.” ⁴

Services for Businesses

The American Diversity Initiative advertises its services for businesses to prevent companies from receiving lawsuits or a damaged reputation for not complying with critical race theory-aligned DEI initiatives. ⁵

The American Diversity Initiative offers courses that are customizable to include messaging related to the contracted company’s internal policies and guidelines for how a contracted company’s employees are expected to comply with the DEI policies. It also offers consulting services, including strategies for incorporating critical race theory-aligned DEI hiring practices. ⁶

Professional Training Programs

The American Diversity Initiative offers an LGBT “inclusion” course that it sells for $49.95 on its website. The course discusses different gender identities and forms of sexuality. The course also discusses how LGBT individuals should be addressed and defines “respectful terminology and pronouns” to be used. The American Diversity Initiative’s LGBT inclusion course claims that individuals hold biases that allegedly adversely affect LGBT people. As a result, the course trains individuals to behave in ways it claims are necessary for LGBT people to feel respected and welcomed. The training also addresses what it claims are welcoming responses to behaviors specific to LGBT people. ⁷

The American Diversity Initiative offers several DEI training courses for various professional settings, ranging from $32.95 to $44.95. The courses train individuals to “embrace and celebrate” all ethnicities, cultures, religions, and identities and sexualities associated with the LGBT community. Additionally, it trains individuals on how to interact and communicate with individuals of all identities and cultures in a way that it claims is respectful. The American Diversity Initiative’s DEI courses outline noncompliant behaviors related to critical race theory-aligned DEI initiatives and advise companies on how to reprimand such behaviors. ⁸

The American Diversity Initiative’s course on “how to reduce unconscious bias” in a company’s hiring practices sells for $285. The course claims that hiring managers unknowingly discriminate against individuals in their hiring processes due to having so-called “unconscious” bias. It trains individuals on how it claims they can identify ways that they are unknowingly discriminatory, according to DEI. ⁹

The American Diversity Initiative sells an “Unconscious Bias Workplace Training” course on its website for $39.95. The advertisement for the course claims that all individuals are unknowingly biased, leading to unhealthy work environments and ineffective business decisions. It claims the training will allow individuals to identify their “unconscious bias.” ¹⁰

People

Eral Burks is the founder and president of the American Diversity Initiative. Burks is a cofounder of Minority Executive Search and a partner of Minority Executive Search International. He performs speaking engagements for companies and professional societies on how they can adopt left-of-center diversity policies. ¹¹

1. “DEI Training Online.” American Diversity Initiative, September 26, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/.
2. “Diversity and Inclusion Training Courses – DEI Online Courses.” American Diversity Initiative, November 9, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/courses/.
3. “About.” American Diversity Initiative, August 2, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/about/.
4. “Diversity and Inclusion Workplace Training.” American Diversity Initiative, July 14, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/courses/diversity-inclusion-workplace-training/.
5. “Custom Solutions.” American Diversity Initiative, August 2, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/custom-solutions/.
6. “Custom Solutions.” American Diversity Initiative, August 2, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/custom-solutions/.
7. “Diversity and Inclusion Training Courses – DEI Online Courses.” American Diversity Initiative, November 9, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/courses/.
8. “Diversity and Inclusion Training Courses – DEI Online Courses.” American Diversity Initiative, November 9, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/courses/.
9. ^[1] “Diversity and Inclusion Training Courses – DEI Online Courses.” American Diversity Initiative, November 9, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/courses/.
10. “Diversity and Inclusion Training Courses – DEI Online Courses.” American Diversity Initiative, November 9, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/courses/.
11. “About.” American Diversity Initiative, August 2, 2023. https://americandiversityinitiative.com/about/.