Inclusion and valuing diversity have been important themes within NCFR for several decades. The Inclusion and Diversity Committee (IDC) began as a spontaneous, informal expression of members deeply committed to valuing diversity. Many readers might associate the IDC with NCFR's Ethnic Minority Section from which many of its earliest members emerged. However over the years, members from other sections and focus groups were increasingly active in shaping both the activities and goals of the IDC. Eventually, the IDC was incorporated as a Board committee to emphasize its importance within the organization. This brief article will provide readers with a short history of the IDC, a list of some of its achievements, and finally, suggest ways members might get involved with its work.

A complete history of the IDC is presented in a previous article (NCFR Report, Summer 2010, Vol.55.2), but some important points to know are that the IDC emerged from an ongoing dialogue that spanned several annual conferences. These discussions were primarily about the growing need for attention to diversity within NCFR and the family science field. From the beginning participants understood that families and family forms were varying in a wide range of domains beyond ethnicity and culture. Thus, there was (and continues to be) a pressing need for family research, education, and practice to reflect this increasing diversity in more nuanced ways than simply noting the physical characteristics (e.g., skin color) of research subjects, students or clients. Similarly, the methods used to study, teach about, and work with families have needed to evolve in ways that maximize our ability to account for the complexity of family relationships (rather than simply our ability to replicate what we think we already know). This has often meant integrating research methods, teaching styles, and clinical tools from differing disciplines in order to better serve the needs of families and the relationships they encounter.

To this end, IDC developed a definition of diversity intended to guide its work. This definition provided a common starting point for NCFR members to use in their efforts at incorporating family diversity in their research and practice. The next logical step was for the IDC to reach out to NCFR members in order to understand better their lived experience of inclusion and diversity within the organization. This was the rationale for the recent NCFR Inclusion and Diversity Member Survey in which many of you participated. The survey produced a wealth of information, some of it never before collected from and about NCFR's membership.

Although the data analysis process continues, a few preliminary findings emerging from the survey are worth noting. These include the following:

• The majority of NCFR members who responded to the survey reported more experiences of feeling supported and respected (inclusion) than experiences of feeling marginalized (exclusion).
• Ethnicity, political affiliation, and religious affiliation were among the factors influencing the exclusion experiences of some members.
• Relatively newer members of NCFR (less than five years) were less likely to report feeling excluded than members with 11 to 20 years in the organization.

As mentioned before, these are very preliminary findings and more analysis is needed to understand them. For instance, we are not sure what time frame members may have been using to answer questions about their inclusion or exclusion experiences. It is also unclear which groups might be more (or less) at risk for experiencing feelings of exclusion. (For example, although political affiliation appeared to be an important factor, it might cause an NCFR member with a particular political view to feel "at home" while leaving another member with a differing view feeling like an "outsider.") But these results also suggest hopeful insights about membership growth and development. For example, the preliminary findings suggest that NCFR is doing a good job providing newcomers with welcoming, inclusive membership experiences. NCFR may want to continue to pay close attention to newer members to ensure that they have opportunities to find their place in the organization. This might take the form of increased communications to and with new members, or greater opportunities for mentoring with others, not just at the new member's home institution, but across the organization.

Although the initial quantitative analysis of members' responses has been an important first step, there are questions emerging from the preliminary findings that can more readily be answered by in-depth, qualitative analysis. A qualitative task force within the IDC has been formed to facilitate a deeper analysis of the membership survey. The task force will include members of the Qualitative Family Research Network Focus Group (QFRN) who will work collaboratively to develop a richer, more comprehensive understanding of membership inclusion and exclusion experiences. This knowledge, in turn, should facilitate NCFR's continuing effort to effectively incorporate the views and talents of all its members in our work together.

The recent membership survey should be viewed as part of a larger process of on-going discernment (rather than a one-time event) for several reasons. Due to the fact that NCFR is a multi-disciplinary body, one snapshot is unlikely to capture its complexity at any given time. Moreover, the dynamic nature of the field demands that we keep our collective finger on the pulse of what members are doing and how they think about what they are doing. Issues and methods that were significant 20 years ago may seem less important 20 years from now. As NCFR, the families it studies, and the world in which it operates all become increasingly diverse, we will need to periodically look inward and ask whether or not our organizational processes facilitate (or hinder) our work.

Thus, looking forward, a major role for the IDC is to facilitate a continuing dialogue among NCFR members about how to harness its diversity as a resource, rather than an obstacle. Members play a critical role in that process. This article is one step in educating members about the IDC's work. Another effort already underway is IDC work with and for key stakeholders within NCFR (like the Board, the Affiliate Councils, Sections, Focus Groups, and the Annual Conference Program Planning Committee). The IDC is working to find additional, collaborative opportunities like these to build its understanding of membership experiences while sharing that knowledge more widely throughout the organization. Therefore we welcome and appreciate suggestions from all NCFR members.

Most of all, the IDC has been and continues to be a focal point for the organization's efforts to be inclusive of all its members and to faithfully represent and encourage the spectrum of views within the membership. We encourage members to continue to be open to the views of others even when these may appear to differ or even be diametrically opposed to our own. Judging from our past history, it seems we too easily forget our shared commitment to families when too narrowly focused on the one or two issues on which we disagree. It is that tendency to highlight narrow differences at the expense of shared common goals and experiences that seems at the heart of our political crises here in the United States and around the world. Perhaps we can show the world something better…