These past few weeks have reminded me that courage and creativity often emerge in the most uncertain times. I’m deeply grateful to Ron Rapatalo, Niko Cook, S. Lovey Parker, Lekisha Middleton, and Tanya Martinez-Gallinucci for inviting me to your podcasts, mastermind meetings and conferences to share and continue conversations that challenge us to lead with purpose and resilience.

One recurring theme in these conversations was the future of our workforces. What will our offices, colleges and schools look like in the next 5, 10, 20 years due to this presidential administration’s Executive Orders and regulatory priorities? As many DEI initiatives were scaled back during office closures, reorganizations, and program eliminations, ERGs often became the last standing structures for connection and advocacy. The challenge now is to make them sustainable. I want to offer you an approach that I have used.

When I served as Chief Diversity Officer, my guiding strategy was simple: find the organization’s pain points and align DEI efforts to address them. ERGs became vital sources of professional development and early indicators of systemic issues — like the lack of psychological safety or unclear promotion pathways — that started small but impacted many. They were the hidden heartbeat of the organization. To ensure they were taken seriously, I required ERGs to submit formal budget requests, just like any other department. By tying funding to organizational priorities, their budgets increased by an average of 30%, and so did their influence.

If you would like a copy of the ERG Budget Tracker Template that I created, please click here.