CHESTER, Pa. — Power Home Remodeling hosted their fifth annual Cultural Diversity & Inclusion Summit in Atlanta, spearheaded by the company's Cultural Diversity & Inclusion (CD&I) Initiative. Power welcomed more than 350 employees from 18 different territories across the country to educate one another, build stronger bonds, and set goals for the year ahead to continue driving their diversity and inclusion efforts forward.

With a desire to create more understanding of ourselves and others while dismantling preconceived notions, this year's Summit theme focused on both individual and collective identity. The three-day event included a surprise guest speaker, interactive installations focused on self-reflection and identity, and smaller group breakout sessions for relationship-building among employees. This year's CD&I Summit was the largest to date and first one held outside of Power's Chester, Pa. headquarters.

Since 2017, Power's CD&I Initiative has hosted their Summit — a three-day event dedicated to providing shared knowledge and experiences amongst employees to ultimately create more inclusivity and equity within the business. During the event, conversations are facilitated surrounding topics like race, sexual orientation, intersectionality, immigration, leadership development amongst the underrepresented population, allyship, and smaller, more intimate gatherings and sessions are held in an effort to cultivate more authentic connections with coworkers.

"As an organization that's truly committed to diversity and inclusion, we can't just talk the talk. Real progress and change only occur when action is taken," said Olumidé Cole, Power's director of Cultural Diversity & Inclusion. "But action starts with education and awareness. Our annual CD&I Summit is just one way in which we're instilling more awareness amongst our people, which is especially important in a world that's so polarized. It's a ripple effect. With awareness comes empathy, and with empathy comes real change and more meaningful connections — both inside and outside of Power's walls."

Since its inception in 2017, Power's CD&I Initiative has increased representation of underrepresented groups to 26%, spurred policy change, launched unconscious bias and micro-aggression trainings, created employee resource groups, and kickstarted programming like "Woke-ish" — a national platform dedicated to facilitating tough conversations in the workplace and help employees become more aware and inclusive. But most importantly, the initiative has fostered a culture of respect for all, building champions for employees in a safe, honest, loving, accepting and inclusive environment yielding impactful progress.