Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Re-branded DEIA office targets removing barriers to employment opportunityPublished Oct. 16, 2021
                    
                    By Marisa Alia-Novobilski
                    
                    
                    Air Force Materiel Command
            **WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFNS) --**The **Air Force Materiel Command** continues to amplify efforts to ensure all Airmen; uniformed and non-uniformed, have the right environment and opportunities to achieve and succeed.
Ensuring the current structure is named accordingly for all aspects of opportunity, the command has rebranded the office charged with leading the efforts across the enterprise, resulting in a new “DEIA” acronym that encompasses diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility as mission imperatives.
“The Air Force is pursuing diversity as a mission imperative, recognizing that individuals who think alike might not resolve future complex problem sets,” said Keith Tickle, AFMC DEIA Program lead. “The functions under each aspect of DEIA have operationally existed; today we are bringing them to the forefront in a formalized fashion and in accordance with executive orders, legal requirements, and good standard business practice.”
According to Tickle, the change to the office name was driven by the June 25, 2021, release of the **Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce**. The order establishes the baseline for DEIA policy and mandates federal agencies take steps to remove barriers to equal opportunity while recruiting, training, promoting and retaining a diverse workforce.
“D&I (diversity and inclusion) is an overarching term that has been normalized across industry, but in an effort to look deeper at the components of diversity and inclusion, DEIA now allows those activities that are employed under the previous Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion umbrella to have their own identity,” Tickle said. “Looking at these DEIA functions independently allows greater scrutiny to our processes to ensure activities are addressing quantitatively and qualitatively the underserved communities across the employment spectrum.”
To distinguish between each aspect of DEIA focus efforts, AFMC has defined each as follows:
Diversity: The practice of including the many communities, identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, cultures, and beliefs of the American people, including underserved communities.

Equity: The consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment.

Inclusion: The recognition, appreciation, and use of the talents and skills of employees of all backgrounds.

Accessibility: The design, construction, development, and maintenance of facilities, information and communication technology, programs, and services so that all people, including people with disabilities, can fully and independently use them. Accessibility includes the provision of accommodations and modifications to ensure equal access to employment and participation in activities for people with disabilities; the reduction or elimination of physical and attitudinal barriers to equitable opportunities; a commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities can independently access every outward-facing and internal activity or electronic space; and the pursuit of best practices such as universal design.
While the overall DEIA office mission focus is to, “strive to attract, recruit, develop and retain a high quality, diverse Total Force, ensuring a culture of inclusion in order to leverage the diversity of the nation for strategic advantage in Air Force, joint and coalition operations,” three branches will execute specific diversity management and equal opportunity programs.

These are:

Affirmative Employment (DEE): The Affirmative Employment Program Manager will develop action plans, implement, and manage the installation’s Affirmative Employment Program and the Air Force Special Emphasis Programs. This branch includes the Disability Program Manager who will communicate the needs of individuals with disabilities and information relevant to ensuring Air Force compliance with affirmative employment initiatives and federal law, to include barrier and trend analysis and subsequent recommendations for eliminating unlawful employment practices and procedures.

Equal Opportunity (DEH): This office will work to ensure equal opportunity compliance, provide proactive human relations services, and champion the Air Force policy of zero tolerance for unlawful discrimination and sexual harassment for all agency employees, Air Force members, and tenants.

Resource Advocacy (DER): Resource Advocacy will lead strategic communication and other messaging to highlight diversity and inclusion value at the individual, organizational, and operational levels.
“The DEIA office continues to grow and evolve as the mission dictates. However, regardless of our acronym or name, our mission will remain the same: remove all barriers to ensure that all of our Airmen; regardless of military or civilian status, can achieve and succeed,” Tickle said.AFWN 



USAF 



AF 



Air Force 



AFMC 



Air Force Materiel Command 



diversity 



inclusion 



DEIA 



barrier 



employment 



opportunity 



equity 



accessibility Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fight
                    
                    SecAF Kendall AFA Warfare Symposium Q&A: Reoptimizing for Great Power CompetitionInnovation
                AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalists
                    
                    Chief Digital, Artificial Intelligence Office to host hackathon in HawaiiMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil