Guidebook Helps Conservation Professionals Reach Underserved Communities

The Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) has released a guidebook titled A Conservation Professionals’ Guide to Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Conservation Delivery with Historically Underserved Producers and Communities. This publication serves as a resource for conservation professionals and policymakers to understand the barriers historically underserved communities face in implementing conservation practices and how to equitably address these barriers to provide community-led conservation technical assistance that meets the specific needs of historically underserved producers and communities. This guidebook details these barriers and provides actionable recommendations for how conservation professionals can work to address them as they go through the nine-step conservation planning process. Importantly, the guidebook adds a preparatory phase that includes self-education on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues, trust and relationship building, and intentional outreach. This guidebook also provides language recommendations, term and acronym explanations, national policy recommendations, and helpful reading materials and resources.