Committed to encompassing the needs of our community 

At KWAX, we are committed to supporting the diverse Western Oregon community. We strive to reflect this commitment through all our platforms and formats and at all levels of our organization. The following Diversity Statement is in addition to the commitment to diversity and inclusion of all University of Oregon departments and programs. 

Diversity and inclusion goals for KWAX include:

• Recruit and retain a diverse workforce that is representative of our service area.
• Provide equal opportunity in employment.
• Educate our management and staff annually in best practices for maintaining an inclusive and diverse environment for all persons.
• Assist in developing a more diverse future workforce with professional skills in the broadcasting/media industry by recruiting diverse candidates for any internship and work-study student opportunities that may be made available.

KWAX diversity and inclusion efforts going forward will focus on:

• The consideration of diverse topics including race, gender, disability, geography, religious belief, age, culture, sexual orientation, physicality, education, professional experience and socio-economic status in the development of our regular and special programming.
• Recruitment efforts to broaden the diversity of our staff when job opportunities are available by seeking out qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds and who have diverse perspectives.
• Engagement with our listeners to understand and respect unique perspectives and experiences to continually improve our broadcasts.
• An annual review with the university’s Board of Trustees to ensure our practices are designed to fulfill KWAX’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and annual training for all KWAX employees on harassment, diversity, and inclusion to ensure compliance with federal and state laws; including FCC, the station’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Diversity Eligibility Criteria.

KWAX is committed to involving more people from diverse backgrounds in all aspects of operations from hiring to volunteering to programming and community engagement. Through this commitment, KWAX employees and audience members will feel valued and empowered to contribute their ideas and perspectives to the station. In turn, KWAX will more completely represent its community. Our diversity and inclusion objectives, and progress towards achieving them, will be assessed annually to ensure they align with our service and talent objectives.

Updated January 2, 2025