Launched in 2013, Turner Construction Company’s Pride Alliance is an employee resource group within Turner dedicated to celebrating diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity and championing gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgender and queer people as equal and valuable Turner employees. Pride Alliance is a network of coworkers made up of both LGBTQ staff and their allies, individuals who have dedicated themselves to supporting their peers.
The local chapter of the Pride Alliance in Turner’s Philadelphia Office kicked off in April 2018 with an Ally Training event, followed by its first volunteer event, painting a corridor at the William Way LGBT Community Center as part of Turner Founders’ Day of Service. This year, the Pride Alliance expanded its Founders’ Day activities with a second project at the William Way – donating and building shelving for their files, prepping materials for their gala event, and folding t-shirts – as well as serving dinner to the LGBTQ youth of the Attic Youth Center.
Other Pride Alliance activities coming up in 2019 include volunteering at the Philly Pride Parade & Festival on Sunday, June 9th, and participating in AIDS Walk Philly this fall.
The Pride Alliance was created to pursue the following goals:
- Retention – making sure Turner’s field and office culture is such that employees of all sexual orientations feel connected and effective in their responsibilities without worrying about others’ biases
- Recruitment – marketing Turner to the best and brightest students, including those who identify as LGBTQ, showcasing our organizational opportunity and support
- Membership – communicating the network’s existence to employees of all sexual orientations; those who identify as LGBTQ are made aware they have opportunities for representation as well as camaraderie; straight allies have a medium to express their support
- Programming – organizing social and service events where members and allies can congregate, converse, and form relationships while networking or volunteering with community groups
- Governance – working with Turner’s human resources to verify that all Turner employees, regardless of sexual orientation or federal/state laws, are afforded the same health and financial benefits
- Training – spreading diversity awareness to the entire employee network through various types of learning sessions and guest speakers
- Partnerships – collaborating with companies in the A/E/C industry to trade information about best practices and form bonds with peers
Click below for more photos of Turner’ 2019 Founders’ Day, including more photos of the Pride Alliance: