SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Choir, a diversity-tech platform and certification for finance conferences, today launched Safety by State: a free and interactive tool that provides real-time, state-by-state policy information about both abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights and protections for those planning or attending industry events.
Choir’s tool aggregates public data about each state’s reproductive healthcare access policies, and policies that impact the LGBTQ+ community (such as legal protection against hate crimes or discrimination, for example). Users can choose from a variety of search functions to find and compare policies state-by-state and determine whether the conferences they are planning, or attending, are in states whose laws could put participants at risk.
“I recognize that for many people in our industry, state healthcare and human rights legislation are not necessarily top of mind when considering which conferences to attend,” said Liv Gagnon, co-founder of Choir. “But if we want to create an industry where all people are represented, we must listen to - and advocate for - those who are most impacted by inequitable systems.”
Safety by State is offered in alignment with Choir’s platform, which was created to lift the voices of women, non-binary people, and people of color on conference stages and in the media across financial services. Since launching in January, Choir unveiled the first-ever conference diversity certification and has mobilized nearly 300 event speakers, sponsors, and attendees to collectively urge financial industry conferences to meet basic safety and representation standards via the Choir Pledge. Choir plans to expand into other industries next year.
In addition, this fall, Choir will launch the beta version of Voices Search, a platform that enables conference planners and journalists to search for expert speakers and sources within a database of hundreds of women, non-binary people, and people of color financial professionals.
“Safety, both at a conference, and outside of the event venue, is a concern for many conference attendees, especially those attendees from underrepresented groups,” said Sonya Dreizler, co-founder of Choir. “We provide many safety and inclusion resources and tools to the conferences that work with Choir. While conference location does not factor into Certification criteria, we felt it was important to provide this information for the event teams we work with, and also make this resource public so all planners and attendees can make informed decisions, whatever those decisions may be.”
To access Safety by State, visit hellochoir.com/safety-by-state.
For organizations interested in joining the waiting list for Voices Search, contact Liv Gagnon at liv@hellochoir.com. For media inquiries, visit media@hellochoir.com.
About Choir
Choir, LLC (“Choir”) is the financial industry’s first conference diversity certification and a diversity-tech platform focused on amplifying the voices of financial professionals who are women, non-binary people, and people of color. Creator of the Choir CertificationTM and Choir ScoreTM, the company aims to make conferences more representative of the U.S. population by helping organizations identify and reach clear and actionable speaker diversity benchmarks. A full list of Choir Certified Conferences is available at hellochoir.com. The company is based in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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