In an effort to ensure nurses are culturally competent and better able to provide care to their patients and families, the Ohio Action Coalition created a toolkit to improve recruitment and retention of nurses with racial, ethnic and gender diversity. Using statewide diversity data, the toolkit provides strategies for implementing a diversity recruitment plan, including:

• Complete a gap analysis of the federal Office of Minority Health’s national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) in health and health care to identify gaps between the workforce and communities served.
• Meet with executive leadership to create awareness about CLAS standards and areas of responsibility and present needs and initiatives to reflect communities served.
• Require collaboration with all levels of the organization to engage in diverse strategies.