Since I moved several replies around, I think this is a good point to recap the suggestions that have come in so far. We’ve tried to group them thematically and paraphrase with links back to the original comment(s).
For brevity, I’ve used the acronym BIPOC which is short for Black, Indigenous, People of Color.
Outreach
- highlight more BIPOC in Observations of the Day/Week (pisum, eric_hunt)
- proactively reach out to organizations working to support BIPOC in related realms (paloma, pisum, alecc, eric_hunt)
- promote iNaturalist in indigenous communities (simono) and incorporate indigenous expertise (questagame)
- more support for teachers/schools who may be serving BIPOC communities (pisum)
- more local outreach (e.g. in Oakland, CA) (alecc)
- toolkit/starter package/resources (simono)
- work with vocational rehabilitation programs (mira_l_b)
- directly fundraise/support outreach programs (teellbee)
- develop a scalable model for onboarding school clubs (pisum)
- tool lending library (pisum)
- workshop/coding camp/hackathon with/for BIPOC (pisum)
- add identifications and otherwise support users/areas/projects that are representing BIPOC (charlie, pisum)
Staffing
- grow the team by hiring BIPOC for a more diverse iNat staff (eric_hunt, rupertclayton)
- lose some current non-BIPOC staff and replace them with BIPOC to create a more diverse staff (tallastro, eric_hunt)
- support CalAcademy’s efforts to diversify staff through hiring BIPOC (eric_hunt, rupertclayton)
- support CalAcademy and Nat Geo in diversifying their boards (eric_hunt)
Places and Maps on iNaturalist
- increase visibility of indigenous places and history (this is now a whole separate thread)
- iNaturalist community members can add locally significant places as “community curated” places (pisum)
Languages
- more web and app features to support the use of multiple languages simultaneously (jbbohan, robotpie)
- more local language common names (note: anyone can add these one at a time from a taxon page or request a bulk addition using this template) (jbbohan, trh_blue, dhugallindsay).
iNaturalist functionality
- design and build for lower-tech devices, low bandwidth, and poor connectivity (simono, pisum)
- group accounts (questagame)
Spending
- support BIPOC owned establishments/companies/vendors (pisum)
Merchandise
- offer iNat shirts in multiple colors for better visibility (simono, botanicaltreasures, star3)
Philosophy
- pay people for observations & expertise (questagame)
- decentralize the system (questagame)
Does this capture all of the main themes so far? What others might be missing? Did I miss anything in this review? (If so, I apologize for the omission). Are there other useful ways to organize these suggestions?