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Secret Service to celebrate diversity with ‘Unity Day’

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The Secret Service will be observing “Unity Day,” an event to promote inclusion and cultural awareness, next week.

According to Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan, “Unity Day” is about promoting harmony and recognizing various ethnic groups’ contributions within the agency.

“Unity Day is an event comprised of various observances and activities designed to enhance cross-cultural awareness, and to encourage and promote interaction, inclusion, understanding, teamwork, harmony, pride and mutual respect within the Secret Service workforce,” Donovan wrote in an emailed statement to TheDC.

“The Secret Service has deemed it important and necessary to pay homage to the contributions and accomplishments that various ethnic groups, other cultures, and people with disabilities have made to the American culture,” he added.

Donovan declined to elaborate on what kinds of observances and activities the agency will hold.

The Secret Service is slated to observe “Unity Day” on July 26, Miami Secret Service Bureau Chief Paula Reid confirmed.

“We are participating in Unity Day, but this will be an offshoot from what is being managed by our headquarters in Washington, D.C. There are people across our agency who are doing it, but it is being steered by the Office of Equal Employment in Washington, D.C,” she explained to The Daily Caller.

The Secret Service has been observing “Unity Day” since 2011, according to the Secret Service’s fiscal year annual report for that year.

“On July 27, the Secret Service held the first Unity Day, recognizing and celebrating employees’ diverse backgrounds and cultures,” the report reads.

“The celebration highlighted ‘heritage, history, and harmony’ with displays, workshops, presentations and cultural demonstrations designed to enhance cross-cultural awareness,” it adds.

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