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Prepared by Kayla O’Regan
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Advancing Equity and Inclusion in Somerville
July 2016
Baseline Report and Initial Recommendations
AcknowledgementsThis document is a product of individual research and national cooperation intended to reflect the commitment of the City of Somerville to reducing inequity and advancing equity across the community.
For their contributions to this report, a special thank you to:
Candace Cooper, Deputy Director of Human Resources, Somerville
Doug Kress, Director of Health & Human Services, Somerville
Leanna Barlow, SomerStat
Julie Nelson, Government Alliance on Race and Equity
Elliot Bronstein, Seattle Office of Civil Rights
Alison T. Brill, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Jessica Vasquez Torres, Crossroads Anti-Racism
Katrina Farren-Eller, Inclusive Dubuque
Ben Duncan, Multnomah County Chief Diversity & Equity Officer
Shirronda Almeida, Mel King Institute
For more information related to this report, please contact myself or the co-leads:
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Candace Cooper: [email protected]
Doug Kress: [email protected]
Kayla O’Regan: [email protected]
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements..............................................................................................................................2
Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................4
Introduction: Where Somerville Stands.......................................................................................................6
Internal Indicators...........................................................................................................................6
External Indicators........................................................................................................................10
In Comparison with our Neighbors........................................................................................................13
Human Resources......................................................................................................................................18
Training..............................................................................................................................................18
Diversifying Workforce................................................................................................................20
Racial Equity Toolkit.........................................................................................................................23
Infrastructure......................................................................................................................................27
Work Plans................................................................................................................................................31
Networks/Partnerships....................................................................................................................33
Community Engagement.................................................................................................................35
Work of Other Cities.........................................................................................................................39
Boston.................................................................................................................................................39
Seattle................................................................................................................................................41
Madison (Wisconsin).....................................................................................................................42
Portland (Oregon)..........................................................................................................................43
Saint Paul..........................................................................................................................................44
Recommendations..............................................................................................................................45
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Executive SummarySomerville has long prided itself on being a diverse community, famous for celebrations of culture, and for being an accepting community towards all marginalized groups, from the LGBTQ community to immigrants from all over the world. Despite being progressive, Somerville is challenged by inequities across the city.
Somerville is ready to take a stand against inequity and foster a community that is a place where everyone, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, or any other facet of identity, can thrive. It is the purpose of this report to provide the city’s current status on equity, and to provide recommendations to city leadership that may help advance equity in Somerville.
To create this report, intensive research is presented to provide a profile of Somerville at its current status and compare it to neighboring communities and cities across the country. Furthermore, in seeking to discover what other cities have done to advance equity within their own community, I reached out to prominent figures from around the country that work in the world of diversity and equity and were able to offer hard-earned advice and material that will aid Somerville as we attempt to follow a similar path.
What is equity?
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Although ‘equality’ and ‘equity’ are often used interchangeably, the concepts are actually quite different. As the Government Alliance on Race and Equityputs it, “Equity is about fairness, while equality is about sameness.” The central feature of equity requires taking into consideration what opportunities someone may or may not have based on things like race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, etc. It requires acknowledging that
The goal of an equity initiative is not simply to close the gaps between, for example, whites and blacks, but to increase the success of all groups. It is important to keep in mind that advancing equity benefits everyone, not just those who are being the least well-served by existing institutions.
Other leaders in equity have advised that rather than addressing inequities across multiple identity lines at once, some cities have found that it is better to begin with a specific focus on racial equity, because what benefits people of color will benefit everyone. Also, it allows communities to identify successes and obsticals before expanding the project to include other types of equity, such as: gender, sexual orientation, religious representation, and multilingualism.
There are many, many steps involved in the fight against inequity. Making a real difference takes time, commitment, and the awareness that advancing equity will not be easy. However, there are steps the government can begin to take right away to combat inequity.
An equity initiative will require the involvement of every city department, although some departments will have decidedly more responsibility than others. One of the most important and far-reaching aspects of the initiative is the implementation of an equity framework by the city leadership. This
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framework must be used early and often.1 The Human Resources department will also be heavily involved, working to diversify the city government’s workforce and establish equity as a core value in hiring.2 The initiative will require dedication to community engagement, and a plan to collect and measure data as the initiative is implemented.
Equity will be realized when pieces of a person’s identity (race, gender, disability, etc.) have no detrimental effect on the distribution of resources, opportunities, and outcomes for a group of society.3
For a glossary of important equity-related terms, please see Appendix O.
Introduction: Where Somerville Stands
Internal Indicators
Community Conversations:
In the fall/winter of 2015, The City hosted a series of community conversation about race and racism. Attendees had the opportunity to identify and prioritize issues the City should address. Below is the list in order of importance:
Address the issue of gentrification More education for everyone on what is going on beyond Somerville Meet people where they are Opportunities for more information on other cultures/learning
experience Hiring practices (all levels) A REAL history lesson (anti-racism curriculum in SPS)
1 See the section beginning on page 22. 2 See the section beginning on page 17.3 Julie Nelson, Advancing Racial Equity and Transforming Government: A Resource Guide to Put Ideas into Action, pg 9.
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Diversify community events Diversify elected officials, school, City leadership positions Mayor meet with community organizations Create inclusive/low-income (and extremely low-income) housing to
maintain and continue to diversify the community Identify point person to handle reports of racial incidences (non
SPD)/create a safe, drop-in space at City Hall to discuss sensitive issues
Leadership in city reflect diversity
If we truly value diversity and wish to advance equity, a major goal of this initiative should be to create a municipal government which reflects the community. Historically, people of color and women have been hugely underrepresented in government, and the same holds true for Somerville.
Non-Union Staff Race/Ethnicity Breakdown
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian Other Total
Dept. Head 96% 2% 2% - - 56
Professional 82% 7% 7% 3% 1% 102
Non-manager 81% 6% 13% - - 16
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The tables above show disproportional representation incity employment staff. Most notable is the statistic that 96% of the city’s department heads are white, despite the fact that only 74% of Somerville’s population is white. This trend is consistent in each category. The most diverse employees are found in the police department and at the non-manager level, which is comprised of all other clerical and administrative workers.
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All categories with the exception of the non-union professional category display gender imbalance. It is noted that women are in union professional level at a higher proportion than males. Among department heads, two-thirds are men,while females comprise 88% of non-manager positions and 95% of union clerical positions. These data show that females continue to make up the majority of jobs that have traditionally been viewed as “female dominated fields,” such as secretarial positions, and women have yet to achieve equal representation as bosses.
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The demographics of Somerville teachers are much closer to reflecting the racial composition of the community. At the high school level, the majority of the staff are white and there is a notable underrepresentation of Asians, however the presence of black and Hispanic staff closely mirrors that of the student population. The overall district is not dissimilar but depicts a slight disproportionate represention of other races.
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Demographics of Somerville
Makeup of SHS Teachers All district teachers
External Indicators
It is also important to analyze student achievement to identify disparities connected to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or a combination of all of these factors.
MCAS 2015: English Language Arts Grade 10
English Language Learners (ELL)/Former ELL and black students have the highest percentage of students ranking “needs improvement” or “failing.”. Students with disabilities and ELL students saw the lowest percent achieving advanced marks. It is interesting to note that not a single white student failed the ELA MCAS.
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MCAS 2015: Mathematics, Grade 10
Overall, a higher percentage of students have a failing score in mathematics. Similar to the 2015 ELA chart, ELL/Former ELL students, disabled students, and black students had the highest percentages of failing/needs improvement grades. The same groups have the lowest percent of Advanced scores. Additionally as with ELA scores, white and Asian students outperformed the other groups.
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Although Somerville High is meeting its overall goals or narrowing gaps in performance, it is notable that the targets were not met for ELL students, students with disabilities, and black students, while white students performed at nearly 100%.
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In Comparison with our NeighborsBostonAs the hub of Massachusetts and an intimate neighbor of Somerville, Boston is an important city to use as a case study due to challenges identified in Greater Boston that are direct descendants of the example and practices of Boston. Boston has the greatest inequality in household income out of the 100 largest U.S. cities.4 This extends beyond Boston proper known as Metro Boston (which includes Somerville), in which white families have a median net worth of $247,500, while African-American families have a median net worth of only $8. 5
Under Mayor Walsh, Boston has recognized the need to address the disproportionate inequality that exists within its borders. The city has taken several steps to advance equity.6. Furthermore, the data on Boston may help fill in gaps in data that Somerville lacks,.
4 Mayor Martin Walsh, “Economic Inclusion and Equity Agenda,” 2016.5 Ibid.6 For more information on Boston’s equity work, go to page 37.
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Boston appears to have an even distribution of gender which matches its population of 52% women. However, this statistic includes Boston Public Schools employees; when BPS employees are left out, the gender representation is not as evenly distributed. - Further, when only full-time
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Demographics of Boston
The City of Boston’s workforce is much more diverse than that of Somerville, as shown by the following table. There is still an overrepresentation of whites, but it is less drastic than that of Somerville. Boston documents an overrepresentation of blacks in its municipal workforce, but a significant underrepresentation of Hispanics and Asians.
employees are included, women make up only 28% of city employees despite being 50.45% of Boston’s labor workforce.7
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Similar to Somerville, the public schools are comprised of the most diverse set of employees. Other Boston City Departments are less diverse,however it is more reflective of Boston’sdiversity compared to Somerville.
7 Mayor’s Office of Diversity, “2015 Workforce Report,” 2015.8 I included only a sample of statistics from Boston’s Workforce Profile Report, selecting the ones which are most easily comparable to the table at the beginning of this section.
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At the leadership level, Boston remains more diverse than Somerville, although there is a noticeable overrepresentation of whites and all other races are not proportionally represented.
Boston compared itself to New York City, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, and the wealth inequities are greater in Boston than in all of these other cities. Whites are overrepresented in high-wage jobs, while blacks are overrepresented in low-wage jobs. This information may have an impact on the perception of Somerville’s changing demographics. This should be explored further.
A Note on the Data It is clear that Boston’s data is more comprehensive than Somerville’s. The City has minimal data, both internal and external, making the process of assessing the city’s current status more difficult. To remedy this problem, arecommendation is proposed to institute new practices of acquiring data.
Boston is preparing to unveil an Employee Engagement Survey with the aim of discovering how “[they] are doing as an employer in regards to diversity, professional development, and opportunities for upward mobility.”9
9 Mayor’s Office of Diversity, “2015 Workforce Report,” 2016.
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Conducting such a survey in Somerville would allow for assessing current status in regards to equity, discrimination and a variety of other issues, but for measuring how employees react to the Equity Initiative as it develops and continues.
Similarly, Seattle conducts an internal survey every two years to assess the progress of the city and individual departments in operationalizing equity. The survey found that 86% of city employees find value in examining the impact of race at work, and 60% of employees believe the city is making progress.10 Many cities, including Cambridge, have begun using a biennial employee survey.
For external data, Inclusive Dubuque’s Equity Profile can be seen as an example ofcommunicating with and involving the community. To formulate the Equity Profile, Inclusive Dubuque used a mixture of surveys and community dialogue to gather both quantitative and qualitative equity data. This process humanizes the idea of equity and involves the community in fixing the problem, something that is essential to beginning a project such as this.11
Even if similar measures to these are not ultimately adapted, it is absolutely necessary to begin tracking and measuring changes in data that will reflect any impacts created by this initiative. Another method of tracking equity metrics has been put forth by GARE, called the Racial Equity Scorecard.12
10 Seattle Office for Civil Rights, “Race and Social Justice Initiative Employee Survey 2012 Summary Report,” 2013.11 For more information on the equity profile, please see Appendix A.12 To view the metrics of the Racial Equity Scorecard, please see Appendix B.
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Human Resources
Training
Before we can ask city staff to begin including equity in their daily work, employees must be well-versed in what exactly equity is and why it’s important to their work. Therefore, training for city staff must be the first step taken.
Luckily, there is no shortage of organizations that would be willing to work with Somerville in this respect.
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Mel King Institute: Massachusetts-based community development organization; a representative mentioned that the Somerville Community Corporation is a member of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations and could be a potential host for a training led by the Institute
People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond: famous for a 2-day workshop called Undoing Racism, which is the workshop the city of Seattle uses to train its employees; the People’s Institute will host this workshop from Sept. 22-24th at Urban Edge: 1542 Columbus Ave, Boston.
Crossroads Antiracism: Crossroads offers different types of workshops. One is a “101” type course, a day-long introductory workshop aimed at establishing cultural competency and understanding racism; these are often tailored to meet the specific needs of the group. Crossroads also runs more intensive workshops called Understanding and Analyzing Systemic Racism, which last two and a half days. Crossroads has previously partnered with different cities across the nation and would willingly work with Somerville.
government Alliance on Race and Equity: Alison T. Brill of the Massachusetts DPH thought it would be a good idea for Somerville to team up with the MA DPH to bring GARE out here to run a training for employees of both Somerville and the DPH.
All of these institutions have solid reputations and are dedicated to the eradication of inequity. Key components of the training would include the following:
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the definition of individual, institutional and structural racism the history of public policies which favor whites equity vs. equality explicit and implicit bias applying an equity lens to policies/practices/programs
When implementing training for city staff, there are otherconsiderations. For example, will training be better received if it is framed as professional development? Should we begin with voluntary participants to develop a core of allies before expanding the training to all employees? Or should we begin the training with department heads and the leaders of change teams?13 Does it make sense to provide the same training as provided to city staff to agencies receiving City funding?
My research has shown thatthat the most important goal of training is establishing a common language. “A common language creates a narrative that makes it easier to communicate the commitment to racial equity, both externally and internally, and it creates a platform for coordinated work toward equitable outcomes.”14 Problems will certainly arise if different people mean different things when they talk about “equity”—understandably, it is necessary to have everyone on the same page before and during the project.
Leaders also note that the training will be difficult for all those involved. Some white people may have a hard time believing or understanding some of the things they are hearing, while simultaneously people of color struggle to watch white people learn about the racism they have experienced their whole lives. It would be wise to have mechanisms in place to deal with any strained or upset emotions; for example, the DPH has a list of employees 13 For information on change teams, see pg 25.14 Annie E. Casey Foundation, Race Equity and Inclusion Action Guide: 7 Steps to Advance and Embed Race Equity and Inclusion in your Organization.
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willing to listen to and talk with anyone who has questions or qualms about the process.This could be an opportunity to utilize our in-house trauma response network.
Diversifying Workforce
Although one of the most important points of equity is creating a city government that reflects the community, the data above shows that Somerville is clearly lacking a representative government. As many employees age and approach retirement, the city has as opportunity to more carefully consider diversity as a factor when hiring new employees. When leadership positions become available, underrepresented groups should be carefully considered for the promotion.
However, it is important to take into account turnover rates. For union jobs, there is a turnover rate of about 2%, and for non-union jobs that number is around 12%. This means that only a handful of jobs become available each year, and that these are often lower-level jobs because people rise up in the ranks as higher positions vacate. Therefore, it will take a while to make a significant impact in diversifying the workforce. To see how the city is doing in this practice, look at the new hires each year to discern what percentage are diverse candidates and whether that is reflective of the city.
The Alliance, a local organization of community development organizations committed to racial equity, cited the following three reasons organizations struggle to hire people of color:
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“Internally, by understanding
diverse perspectives, our staffs become
more based in reality;
communications are richer; and overall morale is boosted.”
Organizations fail to expand network of contacts and advertisement for positions (i.e only advertise in the Globe or on Monster.com)
Organizations fail to recognize the disruption, interference and intimidation caused by structural racism
Organizations wait until the job is open, rather than cultivating and mentoring potential candidates of color before openings arise.15
Promotion/Recruitment
To increase diversity in the city’s workforce, steps must be taken from the very earliest phases of promotion and recruitment. The city should host career fairs in places that have previously been untapped, such as universities or lower-income neighborhoods. Also consider attending Diversity Career Fairs and the Commonwealth Career Fair.
To attract more people of color and members of other minority groups to apply for a position, the city should consider where and how we advertise job openings. There is a long list of groups we could advertise to in order to reach more diverse populations,16 but most importantly, Somerville should advertise in newspapers that reach specific groups, like a Brazilian, Portuguese-language paper or a paper for the African-American community. And considering the high number of colleges in the area, it may be a good idea to advertise to ethnic studies departments and associations.
Prosessor Linda Hudson of Tufts put forth the idea of looking at experience as “credit” for college admissions, which would put the application of a person of color into better perspective and perhaps answer questions about the applicant’s performance and history. This idea could easily be applied to the hiring process, helping to make up for the gap that may exist between a white applicant and a person of color due to inequity.
15 The Alliance, Race in Recruitment, Hiring, Retention and Advancement, pg 7.16 To view this list, go to Appendix C.
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This also includes analyzing minimum requirements for all position descriptions to ensure that certain groups are not barred from applying or less likely to receive the job. For example, ask the question “Does this job really require a Master’s?” Redefining job descriptions is about emphasizing experience over credentials.17
Hiring
Equity principles should be infused into position descriptions and interview questions. For example, the city of Tacoma, Washington, asks twenty cultural competence questions, including questions like “Are you aware of your culture or background? Have you worked with diverse teams before?”
Ensure that the preliminary review of applications is unbiased; to achieve this, many cities and companies have begun covering up the applicant’s name and replacing it with a number to avoid any conscious or subconscious reaction. It makes sense to vet Somerville residents first as the simplest and most accurate way of creating a representative workforce.
Another practice implemented by other cities has been a requirement to interview at least one person of color for a job, which increases the chances of their recruitment to the position.
One issue that people tend to take with the idea of attempting to diversify a workforce is that it may lead the city to accept less-qualified candidates simply because of their identity. But it is important to recall that the candidate is likely “less-qualified” because they have grown up in a society which favors whites (or men, or straight people, etc.). In only a little time, the “less-qualified” candidate could quickly be brought up to speed with just a little extra training to make up for what they may have lacked due to their identity.18
17 For more on editing job descriptions, please see Appendix D.18 Disclaimer: I refer here only to situations where the candidate almost, but not quite, meets all requirements for the job. Obviously I do not mean to say that people who are
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totally unqualified should be hired to diversify the workforce over people who are better for the job.
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Racial Equity ToolkitThe Racial Equity Toolkit, developed by the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, is a toolkit for institutions to use to consider equity with every policy and proposal. As Julie Nelson of GARE said, there are three steps to advancing racial equity:
1. normalizing the conversation about race (which we aim to do through training, interacting with the community, and recruiting a more diverse workforce)
2. operationalizing (putting all of these ideas into action, which is where the Toolkit comes in handy)
3. organizing (recognizing the opportunity to transform government; this part is about infrastructure and work plans, which we will get to next)
A racial equity tool “proactively seeks to eliminate racial inequities and advance equity; identifies clear goals, objectives and measurable outcomes; engages community in decision-making processes; identifies who will benefit or be burdened by a given decision, examines potential unintended
consequences of a decision, and develops strategies to advance racial equity and mitigate unintended negative consequences; and develops mechanisms for successful implementation and evaluation of impact.”19
How can racial equity tools be used by government staff?
19 Julie Nelson, Racial Equity Toolkit: An Opportunity to Operationalize Equity, pg 4.
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“Without intentional intervention, institutions and
structures will continue to perpetuate racial inequities… Government has the ability to
implement policy change at multiple levels and across multiple sectors to drive larger systemic change.”
policy analysts integrating racial equity into policy development and implementation
budget analysis integrating racial equity into budget proposals at the earliest possible phase
focus on employees as the ones who must integrate racial equity into routine
How can they be used by elected officials?
bring contingency between values and practice
priorities of the jurisdiction, direction to department directors, questions asked of staff
There are six steps to using a racial equity tool.
Step #1: Proposal
What is the policy, program, practice or budget under consideration? What are the desired results and outcomes?
Be vigilant in focus on impact→ ask the following questions:
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Step #2: Data
What is the data? What does the data tell us?
Use the same performance measures indicated in Step #1.
Consider not just quantitative data, but qualitative data.
Step #3: Community Engagement21
How have communities been engaged? Are there opportunities to expand engagement?
It is vital to involve communities who are directly impacted by the topic, and maintain clear and transparent communication as the policy is implemented.
Ensure appropriate language materials and translators.
Step #4: Analysis and Strategies
Who benefits from or will be burdened by your proposal? What are your strategies for advancing racial equity or mitigating unintended
20 Julie Nelson, Advancing Racial Equity and Transforming Government: A Resource Guide to Put Ideas into Action, pg 37.21 For more on community engagement, see page 33.
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consequences?
look at a program/policy as part of a bigger image, not as a solitary event
expand beyond government and partner with community organizations in order to have the widest possible impact22
consider complementary strategies that may help reach further areas of the community or can help undermine the need for a program in the first place
Considering who will be benefited and who will be burdened by a proposal is perhaps the single most important question we must ask ourselves when attempting to eliminate racial inequity.
Step#5: Implementation
What is your plan for implementation?
Is your plan:
Realistic? Adequately funded? Adequately resourced with personnel?
Adequately resourced with mechanisms to ensure successful implementation and enforcement? Adequately resourced to ensure on-going data collection, public reporting, and community engagement?
Step #6: Accountability and Communication
How will you ensure accountability, communication, and evaluate results?
For quicker decisions:
-What are the racial equity impacts of this particular decision?
-Who will benefit from or be burdened by the particular decision?
-Are there strategies to mitigate the unintended consequences?
22 For more on community partnerships, see page 30.
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The Racial Equity Toolkit is comprehensive and easy-to-use, especially for a city just getting started with this initiative. The City of Madison, Wisconsin, developed its own version of the Toolkit; so as time goes on, the Toolkit could easily be customized or altered to specifically fit the needs of Somerville.23
For further research, view the Racial Equity Impact Assessment created by the organization Race Forward in Appendix F, similar to the Toolkit.
23 To view the city of Seattle’s Racial Equity Toolkit, please view Appendix E.
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“Jurisdictions need to be committed to the breadth (all
functions) and depth (throughout hierarchy) of institutional
transformation.”
InfrastructureSomerville needs to build the organizational capacity necessary to carry out an equity initiative. While it is critical to have the support and involvement of leadership and elected officials, the work will spread across every department and will require the awareness and involvement of employees from top to bottom.
There are a myriad number of ways to create an infrastructure supportive of the equity initiative. Many cities have positions dedicated to this work, referred to as Equity Managers or Diversity Officers—Somerville has already taken a step in the right direction by transitioning the job of the ADA Coordinator to Manager of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
For a good example on how to expand infrastructure so that every department in the city can be committed to the advancement of equity, look to Seattle. The very first part of Seattle’s equity initiative was the establishment of “Change Teams.” Change Teams are committees of employees in each department who ensure that their respective department keeps its eye on the ball in regards to each department’s individual goals or work plan. The Change Team also serves as an in-house resource for the department for when other employees have questions or are unsure about how to apply equity to their work.
Members of a change team should be selected based on their commitment to equity and their leadership ability; the employee’s position, whether a department head or a clerk, is unimportant. As previously suggested, the change teams might be trained before the rest of the department or
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undergo more intensive training in order to have all the information to serve as better role models.
As laid out by the city of Portland’s Racial Equity Plan Manual, the function of a change team will include:
Project Design- Designing the scope, structure, and timeline of the process
Project Management- Coordinating the meetings and communications, producing materials, and submitting deliverables
Research and Systems Change Analysis- Designing information gathering instruments and facilitating discussions to solicit qualitative information. Analyzing your bureau’s systems for burdens on people and communities of color. Synthesizing information gathered to identify gaps in racial equity best practices and report on findings and recommendations.
Strategic Planning- Designing exercise and facilitating discussions to identify goals, objectives, strategies, actions and measures
Communications- Communicating with leadership and staff about the purpose of this process, updates on the process, and being a point of contact for anyone with questions.
Racial equity focus- Maintaining a clear focus on racial equity throughout all stages of the process, working with any resistance that arises, and providing equity resources for participants who lack the skills needed to meaningfully participate
The city of Madison, Wisconsin, has a City Racial Equity and Social Justice Core Team (RESJ), a group of thirty city employees from sixteen departments who meet monthly to work together towards their overarching
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goals of Equity in City Operations, Equity in City Policies and Budgets, and Equity in the Community. The group is broken down into Community Engagement, Data, Tools, and Training. The job of the RESJ is to research work on equity done in other cities, recommend certain courses of action to the city leadership, and determine ways to measure equity impact. RESJ will eventually include representatives from every department.
To ensure that the work of the equity initiative is consistently being carried out, it is important to ensure that someone or a group of people will continually be evaluating the impacts of the initiative and researching new ways to achieve progress. This could come in the form of a Core Team like the one in Madison, or it could be more akin to the City’s Emerging Leaders of St. Paul, Minnesota. This is a six-person team working “to develop a portfolio of tools, case studies, and recommendations for deeper and more inclusive community engagement in city operations and policy-making.”24 The Emerging Leaders then report back to the mayor with their recommendations. Also, the Mayor, Superintendent, and the leader of Ramsey County meet monthly on education, racial equity, and youth issues, keeping the city always focused and the leadership always informed on the issue of equity.
There are many, many ways to institutionalize equity work and build an infrastructure around it. What’s more is that the various methods can be combined in any way; for example, Somerville could implement Change Teams at the individual department level, and also have something like the RESJ. Somerville could rely on that team to carry out equity research, or incorporate it into the job of the Manager of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Employee Resource Groups24 GARE Resource Guide, pg 19.
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Employee resource groups are a popular and easy way to unite city employees and create comfortable spaces for employees to rejoice in their identities. Multnomah County, Washington, has setup a successful platform of employee resource groups and methods of encouraging the county’s employees to get involved.
Multnomah County’s employee resource groups are employee-run, county-sponsored groups that “promote diversity values and efforts of the county while promoting personal and professional growth for county employees with common interests and improving retention by providing a stronger sense of community within the county.”25 The website further states that the benefits of membership include:
1. celebrate cultural holidays and observances2. provide an opportunity to work on staff professional development3. identify barriers to employee engagement and create solutions4. aid the county with employee recruitment and development, diversity
awareness and strategic planning5. host events that create opportunities for employees to build stronger
workforce communities by networking and skills sharing6. sponsor events, seminars, and conferences
Multnomah County has ten employee resource groups: AdAPT (Abled and Disabled Advocates Partnering Together), Family Advocates of MultCo, MultCo Employees of Color, Green Team, Immigrants and Refugees, Managers of Color, PRISM (LGBTQ), Veterans Employee Resource Group, Vital Aging Network (current/retired employees), and the MultCo Volunteer Program.
25 Multnomah County Office of Diversity and Equity, https://multco.us/diversity-equity/employee-resource-groups-erg.
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Work PlansFormulating a work plan is a vital part of an equity initiative because it contains the initiative’s ultimate goals and serves as a tangible timeline for the city to work towards. It makes the most sense for both an overarching work plan for the whole city, and individual work plans within each department.
These plans should be ambitious, although it is important to keep in mind that the road will not be smooth and not everything will go as hoped. Because this is the first time any type of equity plan has been created in Somerville, there will be many opportunities for reflection and learning and adjustment as necessary.
Once these plans are complete, they should all be made available to the public to retain the transparency that is so central to any equity initiative. The release of the plan is “a highly visible statement of the bureau’s intent and commitment to racial equity,”26 and raises awareness about inequity.
Work plans can be formed on a 3-year basis, like the plan of the Race and Social Justice Initiative of Seattle, or on a 5-year basis, like the city of Portland. Departments should make annual reports to city leadership, documenting challenges and successes. “The plan is outcome driven and bureaus are expected to report not just on actions, but also on the outcomes of those actions.”27
The city of Portland recommends using these steps as a loose guide to create a Plan, tailoring it to the specific needs of the department as needed:
26 Office of Equity and Human Rights, “Racial Equity Plan Manual,” Portland, Oregon, pg 15.27 Ibid, pg 2.
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Look at the citywide equity goals as a resource, and then draft a sentence stating the individual department’s role in achieving the citywide goals.28 Create actions to achieve the objective, and annual performance measures to evaluate progress. It may help to use a single plan template across all bureaus in order to fairly compare equity work across all bureaus.29
28 To view the city of Portland’s equity goals, see Appendix G.29 For an example of a work plan, go to Appendix H.
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By 2017, the City of Seattle will: -ensure racial equity in City programs and services to make tangible differences in
people’s lives-work with community based
organizations to support the movement to end structural racism
-help lead regional and national networks for racial equity through partnerships with
other governments and institutions, the private sector and philanthropy
The City of Somerville must identify citywide goals, like Seattle’s shown above. To develop the 3-year plan, the RSJI conducted 37 listening sessions with city employees and community members to gauge which issues were most important to the community.30 For more detail on the RSJI plan, see Appendix I. Also view Appendix M to see the city of Madison’s five year plan.
30 Race and Social Justice Initiative, “Vision and Strategy 2015-2017,” pg 5.
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Networks/PartnershipsAs the equity initiative progresses, it is important to have partners in the community to help carry out the work. This is called “collective impact,” which is the commitment of organizations from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem.31 Community partnership is helpful to the implementation of racial equity tools, since they include involving stakeholders.
Here is a list of potential community partners that may be able to assist at different levels of the project.
Somerville Community Corporation- somervillecdc.org
Action for Regional Equity- action4equity.org
Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations-
macdc.org
Community Action Agency of Somerville- caasomerville.org
East Somerville Main Streets- eastsomervillemainstreets.org
o Union Square Main Streets- unionsquaremain.org
Somerville Local First- somervillelocalfirst.org
Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership- somervillestep.org
The Career Place
Boston Alliance for Racial Equity-
31 GARE Resource Guide, pg 43.
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Example of a Network: Inclusive DubuqueInclusive Dubuque in Dubuque, Iowa, is a network of community leaders “committed to supporting an equitable and inclusive culture to meet the economic and cultural needs of a diverse community.”32 The network is made up of representatives from faith, labor, education, business, nonprofit and government with the stated goal of creating “a community where people feel respected, valued, and engaged.”33
Inclusive Dubuque is comprisedof a long list of different organizations, included here as an example and perhaps to inspire Somerville as to different connections that can be made.
Inclusive Dubuque has been able to run different, important equity projects, including the aforementioned Equity Profile included in Appendix A. Something like this Equity Profile would be great to set up in Somerville as a method for tracking change and progress, and as a way of involving the community and maintaining transparency. If Somerville were to do something like the Equity Profile, it would be very helpful to have other organizations to help with data collection and community outreach.
32 GARE Resource Guide, pg 18.33 Inclusive Dubuque, “Inclusive Dubuque General Overview.”
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Community EngagementThere are several strategies directly related to equity work already in practice by other cities, and these can be combined with existing public engagement tactics to ensure that the community at large is being properly consulted throughout this initiative. Because minority groups are the most impacted by inequities in the city and will be the most benefited by work to alleviate inequity, it is essential to include them in the process and give them opportunities to provide feedback.
Community engagement should be used at every stage of the process. In the beginning, hosting personal interviews or small focus groups can help supplement quantitative data with qualitative data. As the project continues, community engagement can help discern what changes, if any, should be made to the city’s approach, or how well the efforts are working.
Seattle’s Inclusive Outreach and Public Engagement Guide identifies six essential strategies for inclusive engagement.
1. Build personal relationships with target population
Informal/community driven gatherings that are appropriate to attend
Connect with the individuals in this community/population
2. Create a welcoming atmosphere
Hire staff or consultants from the community or that reflect the target population
Choose gathering places that are comfortable and that are conducive to the interactions you want to have
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3. Increase accessibility
Selecting the most appropriate and effective communication method to promote engagement opportunities
Decrease barriers to attendance or effective communication at events
4. Develop alternative methods for engagement Provide opportunities for social interaction and relationship
building
Provide opportunities for community members to give feedback in photographic, voice recorded, or video formats
5. Maintain a presence within the community
Attend community driven events and activities (think non-traditional)
Establish places in the community that people can have sustained, informal interactions with you
6. Partner with diverse organizations and agencies
Connect with organizations who are already culturally tied to the target community or are currently providing services to your target population
Create a network of services that eliminate gaps or reduce redundancies for the target population
It is important here to consult the Cultural Competence Continuum, included in Appendix J, to see which level the city is at in including cultural responsiveness in all its work. It is also important to evaluate the public
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engagement to determine its success. For a list of evaluation criteria, see Appendix K.
Seattle’s guide also includes a public engagement matrix, reproduced below.
Type of Engagement
Goal of Participation Tools/Activities
Inclusive Engagement Techniques
Inform (required for all types of engagement)
Educate the public about the rationale for the project or decision; how it fits with city goals and policies; issues being considered; areas of choice where public input is needed
Message to the public: to keep everyone informed.
-Fact sheets-Brochures-Websites-Open Houses-Exhibits/displays in public areas-Newsletters (mailed/online)-Newspaper Articles
Translation of all key documents.
Interpretation at events.
ConsultGather information and ask for advice from citizens to better inform the city’s work on the project.
Message to the public: will keep everyone
-Focus group-Surveys, interviews, and questionnaires-Public Meetings-Door-to-door-Workshops and working sessions
Translation of all key documents.
Interpretation at events.
Provision of Childcare.
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informed, listen to and acknowledge concerns and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision.
-Deliberative polling-Internet (interactive techniques)
Culturally appropriate food.
Individual meetings with community leaders.
CollaborateCreate a partnership with the public (key stakeholder groups) to work along with the city in identifying problems, generating solutions, getting reactions to recommendations and proposed direction.
Message to the public: will work with the public to ensure that their concerns and issues are directly reflected in the alternatives developed and show how public input influenced the decision.
-Citizen Advisory Committee/Liaison Groups-Visioning-Consensus building-Participatory decision-making-Charrettes-Implementation Committee
Translation of all key documents.
Interpretation at events.
Provision of Childcare.
Culturally appropriate food.
Individual meetings with community leaders.
Decision-makers delegate decision-
-Citizen juries-Ballots
Translation of all key documents.
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Shared Decision-Making
making power to stakeholders or give them a formal role in making final recommendations to be acted upon.
Message to the public: will implement what the public decides.
-Delegated decisions to specific representative citizen body or to voters
Interpretation at events.Provision of Childcare.Culturally appropriate food.
Individual meetings with community leaders.
Work of Other CitiesBoston
Under the leadership of Mayor Marty Walsh, the City of Boston has taken up an initiative surrounding economic equity. The four main themes of the initiative are income and employment, wealth creation, business development, and economic mobility for the community and the next generation. As noted earlier, Boston has the greatest income inequality of 100 big cities. Listed below are actions Boston has taken to advance economic equity.
Professional Pathways: 6-month internship for former court-involved individuals to re-enter the workforce and experience public service; by employing these individuals, Boston hopes to set an example for the private sector
State St. Bank/WINS Foundation: $20 million dollars for five high-performing non-profits focused on education and career development
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High Skilled Immigrant Task Force: a project of the Office of Workforce Development and the Office of New Bostonians, the High Skilled Immigrant Task Force is a group comprised of policy and advocacy experts who will “address the underutilization of skilled immigrant professionals”34
Work Smart Boston: free salary negotiation workshops to women in Boston→ women can research comparable salaries, ask for a raise
Building Pathways: 6-week pre-apprenticeship program for women and people of color to careers in building trades; guaranteed placement into apprenticeship program
New Americans Library Corners: all 24 branches of the BPL; education about naturalization process and financial empowerment services
Charlestown Works Center: enrolls 250 public housing residents and connects them to ESOL, adult basic education, and employment and training services
CORI Roundtable: representatives of City departments, community advocates, and re-entry service providers to assist individuals facing barriers to jobs based on their criminal record; also conducting research on CORI as a barrier to housing
34 Mayor Marty Walsh, Economic Equity Inclusion Agenda, 2016, pg 7.
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In addition to the examples above, the City of Boston has a close relationship with My Brother’s Keeper, an initiative launched by President Obama “to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color”35 and to encourage higher rates of youth success. Boston was one of the first cities to join in this initiative, and since then the members of My Brother’s Keeper have greatly informed the city’s economic equity agenda.
Boston released a Workforce Profile Report,whose data is referenced earlier in this report. By releasing these statistics, Boston showed areas of strengths and weaknesses and demonstrated a commitment to making improvements wherever they are necessary. Boston’s statistics were better than Somerville’s, but reflect some overrepresentation/underrepresentation, and there were significant gaps in pay between men and women.
Seattle
The equity initiative of Seattle is largely handled by the Seattle Race and Social Justice Initiative hosted within the Office for Civil Rights. The RSJI created the long-term vision which has been mentioned above.
Community outreach and engagement has been one of the most important facets in Seattle’s equity initiative. Along the way, Seattle frequently hosted listening sessions to determine which issues were most important to the community.
As noted, one of Seattle’s first steps was to implement Change Teams. In 2015, Mayor Murray required departments to carry out four uses of the toolkit annually; this will become a part of department director’s
35 The White House, https://www.whitehouse.gov/my-brothers-keeper#section-about-my-brothers-keeper
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performance measures. Each department submits an annual work plan which is updated online for the viewing of the community.
Further, departments are required to conduct a racial equity analysis of all budget requests. This means submitting a brief write-up along with the budget proposal, answering the questions “Did you use the racial equity toolkit? Will there be any impacts or unintended consequences?” This helps institutionalize the use of the toolkit and establishes the habit of including equity analysis.
Here are examples of how Seattle has used the tool:
A Woman’s Right to Breastfeed in PublicThe Seattle Women’s Commission and the Seattle Office for Civil Rights worked together to address barriers women faced when breastfeeding in a public place. After applying a racial equity analysis to the situation, it became clear that women of color were more frequently unable to breastfeed their children, largely because they got around using mass transit and thus had trouble finding private areas to breastfeed. The low rates of breastfeeding were negatively impacting communities of color. The city passed an ordinance to include protections for a woman’s right to breastfeed, which clearly benefited all women but also had a targeted racial equity goal of increasing health outcomes for people of color.
Job Assistance OrdinanceSeattle applied the Racial Equity Tool to collect demographic information on who was most likely to face barriers to jobs due to a conviction record and found that communities of color were more adversely affected due to racial inequities in the criminal justice
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system and racial bias in hiring. The city passed an ordinance regulating the use of criminal records in employment.
Madison (Wisconsin)
After looking at the work of Seattle and Multnomah County, Madison decided it needed its own customized toolkit. The city created two versions, one for significant decisions and a fast track version to be used only for low-stakes decisions. Both emphasize the need for stakeholder involvement.
Employee Engagement and Equity
guided by a Culture and Engagement Team; aims to discover barriers to equity and engagement among city staff and promote the goal of making Madison a prosperous place for all individuals
“Ban the Box” Initiative
when interviewing candidates for City positions, the candidate is interviewed by a diverse oral panel meant to ensure that all viewpoints are considered when interviewing a candidate and to make the interviewee comfortable
Public Works Contracting Disparity Study: is there a level playing-field for minority/women-owned firms when competing for City public works contracts?
Construction Employment Initiative: prepare low-income and targeted groups for employment in construction/trades and link them to available jobs
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Portland (Oregon)
Modeled after Seattle’s RSJI, Portland’s Office of Equity and Human Rights now oversees both racial and disability equity work for the City. Portland also formed a Creation Committee, a body of community representatives who helped shape the mission for the office. Portland involved the business community, leading discussions with business leaders of the city, including business leaders of color who shared with their white colleagues how institutional racism impacts their experiences.
OEHR handles training of City employees, with training soon to be mandatory for all employees. Several bureaus have hired Equity Managers to drive equity strategies within individual bureaus.
Below the OEHR is the Citywide Equity Committee, made up of two people from every bureau. They meet once a month with the purpose of connecting each of the bureaus to equity work and bringing issues from the bureaus to OEHR. The CEC created a tool to help each bureau develop a 5-year equity plan, describing how the bureau will improve in six areas: Organizational Commitment, Leadership and Management, Workforce, Community Access and Partnership, Contracting and Data, and Metrics and Continuous Quality Improvement.
Portland has also incorporated the equity tool for the city’s budget process; each bureau used the tool to assess the racial impacts of proposed cuts/additions.
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Saint Paul
Saint Paul’s initiative began with a focus on schools and so initially involved departments serving youth, like Parks, Library and Police. The mayor’s office hosted a series of “Beyond Diversity” sessions with department heads to learn about personal biases and examine how racial equity issues play out in their current work. The city is focused on internal operations.
Each department develops annual racial equity plans focused on their own lines of business. Also, each department is in the process of developing Change Teams. By the end of 2017, all of Saint Paul’s city employees will have undergone foundational racial equity training. The city is utilizing a “train-the-trainer” approach to build internal expertise across all departments. Saint Paul’s police department uses a training specifically customized for police departments.
The City’s Emerging Leaders, as afore described, are instrumental in shaping equity policy and programs.
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Recommendations1. Commence training for city staff, beginning with department heads
and/or change teams. It is necessary to ensure that everyone knows what equity is and
why it is important to their work before attempting to institutionalize equity work. Also, the city needs to establish a common language, so that everyone means the same thing when they talk about “equity.”
2. Involve city leadership. Support from the administrationencourages city employees to be more committed to and serious about the issue. (Other cities have written that without strong mayoral support, no progress toward a more equitable community would have been made.)
3. Focus on data, both acquiring data that is better to gauge where Somerville is in regards to inequity and determininga method for tracking changes/measuring impact over time.
4. Draw up a work plan for a three or five year period to establish overarching goals that Somerville will pursue. This will serve as a guideline for city departments as they draw up individualized work plans with specific goals related to their line of work.
5. Begin implementation of the equity toolkit. It is likely too soon to require departments to utilize it, like
Seattle does, since Somerville is in the initial stages of the initiativeemployees will be gaining an understanding of equity. However, setting the precedent of using an equity analysis for all budget proposals is a meaningful way of institutionalizing the practice. Elected officials should begin using the toolkit when considering a new policy or program for the city.
6. Human Resources must start working towards a more diverse workforce. This involves every step of the process: job descriptions,
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promotion, recruitment, application review, retention. 7. To expand the infrastructure beyond change teams, consider
beginning Employee Resource Groups, which have been known to increase a feeling of community and retention among employees. Also consider a higher-level committee or group made up of representatives from all city departments that will keep all change teams, and the city in general, on track and serve as a platform for employees to come together and discuss/share their successes and challenges. (something similar to Madison’s RESJ)
8. Involve the community throughout the process. Community input and feedback is absolutely vital to establishing an understanding of inequity in Somerville and for evaluating the impacts of an equity initiative.
When gathering data, supplement quantitative with qualitative. Ensure that meetings are accessible for all groups. (Will there
be a translator? Will the meeting be held in a place that is difficult for certain residents to get to?)
9. Consider joining GARE’s Membership Network. GARE’s membership network offers resources and grants to its members to assist those jurisdictions in their equity work.36
10. Partner with community leaders and organizations. This is not always necessary but can be helpful at every step of the process; for example, community organizations can help with the gathering and measuring of data, or serve as hosts for training sessions, or help the City with the implementation of equitable policies and practices.
36 For more information on the GARE Membership Network, please see Appendix L.
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APPENDICES
Appendix AInclusive Dubuque’s Equity Profile
The Equity Profile includes findings from conversations with nearly 600 dialogue participants, input from more than 2000 survey responses, and secondary data from local, state and national sources.
The Equity Profile is broken down into seven categories: Economic Wellbeing, Housing, Education, Health, Safe Neighborhoods, Transportation, and Arts/Culture. Inclusive Dubuque hosted community dialogues once each month for seven months, each month focused on one of the aforementioned categories.
Below is just one snippet of results, taken from the Transportation section. To view the equity profile in full, go to inclusivedbq.org
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Appendix BRacial Equity Scorecard 37
The Racial Equity Scorecard is a project of GARE to develop a model of tracking equity metrics in a way that facilitates learning across jurisdictions. Eight GARE members are participating in the pilot project, which includes using custom software for tracking progress upon shared metrics. The purpose of the scorecard is to not to just collect data, but use it for achieving results.
Youth Success and EducationOutcome: Equity across race in access and success for children and youthIndicators: Early education/ K-readiness; Third-grade reading levels; Connection to a caring adult; on-time graduation rates HealthOutcome: Equity across race in health and healthy life outcomes—no racial disproportionality in access to quality health care, health resources, and rates of illnessIndicators: Infant mortality rates; life expectancyHousingOutcome: Equity across race in housing—no racial disproportionality in home ownership and access to safe and affordable rental housing, temporary and transitional housingIndicators: Housing cost burden by race; home ownership across race/ethnicityJobs/Economic Justice Outcome: Equity across race in employment—no racial disproportionality in access to living-wage jobs, unemployment, career advancement and barriers to employmentIndicators: Household income; unemployment rates; jurisdiction’s workforce reflects or exceeds the demographics of the community; jurisdiction contracting or purchasing reflects or exceeds the demographics of the communityCriminal JusticeOutcome: Equity across race in public safety—no disproportionality in arrests, sentencing and incarcerationIndicators: arrest and conviction rates, sentencing and prison population37 This page has been reproduced from the GARE Resource Guide, pg 38.
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Commitment to Achieving Racial Equity
Outcome: Increased urgency and commitment to achieving racial equityIndicators: percent of population who think the government should prioritize addressing equity gaps in jobs, health, housing, etc.; percent of government employees actively promoting equity in the workplace
Appendix CDifferent Places for Advertising Jobs to Gain Diverse Applicants
Professional organizations focused on people of color (e.g. National Association of Black Accountants)
Minority executive recruiting firms (e.g. Athas Consultants)
Colleges and universities with diverse student bodies, including graduate programs and predominantly minority-attended institutions
Urban planning and metropolitan studies departments (e.g. Tufts University)
Public policy departments (e.g. Gaston Institute, UMass Boston)
Diversity offices Ethnic studies departments and associations (Afro-American
Studies Department, Northeastern University) Alumni networks
Community social service agencies
Government agencies
Local houses of worship and religious centers
Adult education classes
Civic groups
Refugee resettlement agencies
Personal networks
Job posting sites (especially ones directed at people of color)
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Newspapers (especially those serving diverse communities) 38
o Example: Bay State Banner, which serves the African-American community
www.diversityinc.com, www.communitychangeinc.com, www.diversityjournal.com
Appendix D Rethinking the Job Description
1. Redefine the necessary qualifications for the position. Emphasize competencies, knowledge, and abilities over
credentials such as degrees or specific experience.
Look for transferable abilities; identify the potential in a candidate. Ask the question “Is this the kind of person I can train?”
Omit education requirements except where certification is absolutely necessary for the job.
Place value on candidates diverse perspectives, language capacity, and personal experience.
Because Somerville has a large population of non-English speakers, recognize the importance of a second language as a requirement rather than optional.
Be sure that the qualifications established for a given position are really ones needed to do the job and are not just based on a history of assumptions.
38 This list was reproduced from The Alliance’s Race in Recruitment, Hiring, Retention and Advancement, page 12.
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Check yourself for biases that may unintentionally be ruling out people of color. Be aware of how this could affect the way you write job descriptions, as well as how you screen and interview.
2. Be explicit about seeking diverse candidates. Include an organizational statement at the top of the job
description.
Post an organizational statement about diversity on your website.39
Appendix ESeattle’s Racial Equity Toolkit
39 This list has been adapted from the one provided in The Alliance Manual, page 9.
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Appendix FRacial Equity Impact Assessment
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Appendix GCity of Portland’s Equity Goals
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Appendix HSt. Paul Library Work Plan
Saint Paul Racial Equity Initiative Work Plan
For the Period January 1 to December 31, 2015
Department: Library Director: Jane Eastwood Date of Update:
Dec 4, 2016
Desired Outcome(s)
Key Action(s) Measure(s), Target(s) and Lead Staff
Due Date(s)
Month/Year
Action(s) Completed
?
Result(s)
Goal 1: End racial disparities within the City as an organization
Library hiring process
Increase upward mobility for workers in low wage occupations
Staff use networking and industry news to research new talent, build recruiting pool.
Sr Team; communications; Mgmt Team
Q1, ongoing National advertising, extensive local networking
Librarian II pool __ % candidates of color . __% of staff of color promoted to library mgr or higher.
Recruit and hire to reflect community and meet language needs
Identify language needs in each branch. Branch mgrs
Q1, ongoing Language maps by census tract.
Require development plans for all employees including how they can
Jane, Sr Team: ID how incorporate into evaluations. Mgmt team implement.
Q1 In 2016 work plans.
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Develop talent pipeline
improve, progress.
Identify other opportunities for staff in non-managerial positions to gain experience, skills
Complete diversifying of Perrie Jones committee
Jane, Sr Team as needed
Tony
Opportu-nistically
Q1
Hire 1 YJ02 Right Track staff in 2016
Research 1-2 yr college intern program (a la Ramsey Co) using Perrie Jones funds.
Continue to promote PD$$ for 3 MCTC options (more to add here?)
Sr Team
Jane, Tony.
Mgrs and Sr team
Q1-2
Q 1, 2
Staff dev. day; ongoing
To be hired June 2016
Delayed to ‘17 Lack of funds
in 2016; explore funding by Friends for 2017.
Model racial equity leadership
Employees incorporate racial equity best practices.
Continue consistent internal communication about racial equity as our norm
Strengthen racial equity message in New Employee Orientation,
Jane, Sr Team, RE Change Team
Tony, Marjorie, Pat wt Jane
Ongoing, bi-monthly
Q2
roll-outJane develop new module;
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Racial equity training, skill development
Develop 1+ sessions for Mgt Team on managing from racial equity perspective.
Racial equity objectives in all 2016 branch library and committee plans
Public Service Directors, Mgmt Team
Sr Team
Q2-4
Dec ’15 Done
Foundations training all new staff in 1st quarter of start; all untrained staff from 2015 complete Q1 2016
Tony, hiring managers
Q1, ongoing
Racial equity toolkit training for new RE assessment teams
Senior Team As needed Toolkit training to be offered quarterly
Customer service and racial equity training – to be developed if training corps prioritizes
Regina, TBD (pending OK from RE Leadership Team)
Q2 or later
Goal 2: Racial Equity in City Services and Community Engagement
Identify under-represented communities for each library area.
Librarians develop & implement
Use Analytics on Demand, census data to indicate possible communities not active in their neighborhood libraries.
Jill & marketing team Q1
Q2
Develop examples
Roll out to Mgmt Team
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comm. Engagement plans – 2016
Cultivate sense of “my library” among guests (make library central to their lives?)
Provide PD on community engagement to Mgmt Team.
ID organizations, groups and meet. ID intersections, areas of new or expanded partnership or library service (as part of Strategic Direction)
Sr Team, Mgmt Team Launch Q1; plan due end of Q2, implemented Q2-3
Use above research, comm. Contacts to focus esp’ly on under-represented communities. Develop creative, community-centered, guest-driven ways to welcome, engage and build ownership of library.
Senior Team and RE Change Team.
Intro Q1 as part of above
Use Racial Equity Assessment to examine services, practices
Complete guest pass policy
Guest Pass Committee; Tony, Sr Team
Q1 completion Done Policy adopted mid-January. Strong positive feedback from library managers re: success
(NEW) Change practice of limiting PT staff from from multiple library jobs; actively promote staff working expanded hours in home or other
Jane, Tony, Mgmt Team
Q1 start. Monitor expanded hrs for PT staff to FT
Ongoing
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libraries
Storytimes – assess for attendance, racial make-up, count accuracy. Add assessment of time of day/day of week for possible addition of weekend storytimes.
Storytime Committee, Karen KP, Sr Team with Staffing Study Team
Q1 , ongoing Ongoing
Legacy Funding: Continue to review presenters, programs for racial diversity; diversify program committee
Legacy Fund/Program Committee, Jill, Sr Team
Q1, ongoing Ongoing Work on this assessment lead regional group to evaluate its presenter portfolio available to 7-county libraries
Economic equity:
Update, align fees/fines for DVDs, other materials.
Expand continuous “read-down’s,” “do-downs” for all ages to remove fines.
Need committee (B-K, Teen ?) and SR staff
Management team adopts policy of ongoing vs intermittent read-downs for youth, permitting more youth to clear fines, get books
TBD
Q1 Done “Read-downs” for youth now ongoing; should result in more youth being able to get jobs.
Banning and discipline data/practice: complete assessment; determine next
Pat, Karen Analysis done Jan ‘16. Address differing implementation
Ongoing Determined that staff don’t implement banning policy in similar ways.
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steps for practice change
practices
(NEW) Expand/align Cityspan race, ethnicity categories wt MBK
Marika, relevant Mgmt Team members, Jane
Q2, Test rolled out for Summer Spark
Establish practice where teams can launch RE Assessments as needed; RE Change Team to monitor and may suggest needed assessments
Racial Equity Change Team, Sr Team, Mgmt Team members
Ongoing
Examine library “language” for welcoming and positive value to guests
Needs committee but includes public service and communications
TBD
Immigrant and refugees have improved access to City services
Placeholder for expanded role for cultural liaisons
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Goal 3: Eliminate race-based disparities in our communities
Network for early learning
In progress: Possible partnership with SPPN Early Learning Network & Age 3 screening. Continue ECFE relationship
Karen, B-K Team Q2, 3
Active collaboration: Sprockets
Continue Rec Check, Summer Blast library card enrollment.
Ensure accurate data in Cityspan (see below for race/ethnicity categories)
Karen, B-K Team
Marika, relevant Mgmt Team members
Q1-Q2
Ongoing
Active collaboration: St. Paul Community Learning Consortium
Continue work to expand Northstar Digital Literacy program statewide
Statewide workshops with Consortium members
Q 2, 3
Active collaboration: Mayors Education/ Youth LeadershipTeam
Expanded MEYLT group (city, county, SPPS) meets minimum 3x per year; expand program development team
Jane. Expand membership to include Co Attorney, police chief, other city/county officials as needed.
Q 1, ongoing
Active collaboration: GARE
Explore national library team/action through GARE or ULC
Jane Q1 or 2
Appendix IRSJI 2015-2017 Work Plan
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Appendix JCultural Competence Continuum
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Cultural destructiveness is characterized by attitudes, policies, structures and practices within a system or organization that are destructive to a cultural group
Cultural incapacity is the lack of capacity of systems and organizations to respond effectively to the needs, interests and preferences of culturally and linguistically diverse groups. Characteristic include but are not limited to: institutional or systemic bias; practices that may result in discrimination in hiring and promotion; disproportionate allocation of resources that may benefit one cultural group over another; subtle messages that some cultural groups are neither valued nor welcomed; and lower expectations for some cultural, ethnic, or racial groups.
Cultural blindness is an expressed philosophy of viewing and treating all people as the same. Characteristics of such systems and organizations may include: policies that and personnel who encourage assimilation; approaches in the delivery of services and supports that ignore cultural strengths; institutional attitudes that blame consumers - individuals or families - for their circumstances; little value placed on training and resource development that facilitate cultural and linguistic competence; workforce and contract personnel that lack diversity (race, ethnicity. language, gender, age etc.); and few structures and resources dedicated to acquiring cultural knowledge.
Cultural pre-competence is a level of awareness within systems or organizations of their strengths and areas for growth to respond effectively to culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Characteristics include but are not limited to: the system or organization expressly values the delivery of high quality services and supports to culturally and linguistically diverse populations; commitment to human and civil rights; hiring practices that support a diverse workforce; the capacity to conduct asset and needs assessments within diverse communities; concerted efforts to improve service delivery usually for a specific racial, ethnic or cultural group; tendency for token representation on governing boards; and no clear plan for achieving organizational cultural competence.
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CULTURAL COMPETENCE
Systems and organizations that exemplify cultural competence demonstrate an acceptance and respect for cultural differences and they:
Create a mission statement for your organization that articulates principles, rationale, and values for cultural and linguistic competence in all aspects of the organization.
Implement specific policies and procedures that integrate cultural and linguistic competence into each core function of the organization.
Identify, use, and/or adapt evidence-based and promising practices that are culturally and linguistically competent.
Develop structures and strategies to ensure consumer and community participation in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of the organization’s core function.
Implement policies and procedures to recruit, hire, and maintain a diverse and culturally and linguistically competent workforce.
Provide fiscal support, professional development, and incentives for the improvement of cultural and linguistic competence at the board, program, and faculty and/or staff levels.
Dedicate resources for both individual and organizational self-assessment of cultural and linguistic competence.
Develop the capacity to collect and analyze data using variables that have meaningful impact on culturally and linguistically diverse groups.
Practice principles of community engagement that result in the reciprocal transfer of knowledge and skills between all collaborators, partners, and key stakeholders.
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CULTURAL PROFICIENCY
Systems and organizations hold culture in high esteem, use this a foundation to guide all of their endeavors, and they:
Continue to add to the knowledge base within the field of cultural and linguistic competence by conducting research and developing new treatments, interventions, and approaches for health and mental care in policy, education, and the delivery of care.
Develop organizational philosophy and practices that integrate health and mental health care.
Employ faculty and/or staff, consultants, and consumers with expertise in cultural and linguistic competence in health and mental health care practice, education, and research.
Publish and disseminate promising and evidence-based health and mental health care practices, interventions, training, and education models.
Support and mentor other organizations as they progress along the cultural competence continuum.
Develop and disseminate health and mental health promotion materials that are adapted to the cultural and linguistic contexts of populations served.
Actively pursue resource development to continually enhance and expand the organization’s capacities in cultural and linguistic competence.
Advocate with, and on behalf of, populations who are traditionally unserved and underserved.
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Establish and maintain partnerships with diverse constituency groups, which span the boundaries of the traditional health and mental health care arenas, to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health and mental health40
40 Adapted from Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K., & Isaacs, M. (1989). Towards a Culturally Competent System of Care, Volume 1. Washington, DC: CASSP Technical Assistance Center, Center for Child Health and Mental Health Policy, Georgetown University Child Development Center
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Appendix KPublic Engagement Evaluation Criteria
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41 Oregon Metro, Public Engagement Guide, pg 37-38.
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Appendix LGARE Membership Network
Core Members are those jurisdictions that have made a commitment to advancing racial equity across the breadth (all functions) and depth (from frontline staff to appointed and elected leadership) of their jurisdiction. This commitment can be demonstrated by development and implementation of a Racial Equity Work Plan or Strategic Plan, integration of racial equity into other strategic or operational plans, use of a Racial Equity Tool in routine decision making, and/or adoption of legislation that describes the jurisdiction’s commitment.
In addition to being a part of a peer-to-peer Network, Core Members have access to training and facilitation from GARE and its Technical Assistance Group (as delineated on an annual basis in the work plan); members-only resources that support peer-to-peer connections; specific tools, such as the Racial Equity ScoreCard and Results Based Accountability software; and support on the development of new policies and implementation of best practices via issue papers. An Implementation and Innovation Fund is anticipated in 2016; only Core Members will have access to grants from this fund.
Core Members pay annual dues on a sliding scale42, based on number of employees:
Less than 1,000 employees = $1,000 1,001 to 4,000 employees = $3,000 4,001 to 8,000 employees = $6,000 8,001 to to 14,000 employees = $9,000 14,001 to 20,000 employees = $12,000 Over 20,000 employees = $15,000
A jurisdiction may become a member at any point during the year; annual renewal dates will be based on the original date of joining.
Associate Members can participate in group activities related to their specific department’s focus, as well as other activities
42 Membership dues determined on an annual basis.
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on a space-available basis, but cannot apply for Implementation and Innovation Funding. 2016 Associate Member dues are $1,000.
Affiliate Members are community based organizations, academic institutions, philanthropic organizations, and individual people who are committed to advancing racial equity and transforming government into an effective and inclusive democracy. Affiliate Members provide community and cross-institutional support and pressure for government to proactively tackle racial inequities. Membership dues for Affiliate Members are on a sliding scale basis.
All members are invited to the GARE Annual Meeting. 43
43All information from GARE 2016 Membership Organization.
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Appendix MCity of Madison’s 5-year Plan
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Appendix NMinnesota DPH’s Plan for Health Equity
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Appendix OHelpful Terms
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Resources/Further Reading
The Alliance. Race in Recruitment, Hiring, Retention and Advancement. Boston: 2008.
Annie E. Casey Foundation. Race Equity and Inclusion Action Guide: 7 Steps to Advance and Embed Race Equity and Inclusion in your Organization. 2014.
City of Cambridge. “2014 Citizen Telephone Survey.”
City of Madison. “City of Madison Equity Initiatives.”
Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K., & Isaacs, M. (1989). Towards a Culturally Competent System of Care, Volume 1. Washington, DC: CASSP Technical Assistance Center, Center for Child Health and Mental Health Policy, Georgetown University Child Development Center
Eastwood, Jane. “Saint Paul Racial Equity Initiative Work Plan.” St. Paul, Minnesota: 2015.
Inclusive Dubuque. “Inclusive Dubuque General Overview.”
Massachusetts Department of Education.http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/student.aspx?orgcode=02740000&orgtypecode=5&
Mayor’s Office of Diversity. “2015 Workforce Report.” Boston: 2016.
Minnesota Department of Public Health. Advancing Health Equity in Minnesota: Report to the Legislature. February 2014.
Multnomah County Office of Diversity and Equity. https://multco.us/diversity-equity/employee-resource-groups-erg
National Center for Cultural Competence & Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development. “Cultural Competence Continuum.” Washington, DC: 2004.
Nelson, Julie (Government Alliance on Race and Equity). Advancing Racial Equity and Transforming Government: A Resource Guide to Put Ideas into Action.
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Nelson, Julie (GARE). Racial Equity Toolkit: An Opportunity to Operationalize Equity.
Nelson, Julie (GARE). GARE 2016 Membership Organization.
Oregon Metro. Public Engagement Guide. Portland, Oregon: November 2013.
Office for Civil Rights. “Race and Social Justice Initiative 2012 Employee Survey Summary Report.” 2013.
Office of Equity and Human Rights. “Citywide Equity Goals and Strategies.” Portland, Oregon.
Office of Equity and Human Rights. Racial Equity Plan Manual. Portland, Oregon: 2016.
Race and Social Justice Initiative. Inclusive Outreach and Public Engagement Guide. Seattle: 2009.
Race and Social Justice Initiative. “Racial Equity Toolkit to Assess Policies, Initiatives, Programs, and Budget Issues.” Seattle: 2012.
Race and Social Justice Initiative. “Vision and Strategy: 2015-2017.” Seattle: 2015.
Race Forward. “Racial Equity Impact Assessment.” 2009.
Racial Equity and Social Justice Core Team. A Strategic Vision for the Future: City of Madison Racial Equity and Social Justice Initiative. Madison, Wisconsin: 2014.
U.S. Census, census.gov.
Walsh, Martin. “Economic Inclusion and Equity Agenda.” Boston: 2016.
The White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/my-brothers-keeper#section-about-my-brothers-keeper
Inclusive Dubuque: http://inclusivedbq.org/
Mel King Institute: https://melkinginstitute.org/trainings
People’s Institute: http://www.pisab.org/workshops
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