Title
Approval to Allocate General Fund End of Year Funds to Conduct an Equity Assessment and Strategic Plan
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to approve the allocation of $150,000 of General Fund end of year funds to provide consultant support for an Equity Assessment and Strategic Plan.
Report
Issue:
Whether to approve the allocation of $150,000 of General fund end of year funds to provide consultant support for an Equity Assessment and Strategic Plan.
Staff Contact:
Tobi Hill-Meyer, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator, 360.763.2631
Presenter(s):
Tobi Hill-Meyer, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator
Background and Analysis:
Earlier this year, Council approved a second Equity and Inclusion Coordinator in order to address internal equity issues in the City. The mandate behind this position has been to improve staff capability to engage in equity work and support organizational development in order to fulfill our commitment that all community members have equitable access to all City services.
In order to fulfill this mandate, it has been important to better understand the current state of equity disparities and identify the source of those problems, starting with staff skills, awareness, and demographics. Who makes up the workforce implementing City operations and services inherently reflects the communities that will be most immediately considered when executing City work.
The City employs over 600 people. The staff demographic information we have is incomplete and/or out of date, nonetheless, it shows that 9.5% of our staff are Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC). In comparison, local census data shows 24% of the population is BIPOC. Women make up 30% of City employees, while making up 51% of the local population. For both BIPOC and women, representation nearly doubles when looking only at part-time staff. At this time, the City does not have a count of trans or non-binary employees.
Staff will present some of the potential improvements that have been identified and other work that needs to be done. An internal equity workplan has been developed that includes several projects around how we collect and use data to identify and address equity issues, improving workplace culture raising the level of equity conversations involved in City work, improving hiring and recruitment processes, and necessary work to create a comprehensive and intentional approach to the larger equity goals of the City.
The Equity and Inclusion Program, Public Works, and Parks have taken specific steps to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion. Human Resources has already implemented new equity hiring best practices, Public Works is partnering with other jurisdictions to create a GIS equity map. Parks has gone through an equity training and planning retreat. However, in order to assure we are moving forward with a coordinated and collective response, it is important to conduct a city-wide equity assessment and develop a comprehensive equity strategic plan that evaluates every City department, including how we deliver services.
The purpose of this agenda item is to present an overview of the City’s internal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion workplan and request an additional $150,000 in funding to contract with a consultant to support a comprehensive city-wide equity assessment. Identifying the scope and specifics of equity disparities is essential to developing a strategy for making effective change. When looking at problems as deeply entrenched as structural oppression, there is a need for making immediate changes, yet there is also a need to plan and prepare in order to make changes that stick. With additional consultant support, it becomes possible to do both.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
There have been significant calls from the community for the City to put into practice our shared values of being safe and welcoming and expand our efforts to address inequities and disparities throughout the work the City does and the impacts that work has on the community. For the City to implement meaningful and lasting changes to our practices and operations impacting the community in this way, we must also look at our own staffing, workplace environment, and capabilities at the same time.
Options:
1. Approve the use of $150,000 of General Fund end of year funds to provide consultant support for an Equity Assessment and Strategic Planning process.
2. Do not approve the use of $150,000 of General Fund end of year funds to provide consultant support for an Equity Assessment and Strategic Planning process.
3. Consider approval of the use of $150,000 of General Fund end of year funds to provide consultant support for an Equity Assessment and Strategic Planning process at another time.
Financial Impact:
Staff is requesting $150,000 in General Fund year end funds to support the Equity Assessment and Strategic Planning process.
Attachments:
Internal Workplan Timeline