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 The staff demographic information we have is incomplete and/or out of date, nonetheless, it shows that 9.5% of our staff are Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC).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 empl...
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