I would like to thank everyone who expressed an interest in serving on our new Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and am pleased to announce the selection of 13 members and one alternate:
The selection process itself has been an opportunity to work with our consultant, Dr. Sharon Adams, a well-regarded expert in in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion. For example, with her guidance, we used a two-phased approach that involved replacing applicant names and other identifying information with numbers and evaluating the application content based on established criteria. Then, each applicant’s department, position and bargaining group were added to the list, so we could balance the committee based on these factors.
Dr. Sharon will work with the committee to first set up its bylaws, including the length of member terms. When a term ends, HR will open up the application process again.
As a reminder, this committee is part of a larger focus citywide on considering issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in everything we do. The committee will raise awareness of and make recommendations to improve and celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion in our organization.
I look forward to sharing more about our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiative as it progresses and see these issues as fundamental to our goal of being the best run local government, period.