THE WORK WE ’ VE DONE SO FAR
Since summer 2019 , the Working Group has been building in-house racial-equity leadership , normalizing the conversation about race and racism , and developing a broad base of support for racial equity from Public Works staff through a variety of programs , events and outreach .
Along with the core group , hundreds of our staff , amounting to almost a third of Public Works employees , have participated in trainings , workshops and other activities to build competency within our department around understanding systemic racism and its effects on our work and on us as individuals . This work includes :
SUMMER 2019 – SPRING 2020
• Build in-house leadership around understanding racism and being anti-racist – as individuals and as an institution : - Working Group attended the 2019 GARE California Convening .
- Public Works executive team and the Working Group attended a full-day Managing Implicit Bias training through the Department of Human Resources .
- Working Group members attend trainings and monthly meetings hosted by the Office of Racial Equity .
• Outreach to all Public Works staff :
- Developed outreach materials in multiple modalities , including an information card , and online and paper surveys .
- Built an online Racial Equity area on “ The Hub ,” the Public Works staff SharePoint , that includes racial-equity information , resources and a calendar of events .
- Hosted a table at the fall 2019 all-staff Public Works Health Fair and received more than 200 responses to our initial racial-equity survey . The survey reported : » 88 % reported positive relationships with other employees who are a different race .
» 40 % do not believe that there are equal opportunities for all staff at Public Works .
» 34 % have observed racial tension between employees at Public Works . - Facilitated discussions , open to all staff , with 125 total participants , to introduce the Racial Equity Initiative and normalize the conversation about implicit bias , racism and race , helping to build a culture of honest communication in the department . Eighty percent of participants reported enjoying listening to other people ’ s stories about race and racism .
- Initiated an ongoing feedback loop with staff , including the production of a factsheet that summarized the findings from the group discussions and our accomplishments to date .
SUMMER 2020
• Sparked by the murders of George Floyd , Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery : - Hosted listening sessions about the Black Lives Matter movement .
- The department ’ s communications team produced an in-house podcast series , Spotlight : Racial Justice , which includes interviews with 14 Public Works racially and gender-diverse staff , speaking personally on racism , police
Racial Equity Plan 2021
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