Item B: City Council Goal - Enhance Understanding of Race Issues

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ATTACHMENT C Central Services Human Resource Services City of Eugene 777 Pearl Street, Room 101 M Eugene, Oregon 97401 EMORANDUM (541) 682-5061 (541) 682-6831 FAX www.eugene-gov.org Date: August 6, 2007 To: Mayor Piercy and City Council From: Race Goal Staff Team Subject: Race Goal Action Items The staff team for the Council goal “Enhance Understanding of Race Issues and Improve Race th Relationships” has been busy working on the updated action plan that Council adopted at a May 14 worksession. The team met several times to further prioritize the action items and to estimate the funding needed for each item. Significant progress is also being made on a first draft of the organization’s Diversity and Equity Strategic Plan by an additional, cross departmental, staff team. The Diversity and Equity Strategic Plan is one of the most important action items of the overall plan as it will serve to connect the Council’s work on race with the organization’s work on diversity. This action item was one that was recommended strongly by the Community Committee on Race. While many of the action items in the plan require significant involvement and implementation effort from staff, we need your help with the following four items: 1. Meet individually with communities of color members (other than leaders) to better understand their issues. 2. Bring up the topic of race, and discuss the Council’s perspective on race, when meeting with individuals and groups of constituents such as neighborhood groups. 3. Add race relations as an ongoing topic of joint elected officials meetings. 4. Enhance outreach efforts to our communities of color to increase ethnic and racial diversity on City boards and commissions. The first one requires that each of you proactively reach out to people of color in your wards to learn more about how issues of race affect them. The emphasis here is to find a broader range of voices beyond the group that regularly steps forward to assist the City on issues of race and diversity. Number two requires that each of you make an effort to continuously probe for people’s thoughts and issues around the topic of race and race relationships, whether one-on-one or in group settings. Number three requires a content addition to your joint elected officials meetings. It may be in form of a periodic check in on issues of race and race relationships or it may be the addition of a standing agenda item for each meeting. Number four will require a collective commitment by the Mayor and Council to change the selection process for boards and commissions. While the Council and the organization has been successful in