Item B: Race Issues Action Plan - Laserfiche WebLink

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Racial Profiling Task Team - From 2000 to 2003, the Eugene Police Department worked with community members to address concerns associated with "racial profiling." A task group comprised of community and police department representatives designed a data collection program to gather statistics on vehicle stops involving EPD officers with a focus on identifying and discussing differences between racial/ethnic groups in terms of law enforcement practices. Analysis of the data collected as part of the study was conducted by a doctoral candidate with the University of Oregon Sociology Department. Preliminary results of the data collection study were released in the Spring of 2003. The final report, containing information on 36,011 vehicle stops occurring between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2003, was delivered in September of 2004. City of Eugene Diversity Program - The City organization embarked on a comprehensive diversity initiative in 1999 with a goal of educating and building the skills of City employees in many broad areas of diversity including race. The program has focused training on workplace environment, diversity awareness, and cross cultural competencies. The overall goals of the program are to establish and maintain respectful work environments, increase recruitment and retention of employees, and enhance service effectiveness to the increasingly diverse community we serve. We recently commissioned an assessment of our diversity efforts by a nationally renowned workplace diversity consulting firm. That assessment will be used to fine tune our efforts. Communities of Color Annual Meeting - Originally conceived by former City Councilor Bobby Lee in 1999, the City's Executive Directors, and staff involved in diversity work, have met annually with representatives from the communities of color. The meeting provides one forum for attendees to give the organization feedback and input on the effectiveness of our diversity efforts, as those efforts impact service to that segment of our community. We did not hold a meeting in 2004, but plan to meet later on in 2005 after we fill the vacant Diversity Manager position. In 1989 and 1990, Mayor Jeff Miller held a number of forums that brought together city leadership with leaders in the communities of color. Ongoing Communities of Color Support - Individual councilors, the mayor, and City staff attend a number of fund raising and community events organized by ethnic and cultural segments of our community. Examples include the Asian Celebration, Fiesta Latina, LCC's Native American Powwow, the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner, Centro Latino's Noche Cultural fund raising dinner and the Asian American Foundation's annual fund raising dinner. Attendance at these events provides direct access to members of the communities of color and helps strengthen relationships. D. Action Plan Action Steps - The following action steps have been divided into short term and mid to long term items: Short Term: (6 to 9 months) 1. Facilitated Dialogue on Race - Hold a facilitated session on race with the City Council. One outcome of this session would be a Council Resolution stating the council's collective perspective and commitments on race. Council would contract with a skilled facilitator for this event. 2. Racism Response Plan - Develop an integrated, rapid response plan outlining actions to be taken by council when acts of racism happen in our community. 3. Endorse Current Race Initiatives - Communicate endorsement of the work of the DHRC, racism study circles, and other race related work in the community.