“We have to keep driving. It’s going to take courage.”
“Until hearts and minds are changed, we have to keep doing the work.”
“Leaders have to shift strategies to still be effective.”
These comments, from local government professionals implementing equity strategies, reflect the difficulty of their work in the new political climate, as well as their determination to keep moving forward.
For the past several years, the International City Management Association (ICMA) has brought together local government professionals for an annual Leadership Institute on Racial Equity in collaboration with the National Civic League and The Kettering Foundation. This past year’s Institute included more than a dozen local government professionals, and two workshops took place at ICMA’s annual conference last week in which Institute fellows shared their insights.
Five Institute fellows spoke about their capstone projects at the conference: Elizabeth Jourdin, Washoe County, NV; Marilyn Nguyen, Spartanburg, SC; Zoe Mombert, Wilsonville, OR; Paula DeBoles-Johnson, Leon County, FL; and Cesar Garcia, Kemah, TX. Capstone projects ranged from constructing a monument with a cultural wall in Spartanburg to the creation of equity handbooks in Wilsonville and Washoe County.
During the one-year Leadership Institute, fellows heard from a number of experts on racial equity and civic engagement and shared insights on learning experiences from their work in cities and counties around the country. Lead staff members included Valerie Lemmie from The Kettering Foundation, Lynne Scott from ICMA, and Derek Okubo from the National Civic League
The clear theme from the presentations at last week’s conference was the importance of improving diversity and equity, two values that help communities reduce disparities and improve the well-being of all community members. “ICMA’s Code of Ethics talks about the importance of serving all,” said one of the fellows. “Taxpayers need to know they’re getting value for their tax dollars.” And finally, from another: “Things weren’t the best before we started. Now we’re seeing the importance of diversity. I’m hoping that this will be better over time.”
Another conference workshop on social equity concepts from the Leadership Institute was led by League President Doug Linkhart, Valerie Lemmie from the Kettering Foundation and Institute fellow, Cesar Garcia from Kemah, TX, featuring a discussion on ICMA’s four principles of social equity, with the emphases listed below:
Definition of Social Equity: “All community members are able to get what they need to be happy.”
Four ICMA Principles of Social Equity:
- Access–inclusiveness, intentional outreach
- Processes—budgeting for equity, methods for community input
- Quality–listening to different parts of the community to calibrate deliverables
- Outcomes–metrics based on all the above
As Cesar Garcia told workshop attendees, “whether national support for equity work comes back depends a lot on the people in this room. In the meantime, we have to be intentional about our work.”
