Title
Equal Opportunity Plan to Address Race and Socio-economic Issues Within the Gainesville Community (B)
Explanation
The Office of Equal Opportunity provided information on the programs and services offered by other human rights agencies in the State of Florida at a special City Commission Meeting on June 4, 2007. That information indicated that most of the agencies only offer core equal opportunity services and also that the City of Gainesville's program is more comprehensive than most, particularly with our focus on the external community. Most of the other agencies only address the concerns of employees of their local governments. "Promising Practices" related to equity and inclusions as identified by the National League of Cities (NLC) were also discussed. The City Commission then directed equal opportunity staff to: 1) work to identify areas of inequity with the City of Gainesville; 2) identify best practices as it relates to those inequities; and 3) develop a plan based on those best practices to the address them. Staff has developed the following plan while taking into consideration budget constraints:
(1) Staff concluded that any discussion of inequities within our community must have and begin with a race component. After conducting a community-wide Race Summit last September, Phase I of a "Dismantling Racism" process was initiated in July 2007. The process is designed to increase awareness of institutional racism and then to develop action plans to eliminate it.
(2) Implementation of a long-term equity indicators process that includes citizen involvement, such as, the Baltimore Indicators Alliance will be investigated. Considering potential budget implications, staff will simultaneously work to identify indicators concerning education, crime/law enforcement/justice, income/wealth/employment, and housing that may be readily available in anticipation of City leadership using them to generate action in the near term.
(3) City Commission and key administrators form partnerships with government, business, and citizen groups and engage the community in an on-going dialogue to address our multi-dimensional discrimination and socio-economic issues.
(4) Join the NLC's "Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities." We have initiated the process through a proclamation that reaffirms the city's commitment to inclusion. Active efforts to achieve that goal will be communicated to the NLC for national recognition.
(5) Staff will investigate the fiscal feasibility of initiating a poverty reduction simulation initiative, such as, Savannah, Georgia's "Welcome to the State of Poverty." This initiative could serve as an educational tool to sensitize people in the community to the obstacles that low-income families face on a daily basis.
(6) Commissioner Donovan and the Equal Opportunity Director will attend the NLC's "National Summit on Your Families" to learn about strategies for making communities better for families to live and how those strategies are generating results.
Fiscal Note
Funding sources for Phases II through VI of the "Dismantling Racism" process is a discussion item at the Equal Opportunity Committee. The fiscal impact of potentially implementing the "Baltimore Indicators Alliance" and "Welcome to the State of Poverty" will be determined as more information is gathered. There is little or no fiscal impact in forming community partnerships or joining the "Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities." Funding for attendance at the "National Summit on Your Families" is included in the current year's budget.
Recommendation
The City Commission approve the plan that has been developed to address race and socio-economic issues within the Gainesville community.