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From YouTube: Equity at the Center: February 2021
Description
Hear from Fire Chief Ulie Seal about the latest on the City's racial equity work.
A
In
october,
2020
the
city
of
bloomington
adopted
a
racial
equity
business
plan.
This
racial
equity
business
plan
outlines
the
values,
the
goals,
the
strategies
and
performance
measures
for
how
we
plan
to
embed
racial
equity
throughout
all
of
the
internal
work
of
our
organization.
The
plan
is
available
on
our
website.
A
In
adopting
that
plan,
we
also
committed
to
providing
the
public
with
insight
into
the
implementation
of
the
business
plan
and
so
to
accomplish
that
we're
going
to
be
providing
you
with
these
video
series
that
we've
coined
equity
at
the
center
and
in
this
video
series,
you'll
hear
from
members
of
our
executive
leadership.
Team
they'll
provide
you
with
updates
on
the
racial
equity
business
plan
and
sometimes
we'll
invite,
in
others,
for
interviews
to
talk
about
the
work
that
they're
doing
as
usual.
B
Hi,
I'm
chief
yuli
seal
the
city's
fire
chief
and
emergency
management
director
I'll,
be
serving
as
your
host
for
this
edition
of
equity
at
the
center
and
provide
you
with
an
update
of
the
equity
work
occurring
for
the
city
of
bloomington.
The
city
of
bloomington
is
committed
to
creating
a
workforce
that
reflects
the
diversity
of
the
community
across
the
breadth
and
depth
of
the
organization
and
furtherance
of
this
goal.
The
human
resources
department
is
focused
on
embedding
racial
equity
in
the
recruitment
process
through
the
development
of
the
inclusive
recruitment
plan.
B
Some
of
the
strategies
employed
in
the
plan
include
engaging
in
a
statistical
and
anecdotal
analysis
to
determine
how
bipoc
applicants
who
have
applied
for
past
positions
in
our
organization
learned
about
the
opportunities
using
electronic
job
posting
services
that
target
communication
to
racially
diverse
groups
such
as
professional
associations,
expanding
the
places
where
we
post
job
job
announcements
to
include
websites,
listservs
journals
and
publications
aimed
specifically
at
bipart
communities.
The
city
of
bloomington
is
committed
to
creating
a
workplace
where
racial
and
ethnically
diverse
employees
feel
welcome
and
valued
every
third
thursday
of
the
month.
B
We
invite
staff
to
experience
and
learn
from
remarkable
individuals
from
a
wide
range
of
disciplinary
backgrounds,
working
to
eliminate
racial
disparities
and
advance
social
justice.
In
january,
nick
core
of
the
coalition
of
asian
american
leaders
presented
nick
is
the
2018
bush
fellow
and
the
senior
manager
for
movement
building
at
the
coalition
of
asian
american
leaders.
He
is
building
national
and
local
asian
american
networks
to
address
racism
and
xenophobia.
B
Nick
discussed
the
priority
community
issues,
which
include
civic
leadership,
economics,
education
and
immigration.
He
also
discussed
best
practice
strategies
for
engaging
the
bloomington
asian
american
community
through
partnership
and
authentic
outreach.
Sarah
carthan
watson
is
associate
counsel
in
the
fair
housing
and
community
development
department
of
the
lawyers
committee
for
civil
rights.
B
Sarah
works
to
bring
litigation
challenging
discriminatory
housing
practices.
Sarah
a
minnesota
native
also
leads
the
recent
initiated
minnesota
anti-eviction
project.
This
project
recruits
and
trains
pro
bono,
lawyers
and
law
students
to
provide
tenants
facing
eviction
during
this
uncertain
time
with
direct
legal
representation.
B
Sarah
shared
information
about
her
work
and
advocacy
with
staff
and
provided
insights
into
how
they
can
engage
in
housing
advocacy.
So
far,
we've
heard
that
staff
appreciate
the
presentations
and
look
forward
to
bringing
in
additional
speakers.
In
the
upcoming
months.
The
city
of
bloomington
is
committed
to
racial
equity
in
the
design
of
our
services
and
programs.
B
In
adopting
the
racial
equity
business
plan,
the
city
council
committed
to
requiring
staff
to
complete
a
racial
equity
impact
assessment
for
changes
to
policies,
codes
or
regulations,
and
identify
steps
taken
to
mitigate
any
adverse
impact
and
recommendations
for
city
council
action.
The
city's
public
works
and
community
development
directors
are
leading
this
effort.
Select
staff
from
both
departments
will
participate
in
a
learning
cohart
that
will
be
trained
in
utilizing
racial
equity
impact
assessments
and
ultimately
train
others
in
the
organization.
B
Next
month,
the
learning
cohart
participants
will
meet
to
discuss
preliminary
next
steps
and
connect
with
leaders
utilizing
racial
equity
impact
assessments
in
other
cities
throughout
the
region.
Another
example
of
embedding
racial
equity
in
programs
and
services
is
occurring
in
our
police
department,
as
mentioned
before,
the
police
department
is
working
with
the
center
for
police
equity
to
conduct
an
equity
data
analysis.
In
february
the
police
department
leadership
team
met
with
the
center
for
police
equity
staff
to
initiate
the
first
phase
of
the
process.
B
B
Previously,
we
discussed
staff
efforts
to
cast
a
broad
net
in
advertising
and
recruiting
for
boards
and
commission
vacancies.
This
week
the
council
filled
seats
for
16,
open
positions,
staff
received
a
total
of
84
applications
and
20
percent
of
those
applicants
identified
as
a
race
or
ethnicity
other
than
white.
Following
the
appointment
process,
board
and
commission
liaisons
are
debriefing
the
recruitment
process
and
will
continue
to
explore
opportunities
to
recruit
diverse
applicants.
B
As
you
can
see,
there's
a
lot
happening
at
the
city
and
we
are
all
working
together
to
ensure
the
racial
equity
business
plan
is
a
living
document.
Today
I
shared
some
of
the
big
picture
highlights
but
remember
if
you
have
specific
questions
about
the
work
or
would
like
to
be
involved
in
any
way.
Please
do
email,
equity,
bloomingtonmn.gov,
thanks
for
listening
and
supporting
this
important
work.