25 Oct Equity Plan Aims to Make ‘Richmond a Place Where All Feel Welcome’

“I think it’s great that we’re talking about (the racial equity plan),” said Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez, center, “but we need to make sure that we are showing how we are implementing this.” Flanking her are council members Gayle McLaughlin and Cesar Zepeda. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Department equity statements and one equity officer are set to come to Richmond after the City Council on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to racial equity. 

Council members received an update on the Race Equity Action Plan, first created by city employees belonging to Richmond’s Government Alliance on Race and Equity. It identifies four goals to increase racial equity outcomes for residents and includes input from residents at Community Buzz Cafes hosted in 2022 by Healthy Contra Costa. 

“Equity is a real thing that we need to talk about,” said council member Melvin Willis.”Building community and having those conversations, really understanding what’s happening and having good policies that reflect the diversity of our community and the cultural competency that is needed for our community in our hiring and providing services.”

Those four goals are internal work, community engagement, city service provision and healthy life outcomes. For each goal, up to 10 action items were identified. 

“Our goal is to continue making Richmond a place where all feel welcome, secure and proud to be Richmond residents,” said Johana Gurdian of Healthy Contra Costa.

The council directed staff to hire an equity officer, have each city department develop a racial equity statement and have each department head participate in race equity training in a 5-0 vote, with Mayor Eduardo Martinez and council member Doria Robinson absent. 

City Manager Shasa Curl said that staff are “all committed and on board” with upcoming training they’ll be asked to participate in, which are ongoing and will last into next year. Trainings have covered implicit bias, the importance of diversity for leaders and will later touch on the government’s role in advancing racial equity. 

The need for an equity officer comes as city staff, namely the council’s project coordinator, Trina Jackson-Lincoln, have to dedicate time to the Racial Equity Action Plan and individual projects for each council member. The “importance and complexity of this work” requires a staff person to work only on race and equity projects, according to the staff report. 

Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez, who co-sponsored the item with Robinson and Willis, and council member Soheila Bana asked that measurable outcomes and the collection of data be included going forward with the goals.

“I think it’s great that we’re talking about (the racial equity plan),” Jimenez said, “but we need to make sure that we are showing how we are implementing this…it has to come with a plan.” 

Curl told the council that a recently hired analyst in the human resources department will also be supporting Jackson-Lincoln’s efforts. 

In 2018, the council committed “itself to systematically and deliberately applying a racial equity lens in its decision making” in its racial equity resolution. That resolution passed unanimously, including support from then-Vice Mayor Willis and then-council member Martinez. 

Richmond then went on to hold implicit biases training the following year and established an advisory committee in 2021.