Diversity Office Strategic Plan

Diversity Office staff must work within City government and the community, often acting as a liaison between the two, to fulfill its mission. The Diversity Office adopted three major strategies to guide its work:

Supportive Work Environment

Create a workplace that values individuality and participation, and expects open and honest communication to support and retain a diverse workforce.

Educated and Responsive Government

Increase the awareness and responsiveness of City government to human relations issues within the workplace and in the community.

Diverse Participation in Community Life

Expand representation and participation of diverse populations at all levels of City government and in community life.

Accomplishments

Work Environment

• Employee Mediation Program
• Employee Advisory and Solutions Team
• Employee Diversity Training
• Management Consultation on Diversity Policies
• Resource to support diversity program development
• Workplace Assessment on Diversity (focus groups, language survey).
• Strategic plan key result areas - recruitment and retention, succession planning, performance evaluation.
• Diversity Policy Development
• Diversity Taskforce

Educated and Responsive Government

• Created a protocol for Spanish media participation and created a City Welcome Packet in Spanish.
• Liaison between the City and the community on diversity issues.
• Expanded the citizen survey to include diversity-related questions.
• Completed a survey on City services for people with disabilities.
• Development of Diversity Office brochures and web site.
• Provided staff support for Ad Hoc Committee to Study Police Oversight.

Diverse Participation

• Coordinate the Human Relations Advisory Board.
• Provide technical and resource assistance to community groups.
• Working with the disabilities community on housing and transportation issues.
• Recommend candidates with diverse backgrounds for City advisory boards.
• Participated in and co-sponsored events from diverse segments of the community (ie. MLK Celebration, NLC Race Equality Week Diversity Conference, Cesar Chavez celebration, White Cane Week, Hispanic Heritage Month, Mesa Youth Summit, Sikh Community Memorial).