REIB director says budget and staffing cuts will constrain racial equity work but team will maintain core programs

Prince Corbett, director of the city's Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (REIB) department, told the Budget Committee on Oct. 7 that the mayor's recommended 2026 budget reduces REIB's allocation and headcount and that the department will continue core programming while acknowledging constrained capacity.

"Our budget has steadily declined from just over $2,000,000 in 2023 to $1,100,000 in the mayor's 2026 recommended budget, a reduction of nearly 45% over three budget cycles," Corbett said. He described the proposed 2026 staffing as five budgeted positions, down from nine in 2024, with the deputy director position eliminated and a senior project manager transferred to another department.

Corbett framed REIB's mission as embedding racial equity into city operations and highlighted several 2025 accomplishments and ongoing programs: a George Floyd remembrance event for city employees attended by more than 130 employees; a StoryCorps partnership that captured narratives preserved in the Library of Congress; an REIB urban scholar who completed two projects; expansion of a "repair harm" thoughtful-confrontation model and train-the-trainer work; participation in national racial-equity training; and the inclusion of an equity officer role in the Emergency Operations Center during recent responses.

Corbett said reductions in staff and reliance on single-year funding streams create operational risk. He described the department as a "boutique shop" asked to produce structural change and warned that reduced capacity affects both day-to-day operations and the ability to provide sustained enterprise-level support. "Losing the deputy director position means a significant reduction in the leadership," Corbett said, adding he spends roughly 30 to 40% of his time on day-to-day operations that previously would have been handled by a second layer of leadership.

Corbett provided program metrics and progress on a 2024 organizational assessment conducted by Research and Action: out of 29 recommended actions, nine were complete, 14 remain in progress, some items have been paused and four were dropped due to updated federal policy guidance. He listed measurable participation figures for 2025 (877 individuals participated in racial equity learning sessions or forums — later corrected in his presentation to note that figure includes community members and employees) and attendance counts for regional "Day of Racial Healing" events (community event: 221 attendees with 165 attending; employee event: 461 registered, 405 attended).

Council Member Jenkins asked whether the department's "building trust through repairing harm" work replaces an earlier truth-and-reconciliation proposal. Corbett said the repair-harm model — developed with a contractor called Good Works — is the approach the department is deploying, describing it as a four-step process (truth telling, seeking to understand, remediation, and follow-up).

Corbett warned of legal and reputational risks given shifting federal guidance about affirmative action and civil-rights funding and urged continued partnership with the city attorney for legal guardrails. He said REIB will continue training, expand restorative practices and pursue a five-year strategic plan for 2026–2030, but urged council and administration to recognize the gap between mandate and resources.

The committee received the presentation for the record.