Lakewood presents final diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging strategic plan to council

City staff presented Lakewood’s final diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) strategic plan to the Lakewood City Council on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, and laid out next steps for internal rollout and implementation.

Staff member, City of Lakewood, joined by Efnanis Henderson, president and CEO of Hender Works, reviewed the plan that staff described as an inward-facing roadmap to “prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as an important element to achieve success and foster trust among our employees, stakeholders, and the broader community.” The document, included in the council packet, identifies three initial action pillars the city will focus on: leadership, talent and education.

The plan matters because it sets the city’s internal expectations and accountability mechanisms before any outward-facing efforts; staff said the intention is to build a foundation among managers and supervisors so subsequent external work is consistent with internal practices.

Staff emphasized the plan begins with a commitment statement intended to guide work across departments. The presenter read the statement aloud at the meeting: “Lakewood represents all people, all cultures, all identities, valuing the differences that make us stronger, focusing on empowerment, inclusivity, and belonging, building a diverse team to meet the unique needs of the community we serve. We are all in.”

Hender Works consultant Efnanis Henderson commended city staff and underscored the role of leadership in making DEIB work effective. “Leadership should lead an effort like this,” Henderson said, arguing that leaders need to set direction, be accountable and limit early scope to a few “high-impact” items so the organization can focus and show results.

Council members questioned scope, measurement and specific actions. Council Member Brandstetter asked whether DEIB items would be added to the city manager’s performance evaluation; staff said that requirement is a recommendation from a pillar team but “is not one of the first items that we moved forward to take action on” and would require a separate leadership discussion. Several council members pressed about training design and the possibility of council members participating; staff said training likely will include role-appropriate offerings for elected officials and that staff is exploring learning platforms that can also provide enrollment tracking.

Council concerns about recruitment practices arose during the discussion. Council Member Pearson said he supports broadening outreach but emphasized hiring the most qualified candidate. Staff responded that the talent pillar is intended to expand outreach channels and candidate pools while maintaining selection processes that identify the most qualified hires; HR scoring and interview matrices will continue to guide selections.

Staff reported a baseline employee survey was completed previously and will be repeated on a multi-year cadence (staff suggested another survey in two to three years) to measure progress. The council also discussed potential regular updates from the city manager on implementation; staff said they expect periodic reports and recommended forming an implementation committee to oversee action-item delivery, timelines and check-ins.

No formal council vote or authorization occurred at the study session. Staff said the next steps are a departmental rollout led in part by members of the action pillar teams, development of role-targeted training, establishment of an implementation committee to monitor progress, and periodic survey follow-ups and executive-level check-ins.

The presentation and council discussion did not adopt changes to the city manager evaluation process or finalize training curricula; staff said those items remain recommendations and will return for consideration if the leadership team chooses to prioritize them.

Speakers

- Staff member, City of Lakewood (presenter) - Efnanis Henderson, President and CEO, Hender Works (consultant) - Council Member Brandstetter (council) - Council Member Brinson (council) - Council Member Bell (council) - Council Member Pearson (council) - Council Member Laura Sella (council) - Council Member Branson (council) - Council Member Bokey (council) - Mayor (presiding)

Authorities

- {"type":"regulation","name":"Title 6","citation":"Title 6 (as referenced in meeting)","referenced_by":["deib-strategic-plan-presentation"]} - {"type":"other","name":"Washington Cities Insurance Association (WCIA) training catalog","citation":"WCIA training catalog (as referenced)","referenced_by":["deib-strategic-plan-presentation"]} - {"type":"other","name":"ISO Diversity and Inclusion standard","citation":"ISO governance standard (as referenced)","referenced_by":["deib-strategic-plan-presentation"]}

Actions

- []

Discussion vs. decision

- Discussion points: commitment statement adoption, three initial pillars (leadership, talent, education), 11 candidate action pillars with three selected for initial work, training approaches, recruitment outreach, employee surveys, possible inclusion of DEIB measures in performance evaluations. - Directions: staff to roll out plan to departments, explore learning platforms for tracked training, present implementation committee proposal, continue executive-level check-ins. - Decisions: Council received the plan and asked for future updates; no formal policy change or vote was adopted at the session.

Clarifying details

- {"category":"commitment_statement","detail":"Full text of the adopted commitment statement","value":"Lakewood represents all people, all cultures, all identities, valuing the differences that make us stronger, focusing on empowerment, inclusivity, and belonging, building a diverse team to meet the unique needs of the community we serve. We are all in.","source_speaker":"Staff member, City of Lakewood"} - {"category":"action_pillars_total","detail":"Total action pillars identified during planning","value":11,"units":"count","approximate":false,"source_speaker":"Staff member, City of Lakewood"} - {"category":"initial_pillars","detail":"Three pillars chosen to start implementation","value":"leadership, talent, education","source_speaker":"Staff member, City of Lakewood"} - {"category":"action_pillar_team_size","detail":"Volunteer team sizes for pillars","value":4.5,"units":"average_people","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Staff member, City of Lakewood"} - {"category":"staff_survey_timeline","detail":"Planned cadence to repeat baseline staff survey","value":"2-3 years","source_speaker":"Staff member, City of Lakewood"} - {"category":"performance_evaluation_insertion","detail":"Recommendation from a pillar team to include DEIB items in evaluations","value":"not specified (recommendation only, not adopted)","source_speaker":"Staff member, City of Lakewood"}

Proper_names

- {"name":"Lakewood","type":"other"} - {"name":"Hender Works","type":"business"} - {"name":"Washington Cities Insurance Association","type":"organization"} - {"name":"ISO","type":"other"}

Community_relevance

- geographies: ["City of Lakewood"] - funding_sources: [] - impact_groups: ["City employees","supervisors","department leadership"]

Meeting_context

- engagement_level: {"speakers_count":10,"duration_minutes":180,"items_count":1} - implementation_risk: "medium" - history: [{"date":"2023-01-01","note":"Plan development began with leadership assessment and pillar teams"}]

Searchable_tags

["DEIB","training","workforce","equity","Lakewood"]

Provenance

- transcript_segments:[{"block_id":"block_53.980003","local_start":0,"local_end":335,"evidence_excerpt":"Well, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Lakewood City Council study session for this Monday, January 13, 2025. We have 4 items for discussion tonight. The first is a review of our diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging strategic plan, and this is effectively then promulgated by staff who's done some great work with Efnanis Henderson, who is here with us tonight along with our communications manager, Brynn Grimlow. The floor is yours.","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"block_3080.225","local_start":0,"local_end":24,"evidence_excerpt":"Thank you. We appreciate it.","reason_code":"topicfinish"}]

Salience

- overall:0.62 - overall_justification:"Internal personnel policy with citywide workforce implications; high relevance to municipal operations and staff trust." - impact_scope:"local" - attention_level:"medium" - novelty:0.35 - timeliness_urgency:0.45 - legal_significance:0.10 - budgetary_significance:0.05 - public_safety_risk:0.00 - environmental_impact:0.00 - affected_population_estimate:8000 - affected_population_estimate_justification:"City employee headcount not specified; estimate reflects larger service population affected indirectly." - affected_population_confidence:0.30 - budget_total_usd:0.0 - policy_stage:"proposal" - follow_up_priority:6 - fact_check_risk:0.10 - uncertainty:0.20 - source_diversity:0.40 - stakeholder_balance:0.45 - alert_flags:["missing_sources"]

Engagement_forecast

- newsworthiness:{"national":0.00,"regional":0.10,"local":0.65,"justification":"Primarily of interest to the local workforce, elected leaders and municipal staff."} - notify_recommendation:{"audience":"city","reason":"Internal policy rollout with city staff and council oversight; recommend notifying City Manager, department directors, HR and council liaisons.","justification":"Operational policy for city employees; important for internal stakeholders."} - notify_thresholds:{"local_min":0.40,"regional_min":0.70,"national_min":0.90} - predicted_interest:{"national":0.00,"regional":0.10,"local":0.60,"justification":"Local audiences and civic groups likely to follow implementation updates."} - predicted_click_through:0.12 - predicted_read_time_minutes:3.2 - predicted_shares:5

Graph_signals

- jurisdictions:["US-WA-PIE-LAK"],"jurisdictions_justification":"Lakewood, Pierce County jurisdiction code" - ontology_topics:["workforce","equity","training"] - naics_codes:[],"sdg_tags":["SDG4"],"entities":[{"id":"HENDERWORKS","name":"Hender Works","type":"organization"}],"events":[]