Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Equity Programs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
New Durham Office of Equitable Well-Being outlines language access, training and data plans
Summary
The county's new Office of Equitable Well-Being described a year-one workplan including DEIB training for staff, cultural heritage programs, a racial equity action plan, data governance and a proposed language-access coordinator to better serve the county's multilingual residents.
Durham County—hief of Staff Shannon Trapp and the new Office of Equitable Well-Being presented their inaugural workplan to the Board, describing priorities: staff training, cultural heritage programming, a racial equity action plan, internal data governance, employee resource groups and expanded language access.
"Our mission was supporting a diverse local government to achieve consistent and equitable experiences," Dr. Brent Lewis said, outlining a short-term focus on training and departmental consultations to institutionalize equity across county operations. Manager Cassandra Kyger said the office has trained more than 320 county staff in DEIB fundamentals and will launch additional courses and a departmental "DEIB 201" curriculum via HR.
The office said nearly 20% of county residents list a non-English language as a first language and that approximately 15% report limited English proficiency; staff outlined plans to hire an interim language-access coordinator to build a multi-year plan and to work with city and nonprofit partners. Commissioners encouraged integrating racial-equity and environmental impact checklists into decision forms and requested the office produce a decision-maker checklist informed by the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE).
