Committee Report CR-3

The Civic Unity Committee held a public meeting on Wednesday, March 8, 2006, beginning at eleven o’clock and three minutes a.m. in the Sullivan Chamber for the purpose of continuing the discussion of the City’s affirmative action and diversity training policies.

Present at the hearing were Councillor E. Denise Simmons, Chair of the Committee and City Clerk D. Margaret Drury.  Also present were Michael Gardner, Director of Personnel, Duane Brown, Director of Affirmative Action, Robert Stevens, Director of Veterans’ Services and member of the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee and Leroy Cragwell, 13 Hubbard Avenue, member of the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee.

Councillor Simmons convened the hearing and explained the purpose.  She stated that she would like the committee to look at the City’s affirmative action policies for employees and to revisit the 1997 Race and Class forum.  She stated that she would also be interested in looking at the project undertaken by the City of Boston, which trained facilitators for a citywide conversation about race and class.  She noted Cambridge engaged in related projects in 1945 and in the 1997 - 1998 forum entitled “Cambridge Forum on Race and Class: ‘The Trouble I’ve Seen: Cambridge begins the difficult discussion on race and class.’”

Councillor Simmons then moved the discussion to the City’s affirmative action policy and asked Mr. Brown when it was last updated.  Mr. Brown said he was not sure when the policy was last updated.  The Affirmative Action Plan, as required by the state Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) and federal Executive Office of Communities and Development/Department of Community Affairs (EOCD/DCA) regulatory agencies, was updated last May.

Councillor Simmons asked how often the plan is updated.  Mr. Brown said that because MCAD found the plan satisfactory at the last review, the plan must be submitted again within five years, and sooner if regulatory changes require changes in the plan.  Mr. Brown agreed to provide a copy of the policy and the plan.  Councillor Simmons said that she would like to know what the City’s goals are.  She asked who are the highest ranking persons of color employed by the City and whether they are on the level of the Assistant City Managers and the next executive level.

Councillor Simmons then requested an outline of the process for city employees who have a complaint that the city has discriminated against him or her.

Mr. Brown said that the employee has a choice.  Employees can file with Duane Brown, the Director of Affirmative Action, or they can go to the Personnel Director, Mr. Gardner or to the Women’s Commission.  An employee can also go directly outside to the MCAD.  If they come to Mr. Brown, it is his responsibility to tell them all of their options, including MCAD and EOCD.

Mr. Brown said that typically, when an employee comes to see him, that person is not sure whether the issue is discrimination.  The employee just knows that something is wrong on the job and that he or she is not happy.  Mr. Brown said that 98% of the time the problem is supervision management.

Mr. Brown said that for every hire in the administration and official level (01 and 02), he, as Affirmative Action Director, must be consulted at the time that there is a vacancy.  He is usually involved in the process, either giving them resources for advertising or participating in the screening and hiring committee.

Councillor Simmons stated that she would like to see an affirmative action hiring history as well, including information as to what are the goals, have we ever reached them and, if so, what happened.

Mr. Brown said that the 01 category includes department heads, their deputies and division heads in large departments.  Currently there are eleven employees in that category who are persons of color.  He explained that affirmative action hiring goals are set based on information from Cambridge responses to the census long term form.  From that information, statistics as to the percentage of persons of color residing in Cambridge and employed in each EEO category, the goals changed last July in Cambridge.  The parity figure for 01 employees changed from 16.3% to 19%.  At the same time several persons of color in the 01 category left the City for other positions.  Mr. Brown added that Cambridge has reached the priority goal for most of the other categories.  Currently the 01 category is just under 14%, with a target goal of 19%.  He said that two of the last people hired in the 01 category have been persons of color.

In response to a question from Councillor Simmons, Mr. Brown said that 27% of the City of Cambridge workforce should be persons of color.   That parity goal changed last July from 25.5%, based on the census results.  Mr. Brown said that the City’s numbers peak and dip.  The category we always struggle with is the 01 category.  Any time there is an 01 vacancy, City staff work very hard to get a diverse pool of applicants and maximize the opportunity to reach the City’s affirmative action goal.

Councillor Simmons said that there are not very many of those positions and there are not many vacancies, so every time we do not hire a person of color, it is a major disappointment in terms of meeting the City’s affirmative action goals, she stated that she has not seen a commitment to keep a position open until a person of color is hired; particularly in view of the fact that these positions do not turn over often, she believes that should be the policy.  She asked how many 01 category positions Cambridge has. Mr. Gardner said that currently there are 96% of 01 positions.

Councillor Simmons asked if there are any vacancies in that category.  Mr. Gardner said that two will be vacant but are not yet, so they are not recruiting yet.  Those positions are the Director of the Election Commission and Director of the Women’s Commission.

Councillor Simmons stated that she also would like an update on cultural competency training.  She asked if there is continuing education or is it just for new hires.

Mr. Brown said that in addition to the mandatory baseline diversity training that the City requires for all employees, he co-facilitates with Diane Klayman, the City’s Training Director, a “Valuing Differences” six-part series.  Each session is three to four hours long.  He believes the next series will be in September.  This is not the mandatory baseline diversity that every employee gets; it is optional.  The mandatory training is one that is a four-hour training.

Councillor Simmons asked why it is optional.  Mr. Brown said that the training is much more effective when it is not mandatory.

Councillor Simmons set the next meeting for March 22, at 11:00 a.m., as a follow-up on this affirmative action discussion.  She also described the meeting that she wants to have on Race and Class, and asked Mr. Brown to supply information about the Race and Class program discussion that the City of Boston sponsored.  She said that she would like a citywide conversation on race and class that would describe:

Mr. Cragwell, 13 Hubbard Avenue, member of the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee, expressed his appreciation for the discussion that happened today.  He said that he is pleased with the determination and intensity of the questions that were asked as well as Mr. Brown’s ability to respond.

Robert Stevens, Director of Veterans’ Services, member of the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee, said that as Director of Veterans’ Services he is mandated to be part of the Advisory Committee because veterans are a protected classification under the state and federal discrimination laws.  He said that the topic of affirmative action is very close to his heart.  It is important to support racial parity and it is also good to take a look at where we are.

Mr. Gardner stated that he and Mr. Brown work collaboratively to ensure fairness and follow the law.  He said that with regard to the percentages of persons of color employed by the City, in comparison with other cities and towns, although Cambridge is not where we want to be, and there always room for improvement, Cambridge is miles ahead of other communities.

Mr. Brown highlighted the issue of the municipal police officers exam, and how much work Cambridge put in to make sure that a large and diverse population of young Cantabrigians took the exam.

Councillor Simmons commended the City on this accomplishment and emphasized that the next step is getting them working in Cambridge.  She thanked those present for their participation.  The meeting was adjourned at eleven o’clock and fifty-five minutes a.m..