A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to an Equity Inclusion Fall 2023 Update

Equity & Inclusion – Fall 2023 Update November 20, 2023 City Council Meeting

Equity & Inclusion (EI) Department – FY2024 Highlights Team-Building ▪ Appointed inaugural Chief of Equity & Inclusion to head the newly elevated Equity & Inclusion Department (reporting directly to the City Manager) and hired Internal Employee Engagement Manager ▪ Expanded to include the Human Rights Commission, Commission on Immigrant Rights & Citizenship, LGBTQ+ Commission, Domestic Violence / Gender-Based Violence Prevention Initiative, and the Women's Commission ▪ Created and posted four new positions (Equity Analyst, Equity & Inclusion Investigator, Domestic Violence Coordinator, Administrative Assistant) which have received dozens of applications. Interviews are in process for the Equity Analyst and Equity & Inclusion Investigator positions ▪ Hosting two Equity & Inclusion Fellows from Harvard Graduate School of Education Employee Engagement ▪ Facilitated two Citywide Employee Forums ▪ Hosted five employee engagement events, in collaboration with employees across departments (Pride Month – Lunch & Learn – “Let’s Talk Personal Pronouns”, Juneteenth Celebration, Taste of the Caribbean, Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month Celebration, Disability Inclusion Panel) Culture of Trust ▪ Communicated to all employees, reinforcing the City’s commitment to fostering a healthy and safe work environment ▪ Partnering with Law Department & Human Resources to develop a citywide discrimination, harassment & retaliation policy and complaint intake process 2

Mission Statement ▪ Advance and maintain an ongoing commitment to antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion ▪ Foster a workplace and community where every individual’s rights, dignity, and contributions are valued and protected ▪ Cultivate a culture that champions social justice and ensures that every employee, resident, and visitor has equal access to opportunities, resources, and representation Guiding Principles EI Department Mission Statement and Guiding Principles ENGAGEMENT Prioritize Equity and Inclusion across the workplace. CULTURE & TRUST Standardize and report on equity and inclusion data to identify disparities, and track progress on employee access engagement. SHARED BEST PRACTICES Build and reinforce antiracism, equity, and inclusion best practices in the City’s recruitment, hiring, and promotions process. 3

In its refreshed strategy, the EI Department has prioritized four workstreamsfor FY2024 AEI Governance Structure Culture of Trust ▪Establish AEI Advisory Council to serve as advisory body for city- wide equity and inclusion initiatives in the City of Cambridge workplace ▪Measuring success: ✓Diverse representation ✓High levels of Council Member engagement ✓Inclusive planning & execution ✓Timely status updates ▪Establish a discrimination, harassment, and retaliation policy and a supporting complaint and investigations process ▪Measuring success: ✓Employee access & awareness of published policy ✓Number of complaints received ✓How complaint was resolved ✓Time to resolution Employee Access ▪Establish an Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodation (RA) policy and request process in collaboration with the Commission for People with Disabilities ▪Measuring success: ✓Employee access & awareness of published policy ✓Number of RA requests received, approved, unapproved ✓Types of accommodations requested & provided ✓Total investment in RAs Employee Engagement ▪Delivery of AEI events and training ▪Establish Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to promote a sense of belonging in the workplace ▪Measuring success: ✓Employee participation & feedback on events and trainings ✓Integration of AEI practices into employee performance coaching ✓Established structure & governance for ERGs ✓Employee engagement with ERGs 4

5 Chief of Equity and Inclusion EI Department • Office of Equity and Inclusion • Commission on Immigrant Rights & Citizenship • Domestic Violence / Gender- Based Violence Prevention Initiative • Human Rights Commission • LGBTQ+ Commission • Women’s Commission AEI Advisory Council Advisory Body of 12-14 selected members, chaired by Chief of Equity & Inclusion Departmental AEI Initiatives Department-specific AEI efforts & initiatives may vary across various departments; overseen by Chief of Equity & Inclusion City Manager AEI Governance Structure: The Chief of Equity & Inclusion will head the EI Department, chair the Advisory AEI Council, and oversee department-wide AEI initiatives Employee Resource Groups Voluntary, employee-led groups whose aim is to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with the City’s organizational and departmental AEI principles and operational goals.

2023 Q4 2024 Q1 2024 Q2 2024 Q3 - Q4 AEI Governance Structure Begin selection process for AEI Advisory Council Finalize selection of AEI Advisory Council Members; hold initial monthly meetings AEI Advisory Council partnerswith Department leadership to stand up Phase 1 of Employee Resource Groups Annual Report from AEI Advisory Council to Department Heads Employee Engagement Finalize initial training cohorts, dates, trainers Disability Awareness Event Employee Forum with City Manager Implement modules 1 & 2 of AEI Learning Cohort Program take place Women’s History Month Trivia Event Black History Month & Lunar New Year Celebration Events Implement Modules 3-5 of AEI Learning Cohort Program take place Employee Forum with City Manager Incorporate feedback on AEI Learning Cohort Program; finalize training schedule & cohorts for FY2025 Culture of Trust Interview qualified candidates; hire Equity & Inclusion Investigator and Equity Analyst Establish discrimination, harassment, and retaliation policy & investigation process Develop community- facing Code of Conduct policy & reporting guidelines Employee Access Collaborate with the Chief People Officer and Telework 2.0 Committee toupdate and revise the City’s policy to ensure the equitable and inclusiveaccess and support for all Working with Commissionfor Persons withDisabilities to formalize accommodations requestprocess Finalize ERG Phase 1 implementation strategy The below timeline illustrates the EI Department’s priorities and planned work for the upcoming months 6

7 Appendix

Mission: Serving as a change agent, the Antiracism, Equity & Inclusion (AEI) Advisory Council's mission is to foster an equitable and inclusive institutional culture in the City of Cambridge workplace, striving for sustainable excellence in employee engagement, policies, practices, and professional development. The AEI Advisory Council is dedicated to advocating for and promoting the voices of historically underrepresented groups within the City’s workforce. Objectives: ✓ Create a workplace that is more equitable and inclusive, where every employee can thrive regardless of their background or identity ✓ Advocate for and promote the voices of historically underrepresented groups within the City’s workforce ✓ Identify and promote best practices in hiring, retention, and development Structure & Membership ▪ Advisory body for city-wide equity and inclusion initiatives in the City of Cambridge workplace ▪ Led by the Chief of Equity & Inclusion, comprising of 12-14 additional members ▪ Council membership should reflect the diversity of employees in the City’s workplace (i.e., representing a diverse array of lived experiences, identities, working styles, seniority levels, and City departments) ▪ Each Council Member will serve an initial term of two years ▪ Council will give a quarterly update report to Leadership 8 Overview | FY2024 Workstreams AEI Governance Structure

The AEI Advisory Council Member selection process aims to maximize outcomes across the below five metrics Skills – Gather nominees who are passionate about the Council’s scope of work and fulfill the role’s required & desired qualifications (with demonstrated prior commitment to AEI) Operational Fit – Guarantee that all final nominees can fulfill the role in terms of time commitment/operational needs Stakeholder Inclusion – Ensure that Department Heads and supervisors are aware of and feel bought into the self-nomination/selection process Diversity – Obtain a slate of nominees representing a diverse array of lived experiences, identities, working styles, seniority levels, and City departments Equitable Consideration – Ensure that all self-nominations are fairly evaluated based on merit, removing bias from the selection process 9

The EI Department aims to source qualified candidates to serve on the AEI Advisory Council Criteria – Required for Eligibility ▪ Must be employed by the City of Cambridge for at least 1 year ▪ Demonstrated commitment to antiracism, equity, and inclusion ▪ Must have completed Conflict of Interest, Preventing Sexual Harassment, and Valuing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (ADEI) trainings ▪ Must attend all AEI Advisory Council meetings with exception of three allowable absences annually ▪ Must be able to dedicate 2-3 hours per month to AEI Council work, in addition to meeting times Preferred Qualifications ▪ Lived experience surrounding marginalized and underrepresented identities (across race, gender, class, sexual orientation, religion, ability, neurodiversity, etc.) ▪ Demonstrated empathy with a willingness to listen to and engage with other perspectives ▪ Demonstrated active allyship across multiple dimensions of identity ▪ Excellent spoken and/or written communication skills ▪ Prior experience with developing and/or implementing AEI initiatives ▪ Openness to change and willingness to bring others along ▪ Ability to participate in discussions around sensitive topics with candor and kindness ▪ Strong relationships with other employees within and outside the nominee’s department 10

The AEI Learning Cohort Program is a training program that aims to increase awareness and engagement from City leaders on key AEI topics. ▪The AEI Learning Cohort Program includes multiple modules, designed in sequence for the development of knowledge and skills and to promote a continuous process of self-awareness, reflection and collaboration ▪Elements of the City's AEI language, principles, and key topical areas, such as implicit bias, will be reinforced to foster relevant and practical application of new knowledge and skills ▪Prerequisites: Structural Racism and Identity Awareness trainings Program Overview ▪FY2024 Cohorts: Cohorts of ~20 each of all full-time employees who serve in a supervisory and/or high-influence role. Each Peer Learning Group will have diverse representation across seniority, departments, gender, race ▪Duration: 5 live modules delivered in-person or virtually across February - June 2024; each module will be 3-4.5 hours in length and will include ~2 hours of pre & post-work (20-30 hours total) ▪Mandatory Participation: All participants will be expected and granted time to attend each module training with their cohort (i.e., recordings will not be provided). Attendance and engagement will be tracked and factored into annual performance reviews ▪Sharing of Insights: Participants are expected to share their learnings with their teams and put into practice in the workplace Program Structure Program Success Measures ▪Change in observed behaviors: Measured via data collected from anonymous surveys (self- reported and from an employee’s supervisor, colleagues, and direct reports if applicable) ▪Participant Engagement: Measured through participant attendance & completion of assignments, and participant ratings of module sessions (via anonymous surveys) Overview | FY2024 Workstreams Employee Engagement 11

Overview | FY2024 Workstreams Employee Engagement The EI Department will recruit and partner with employee volunteers to design, organize, implement engagement events that cultivate community in our workforce. 12

The AEI Learning Cohort Program will include five modules, with the below participant objectives and skill development goals Module Module Objectives for Participants Core Skills #1: Building Awareness & Responsibility (In person) • Build on awareness of the importance of AEI and explore ways to actively sustain AEI by exploring processes and components of effective organizational, individual, and behavioral change • Recognizing and managing organizational change • Understanding resistance • Building resilience and resilient teams #2: From Bias to Belonging (Virtual) • Review the connection between values, thoughts, and behaviors and the influential role implicit bias and privilege play • Explore the micro and macro effects of bias and discover steps to consciously override them • Create individual action plans to recognize the presence of privilege and identify actions to adopt the role of advocate that facilitate access and equity • Understanding bias, power, and privilege • Overcoming Bias with intention #3: The Inclusive Experience (Virtual) • Learn how to integrate AEI considerations into daily practices such as decision- making, meeting culture, communication standards, and giving/receiving feedback • Review the individual and collective role everyone plays in creating a culture of inclusion and accountability • Inclusive practice integration • Bias-free communication • Building accountability #4: Inclusive Expression (Virtual) • Explore a key component of AEI culture - unbiased, respectful, and civil communication • Discuss messages sent internally and externally through their behaviors • Practice frameworks and best practices to decrease interpersonal aggressions, confidently address impact vs. intent, and increase awareness about cultural differences, including lived experiences that impact communication • Boundary creation and communication • Communicating as an ally / advocate • Confidently combatting personal aggression • Understanding the impact and intent dynamic #5: The Road Ahead (In person) • Discuss the broader impact of AEI in the workplace • Explore ways to extend their focus to other areas of diversity, such as age, neurodiversity, gender, sexual orientation, and religion, to support a long-term and multi-faceted approach to inclusive practices • Navigating intersectionality • Managing equity 13

The EI Department will collaborate with the City’s Human Resources and Law departments, ADA Coordinator, Human Rights Commission, Women's Commission and other key stakeholders to establish a Policy Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation and an automated formal & informal complaint submission process. Overview | FY2024 Workstreams Culture of Trust 14 ▪ Published discrimination, harassment, and retaliation policy and neutral parties involved to support the complaint and investigations processes ▪ Employees are aware of and have access to policy, complaint intake process, and available support ▪ Timely follow up, status updates, and resolution of complaints Why? What will success look like? ▪ The City of Cambridge is committed to providing a working environment that is free from unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation, and strives to afford fair and equitable treatment to employees, regardless of their membership in any legally protected class ▪ The purpose of this policy is to prohibit discrimination and harassment based on a person's protected class and to prohibit retaliation for bringing a claim alleging a violation of this policy or participating in a review of any such claim

The EI Department will collaborate with the City’s ADA Coordinator and the Human Resources Department to update the City's Accessibility & Reasonable Accommodation (RA) policy and implementation process, including data reports and success measures. Overview | FY2024 Workstreams Employee Access 15 ▪ Updated Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodation policy, process to access the policy and online request form ▪ Employee access to policy, online Reasonable Accommodation (RA) form and support ▪ Data reports provided to department stakeholders that provide awareness of requests for reasonable accommodation and related costs Why? What will success look like? ▪ Refresh the City's existing RA policy ▪ Build streamlined RA processes that are consistent across City departments ▪ Develop an automated process to track RA requests ▪ Increase employee awareness of and engagement with the RA policy and request process