Trek Across County Trails

/

How would you like to visit the many beautiful County parks without hopping on a bus or gassing up the car? Well, now you can (sort of) by participating in the Employee Wellness activity Trek Across County Trails. With this six week virtual trip, you’ll travel from park to park and take in all our County parks have to offer.

Register now for this Employee Wellness challenge.

Update for July 10 - Listening and Learning

/

Message from Helen Robbins-Meyer, Chief Administrative Officer

After calls for racial justice moved into the national and local spotlight, our employee resource groups took the initiative and hosted a listening session this week on equity and identity. The response to this event was tremendous. I truly want to thank the organizers for putting it together and the hundreds of employees who participated. (If you weren’t able to join, you can read this summary.)

In particular, thank you to all those who had the courage to speak. For these kinds of forums to have impact, they’re going to be uncomfortable for most involved. It’s hard for those who share painful experiences, especially in front of a crowd. And it’s hard to hear how our organization has failed some of our colleagues, and to realize how our individual actions – or inactions – play a part in that.

This week’s discussion was direct and frank, and I welcome that. It’s only by clearly confronting our shortcomings that we can identify how to do better. We plan to hold similar sessions in the future, and for many of us, I do want these to truly be listening sessions. Take in what you hear from your co-workers. Value their perspective. Learn from it, grow from it.

I encourage everyone to bring an open heart and mind to not just this event, but what will be an ongoing process. Rooting out systemic racism and bias is difficult but essential work. Without ensuring social justice, we fall short of the ideals we hold for the County and the commitments we make to all our residents. As the late great poet Maya Angelou once said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

ERG Listening Session Recap

/

From the ERG Council Chair Keisha Clark and Co-chair Ben Parmentier:

For those of you that did not make the ERG Listening Session on July 8, here is what your colleagues want you to know:

There was an overwhelming agreement that the ERG Listening Sessions need to continue. We want our leaders to know that we are listening to the way they communicate and what they prioritize. It is important to separate protestors from property and lamentation from looting. There was much disappointment that the organization that we are proud to work for was tardy to the table. Black colleagues as well as their White counterparts want to talk about what is happening in their own business units. The workforce is calling for training on these important subjects to better educate themselves on the current issues. There is a real fear of retaliation for speaking out about injustices and safe spaces need to be cultivated. Black colleagues shared lived experiences such as praying that their children and spouses make it back home safely from the store and celebrating that their children made it to adulthood alive. Black people are fatigued teaching and telling their stories repeatedly.

It is time to take our D&I Strategic Plan to the next level. If we want to make data driven decisions to invest in this work, we can consider tracking metrics on promotability, upward mobility, and leadership presence. Not all stories will fit into a quantifiable lens, however the quality of the experience holds much value. BLACK LIVES MATTER.

Unforgettable testimonies:

“As a Black father, it chokes me up to have to have a talk with my three year old daughter about why she may be treated differently in this world because of the color of her skin. This is a burden that Black parents share that White parents do not.”

“My husband is always going to the hardware store on weekends for his many projects around the house. As a Black mother, it hurts to have your child wonder if her Dad is going to make it back home.”

“I told my boys they can’t pierce their ears and I tell my husband that he cannot either to set the example. Anything that will draw attention to you, I want to minimize. I consider it an accomplishment that my children made it to adulthood.”

The below resources are shared for your information, which include some mentioned in the listening session and chat:

  1. When Racism is Covert

  2. Modern Day Lynching: Target Practice Short Film

  3. Your Black Colleagues May Look Like They Are OK - Chances Are, They're Not

  4. What it really means to be an anti-racist, and why it's not the same as being an ally

  5. Racism Is Terrible, Blackness is Not

  6. We Need to Talk About Black Fatigue at Work

  7. Book Recommendations for Leaders To Show Moral Courage  

  8. Micro-learning on Implicit Bias

  9. Suggested reading/viewing:

    • 1619 Podcast on ITunes

    • Slave Patrols by Sally E Hadden

    • 13th on Netflix

    • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

    • How to Be Anti-Racist by Ibram Kendi

    • White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

    • Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

    • Race: The Power of Illusion on PBS