Q&A
City Council engagement and ensuring agency compliance in racial equity planning
0:52:25
ยท
7 min
Council Member Williams asks about opportunities for City Council engagement in the racial equity planning process and expresses concerns about agency compliance and accountability. Commissioner Sherman addresses these points and outlines measures to ensure effective implementation.
- MOERJ plans to brief the City Council and the committee on the preliminary plan once completed
- The office welcomes feedback from the Council and will keep them informed throughout the process
- Measures to ensure agency compliance and accountability include:
- A directive from the mayor to agencies for meaningful engagement
- Building infrastructure within MOERJ to support implementation
- A fully staffed racial equity planning team with agency portfolios
- Systems for tracking progress and public reporting
- Collaboration with CORE and the City Council for additional accountability
- The goal is to create lasting infrastructure for racial equity work in city government
Nantasha M. Williams
0:52:25
Okay, thank you.
0:52:28
Will the council have opportunities to also engage in this process?
0:52:32
So I mean obviously it's really important for the administration to share this information up and down throughout the admin certainly to OMB but again as council members I know some of my colleagues I know I'm really interested in this stuff and would love to engage in the process, so just wondering if you all have factored in any ways for the council to engage in the process.
Sideya Sherman
0:52:56
Absolutely, and so once we complete the preliminary plan and I know this is a particular interest and you have you know significant expertise in this area, we'd love to brief you, brief the committee, have an opportunity to talk through the plan in more detail, gain your feedback, and as we work on the final we'll certainly keep you abreast as well.
Nantasha M. Williams
0:53:18
Thank you.
0:53:18
Has tree had any involvement in the racial equity planning process?
0:53:22
I mean I feel like we kind of discussed this, but it would be good to know if there has been like any official involvement or is it just pulling from what you learned there and sort of cross referencing where you need?
Sideya Sherman
0:53:33
Sure, I'll say there's two vehicles.
0:53:35
So in terms of the composition of tree internally, city agency staff, as I mentioned many of the designees overlap with those who are also the designees that many of the people who are designees for tree are also designees for their agencies race repudiating process.
0:53:51
However, externally the community based coalitions that are part of the Tree Neighborhood network as part of the Commission on Racial Equities work, they have engaged those those network members as well in developing their community priorities and in addition to many other New Yorkers and so there has been points of intersection and you know I think as we continue to move this work further, we're looking to bring even more alignment.
Nantasha M. Williams
0:54:21
Thank you.
0:54:23
What steps has the administration taken and does it plan to take in the future to ensure that agency spending reflects racial equity priorities and that agencies continue to cooperate effectively with your office?
Sideya Sherman
0:54:41
So we're producing what is a measurable plan, right.
0:54:45
There are goals, outcomes, indicators and that it will be the way in which we ensure that the plan is implemented and their accountability systems in place.
0:54:56
As I shared, many agencies are certainly identifying you know programs that may be funded, but they also are focusing on how they allocate their existing resources to effectuate their goals.
0:55:09
And so there will be constant updates and alignment as we you know the cities will sort of consistently be in a planning cycle for the foreseeable future between progress reports and planning.
0:55:21
So there's opportunity for constant adjustment and realignment based on the way the process is structured too.
Nantasha M. Williams
0:55:26
Yeah, this this question right here is probably like my number one concern because I see it with you know CCHR, I see it with EEPC, know we just had a hearing yesterday where DOI was here.
0:55:41
It's like these maybe because you're like a mayoral kind of body, it's a little different than some of these sort of independent type of bodies or like sister agencies that aren't as big as the NYPD in terms of the the respect and deference level I feel that happens across the administration and so my biggest concern is that you'll do all this work and there's no teeth behind it and like agencies that need to like take action to fulfill on this measurable plan won't actually take action and there's no way to truly hold them accountable.
0:56:15
So you know I would say that's like my biggest concern is ensuring that you know whether it's you or CORE or whomever like you have enough respect to be able to you know hold whomever accountable even if it's OMB to delivering on the things that come out of these plans because it's kind of pointless for you to craft these plans and no other agency does anything about it and you can't hold them accountable to it.
0:56:42
So that's this is this is like my number one concern about all of this stuff is the agencies actually making change and I've seen again, you know, with the the fire department in particular.
0:56:55
I mean they really have not made any substantive changes and it's why the city is like actively in a lawsuit.
0:57:02
So anyway, I hope that you have the the authority and teeth that you need and and whatever respective task forces and committees and commissions under you have the same because I've seen countless times how agencies don't really comply and there's nothing really you can do to get that agency to comply and you know, the crux of this is talking about systems and these systems exist with or without us, but it calls for us to like force change and I just I'm like really concerned about the the strength of these inequitable systems recreating themselves in perpetuity just in different names in different ways.
Sideya Sherman
0:57:52
Would you like me to Sure.
Nantasha M. Williams
0:57:54
Respond to my TED talk.
Sideya Sherman
0:57:56
No, no I appreciate your what you shared and I certainly share your sentiment.
0:58:02
We've been clear from the start of this process that this is not just a compliance exercise, right?
0:58:07
If it were, we would have put out a plan months ago.
0:58:10
The goal is to ensure that this is truly a transformative plan and to do that we've done the groundwork right to really rally support across all levels of the administration.
0:58:22
This started with a directive from the mayor to agencies to meaningfully engage in this process.
0:58:27
All city leadership has been engaged in this process.
0:58:30
Agencies have been really thoughtful and intentional in creating their plans.
0:58:35
They're serious about them.
0:58:37
And we've built the infrastructure now as we've been building our office to ensure that we have the systems that we need to ensure accountability.
0:58:45
We now have a fully staffed racial equity planning team, so that includes not only our planning our director of equity planning and technical assistance, but also 10 equity planning managers that have agency portfolios that will be working hand in hand with agencies throughout implementation.
0:59:04
We also have been working to set up the systems that we need to track and ensure that there's there's progress.
0:59:11
There's also public reporting as part of this process, so we will obviously share progress reports with the public.
0:59:16
And then obviously there's other means for public accountability through the work of CORE, through the work of the City Council.
0:59:22
And so we take this work very seriously and part of my goal is to ensure that as we build this team, as we build this inaugural plan, that the infrastructure lasts right beyond me, beyond any other chief equity officer, so that it remains prominent and central within city government.