Q&A
Potential duplication of work across racial equity initiatives
1:56:48
ยท
3 min
Council Member Williams expresses concerns about potential duplication of work across various racial equity initiatives in the city government. Linda Tigani addresses these concerns and explains the current state of efficiency efforts and future plans for improvement.
- Tigani acknowledges that MOERJ and CORE are still in a launch phase
- Full efficiencies may not be visible until the second full planning cycle
- The importance of having both MOERJ as a stronghold and CORE as an accountability office is emphasized
- Areas for potential efficiency improvements include outcome indicators, measures, and data disaggregation
- Tigani highlights the need for more integration of racial equity across government departments
- The public desires to see more collaboration between different city agencies
- The first cycle's delay has not been the best presentation of efficiency, but future cycles are expected to show improvements
Nantasha M. Williams
1:56:48
I have two more questions and hopefully they don't get you in trouble, but during the last testimony, you know to me I feel like there's a lot of duplicity in the work and I feel like you know it's bureaucracy which I also hate but you know it's this idea of like and not to like be on my doge tip but like government is big sometimes for reasons that like don't make sense like why are we doing these things?
1:57:19
Like this is not actually like demonstrating impact.
1:57:22
So I'm just wondering if you do feel there's any duplicity in the work across the administration given the various you know like tree and MOERJ and CORE.
1:57:33
I mean it just seems like a lot of people doing a lot of things and I'm not sure that I actually like see the impact of all of this like effort and maybe it just takes time, right?
1:57:46
That might be it but just wondering your opinion as well on like the duplicity of the work.
Linda Tigani
1:57:54
Thank you for the question.
1:57:55
I am also always looking for efficiencies wherever possible.
1:58:00
I do think that it's important to note that MOERJ and CORE are still very much in a launch phase.
1:58:07
And so the efficiencies that we're hoping to see really where I think we're not going to be able to see it until the second full planning cycle has occurred.
1:58:16
And we've had the opportunity to both see plans, respond to plans, but also track investments and measure potential change.
1:58:26
I think having MOERJ and referred to in chapter 78 as the Office of Racial Equity is a very important stronghold for any administration, for any government, as well as having an accountability office.
1:58:41
Where I think that we could look to see where we can be more efficient is in how we are thinking of outcome indicators, measures, and data disaggregation.
1:58:53
So we know that the charter already calls for us to have standard guidelines.
1:58:58
I think that's going to be helpful in moving towards being able to identify where we can be more efficient with investments and programming.
1:59:07
But I also think that it's important to note that we need more integration of racial equity across government in order to see efficiencies not only in the way that we work but most importantly for the public.
1:59:24
What we did hear from community members was does the health department and the education department talk to each other?
1:59:31
Are they creating a plan together?
1:59:33
Does DOB and HPD talk to each other?
1:59:36
Are they creating a plan together?
1:59:38
The public wants to see us work more closely together.
1:59:43
We do think one of those ways is by having more publicly available data shared, but it is not the only way.
1:59:50
We have multiple reports, as you mentioned earlier, that say a lot of things.
1:59:54
And so we need to make sure that what they're saying is a clear concise message that advances racial equity and social justice for all.
2:00:03
We are not there yet but I believe that the processes that we have built into the equity infrastructure will allow us to get there and it is absolutely my responsibility as well as council's responsibility to ensure that we are holding all city agencies accountable to doing that work.
2:00:23
And I do believe that we'll be able to see that.
2:00:26
But this first cycle is because of our delay has not been the best presentation of it, and I would encourage us to just closely monitor and hold accountable agencies as we move forward to make sure that they are doing the work we need to be more efficient.