Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
REMARKS
CORE's strategies for maintaining mission and supporting staff amid political challenges
3:10:57
ยท
4 min
Linda Tigani, Chair and Executive Director of CORE, explains how the agency is addressing federal challenges while maintaining its mission and supporting its staff. She emphasizes CORE's commitment to racial equity and social justice despite political pressures.
- CORE remains steadfast in its mission, citing existing federal laws supporting equity
- Implements staff support measures like break times and debriefing sessions
- Addresses confusion about legal aspects of racial equity work in government
- Adapts communication strategies to encourage participation while protecting privacy
Linda Tigani
3:10:57
That's a great question.
3:10:59
We well, one, I think it's fair to say we are always thinking about this.
3:11:05
And, also, in the recent weeks, a lot of city agencies and staff across city agencies have have asked me the same question, you know, what is CORE gonna do in this moment?
3:11:19
We've remained steadfast in our mission.
3:11:23
Federal laws that support equity are still in place.
3:11:27
It is it is our job and it is our legal duty to support racial equity and social justice in government as public servants.
3:11:37
We are very clear as a group of commissioners, as a group of staff, what our role is, but I just wanna uplift that it does have a social emotional toll.
3:11:47
It does have a psychological toll.
3:11:49
And as part of my responsibility, I also have to put in place opportunities and moments for the staff to debrief, to vent, to breathe, and to be regrounded.
3:12:02
And so a few things that we do is now we do have break time on Wednesdays where we can sit down and breathe with each other.
3:12:10
We're starting to do that with commissioners but this is like brand new with them as well.
3:12:15
We do stay abreast of the news.
3:12:18
We do have conversations about them.
3:12:20
We are talking through what is the core statement in this moment.
3:12:25
Our work has not changed.
3:12:27
Our social media postings have not changed.
3:12:30
Our commitment to advancing this work in community has not changed.
3:12:35
We're continuously going out, joining campaigns, joining events, and talking with folks.
3:12:41
But one thing that I've noticed is that there is a lot of confusion about what we can do as public servants and what may be legal or not legal.
3:12:52
And I just wanna be very clear for the record.
3:12:55
It is absolutely legal and a moral imperative to advance racial equity and social justice.
3:13:03
We are in the right when we do that.
3:13:05
That is our job.
3:13:07
It is our mission and vision, and we are moving forward.
3:13:11
What I also wanna offer is that this is the time for government to step up their WorkWell services, their EAP services because of the toll that this takes on people.
3:13:23
We have also provided some additional support even in interviews, in screening calls so that candidates who want to do this work don't feel scared to tell us who they are and be excited about racial equity and social justice when they are applying for work at CORE.
3:13:42
We also support our partners across city government by offering spaces, whether it's in one on one conversations or sometimes it's in the reparations conversation that we have or the truth healing and reconciliation conversation where we're bringing equity leaders across government and providing some space for them to be free, to be themselves, and to talk amongst each other.
3:14:06
And I'll say lastly, we are moving more towards conversations and less to less to RFI, like, written comments.
3:14:16
We do offer both, but we have noticed and I would say a little bit before the election, and Maya could can speak to a little bit of this, people were already concerned to tell us their identity on the form.
3:14:31
We had a lot of missing or prefer not to answer because people were I our our inference is that people were concerned to tell us how they identify according to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and chronic disability.
3:14:49
And so we are constantly putting out a message that says, one, CORE is a safe space.
3:14:56
Two, we remain steadfast in our work and our commitment to the public and our commitment to the city, to the law.
3:15:03
And so we are trying to encourage people to be in that space with us, to be in community with us so that we can build the coalitions that we need to move to move forward from this moment.
3:15:17
I don't know if Maya you want it.
3:15:18
Oh, okay.