Social Equity & Inclusion
Equity and Inclusion is one of the greatest opportunities we have in front of us as a community. We are stronger through diversity of opinions, culture and life experience. Our community is stronger through embracing the diversity around us. Kirkland is fortunate to have a diverse community, but we tend to shy away from celebrating it and from stepping into difficult conversations about what obstacles need to address to become a truly inclusive community.
Over the past year, we have seen disparities in racial justice and socio-economics presented very clearly at the national level. Those same issues exist in Kirkland, and we have an opportunity to step into solving them now to create an equitable and inclusive community for our friends, neighbors, and children.
The diversity that makes up our community is largely under represented at the City. As your elected City Council Member, I will engage with community advocates to foster broader representation within committees, associations, and at the Council itself. We will grow trust between our community and the City through open engagement, listening, and leaning in to solve issues together. We will create opportunities for education, building community and celebrating our diversity. While there are currently proclamations made at each Council Meeting, they are generally only impactful as raising awareness at that meeting. A proclamation made by the City and Mayor should be more than just a feel good statement. If we declare AAPI month, Pride Month, or Juneteenth through a proclamation, we should lean into those core community issues with a plan for outreach, education, and celebration.
The City of Kirkland has taken a first step and is currently engaged with a social equity and inclusion consultant with that research on-going through the summer and fall. As a council member, I will embrace the recommendations of our consultant as well as to challenge other areas that I see as creating barriers. While I have patience for the process to run its course, I am impatient to see immediate change in attitude and understanding on where institutional racism impacts our community members and their trust in government every day. Specific examples range from addressing items as "small" as a police report for mail theft that requires race, gender and citizenship to be disclosed but not the address from which the mail was stolen, to bigger issues such as the City of Kirkland supporting the unarmed exemption for armored troop carriers with the intention of maintaining the City's armored swat vehicle for parade use.
COVID 19 has underlined many of the socio-economic issues our community has been facing. We have neighbors who are currently experiencing homelessness. Making meaningful decisions and policies around how we partner with these neighbors to get them into housing is a critical step towards equity and inclusion. This cannot be something we address as a side issue but most be a top priority for the City. We are fortunate to have a City that is in a financial position to make a real impact here.
Social Equity and Inclusion is a critical and wide-ranging topic that needs to be a top priority for the City.
Over the past year, we have seen disparities in racial justice and socio-economics presented very clearly at the national level. Those same issues exist in Kirkland, and we have an opportunity to step into solving them now to create an equitable and inclusive community for our friends, neighbors, and children.
The diversity that makes up our community is largely under represented at the City. As your elected City Council Member, I will engage with community advocates to foster broader representation within committees, associations, and at the Council itself. We will grow trust between our community and the City through open engagement, listening, and leaning in to solve issues together. We will create opportunities for education, building community and celebrating our diversity. While there are currently proclamations made at each Council Meeting, they are generally only impactful as raising awareness at that meeting. A proclamation made by the City and Mayor should be more than just a feel good statement. If we declare AAPI month, Pride Month, or Juneteenth through a proclamation, we should lean into those core community issues with a plan for outreach, education, and celebration.
The City of Kirkland has taken a first step and is currently engaged with a social equity and inclusion consultant with that research on-going through the summer and fall. As a council member, I will embrace the recommendations of our consultant as well as to challenge other areas that I see as creating barriers. While I have patience for the process to run its course, I am impatient to see immediate change in attitude and understanding on where institutional racism impacts our community members and their trust in government every day. Specific examples range from addressing items as "small" as a police report for mail theft that requires race, gender and citizenship to be disclosed but not the address from which the mail was stolen, to bigger issues such as the City of Kirkland supporting the unarmed exemption for armored troop carriers with the intention of maintaining the City's armored swat vehicle for parade use.
COVID 19 has underlined many of the socio-economic issues our community has been facing. We have neighbors who are currently experiencing homelessness. Making meaningful decisions and policies around how we partner with these neighbors to get them into housing is a critical step towards equity and inclusion. This cannot be something we address as a side issue but most be a top priority for the City. We are fortunate to have a City that is in a financial position to make a real impact here.
Social Equity and Inclusion is a critical and wide-ranging topic that needs to be a top priority for the City.