Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Sharon Select Board Chair Kiana Pierre-Louis, left, and Pittsfield Chief Diversity Officer Michael Obasohan, both members of the MMA’s DEI Advisory Committee, lead a DEI workshop during the MMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show in January. The DEI committee is working with Racial Equity Group to complete a DEI strategic plan for municipalities.
The MMA’s DEI Advisory Committee is working with Racial Equity Group CEO Bird Guess to complete its DEI strategic plan for municipalities.
Once it is finalized and approved, an executive summary of the plan and the results of the MMA’s municipal DEI survey will be shared with members by email and in a webinar.
The strategic plan reviews the results of the surveys and focus groups that the Racial Equity Group conducted this past fall to better understand the progress municipalities have made in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. Overall recommendations include:
• Offering municipal trainings such as how to build DEI practices and policies into city and town hall internal operations, on how boards and committees can apply DEI best practices as they consider issues before them, on identifying DEI grant funding opportunities, and on collecting municipal DEI demographics to help establish benchmarks of achievement
• Transitioning the DEI Advisory Committee into a formal committee that advises on DEI initiatives
• Establishing partnerships with other organizations working in the DEI space
• Developing a diverse talent pipeline program that identifies and equips emerging minority and diverse leaders for municipal professional and elected official roles throughout the Commonwealth
The Racial Equity Group also advised on strategies for the MMA to apply internally to boost its commitment to DEI, including:
• Examining the demographic makeup of the MMA Board of Directors, member groups, committees and staff
• Establishing policies and practices to increase diversity among the MMA staff
• Providing DEI training for MMA staff, including during the onboarding process
• Integrating DEI best practices into MMA Board and member group bylaws and into advocacy, education and communications work
• Collecting and analyzing demographic representation data of MMA vendors and contractors to identify any inequities
• Ensuring and advocating for legislative policies that support DEI
• Hiring a staff member dedicated to DEI
The Racial Equity Group has also developed a toolkit for advancing DEI at the local level, and is recommending that it be tested by several communities prior to dissemination.
Members will be able to access DEI resources in a DEI resource area of the MMA website.