Category: Professional Work Experience (PWE)

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THE MANY HATS OF PUBLIC SERVICES

I will preface this week’s post by saying that Public Services does A LOT around the City of Salisbury. What I describe may not encompass everything and will definitely not do the department justice for their awesome work, but it would probably be bad blogging if I didn’t try.

P.S. – Sorry for the long post, but I broke it up with some pictures to help!

HAT 1

The first hat (and of course I mean role/job – they actually all have the same matching hats) I was exposed to was that of the crews repairing and replacing asphalt and concrete. Crews of around 4 will go to different locations where a road/sidewalk issue was either reported by a citizen or spotted by staff and repair it.

Crew “Topping Off” a low spot in the road

While every job is different, the asphalt crew above laid down a sort of adhesive that helps the new asphalt stick, filled in a sunken spot in the road, and leveled it out again (call it a top-off to show off to local gov friends!). The concrete crew below is finishing a sidewalk (sorry if this triggers any of my repeat readers) that was torn up to gain access to a pipe below. While crew members have certain preferences or jobs they are better at, Public Services values flexibility, so most staff are cross-trained to run any crews or machines necessary.

Putting finishing touches on the new concrete sidewalk

HAT 2

The second hat of the week was with solid waste, more commonly known as the people that come by once a week and take your trash to a magical far off land (SPOILER ALERT – it’s the Rowan County landfill). Trash pickup itself is a pretty simple concept, BUT WAIT, I brought a gift in the form of a fun fact: the trashcans have to be somewhat cylindrical so that the automatic arm can get a good grip. One day this week, a lady called to ask if we had mistakenly taken her trashcan. After calling up the driver on her route, it was discovered that she had an older model can with a square shape, which the mechanical arm decided to throw away for her (the can slipped out of the arms grip).

Pile of cans to be recycled pre-baled
Cans to be recycled, post-baler

Recycling has been a hot topic lately, since China decided to stop taking the highly contaminated materials from the US (top challenge in local government: teach citizens proper recycling practices). Salisbury waste is fortunate to work closely with Rowan County, that has a neat recycling program that managed to find buyers for the materials it does recycle. At the Rowan recycling locations, one of which is seen below, the main materials accepted are aluminum cans, steel and tin cans, cardboard, 1 and 2 plastics, and glass. Feel free to ask me for more information, but the neatest thing to find out is that Rowan actually found a company in North Carolina that will buy their glass and use it for glass (glass-to-glass recycling instead of grinding it up for another purpose). This is neat because the lack of market for and heavy weight (more expensive shipping) of recycled glass has forced a lot of places in the US to stop recycling it.

HAT 3

The third hat is worn especially by one man, who is a landscape architect and arborist among other certifications. He helped design a number of neighborhood parks and is extremely knowledgeable about tree and plant life. One cool service Salisbury is testing is having the arborist respond to calls from concerned citizens to educate and prevent future damage from dying trees. This is certainly a position that could get overlooked in government, but it goes a long way to making Salisbury look beautiful and feel safe.

HAT 4

Stormwater control is a crucial and fascinating hat of Public Services. Not only do they maintain those storm drain systems you see on the road (gutters that lead to grates in the ground) that help prevent flooding, but they work to ensure that stormwater enters the streams and other water systems without harmful contamination. They even bought a new street sweeper, Unicorn 1, as a cost efficient way to keep harmful metals and other trash out of the system. My personal favorite part of the job is that they not only test the water with probes, but they look at the aquatic life as an indication of water quality. The Mayfly, for example, is a sensitive aquatic based insect that cannot survive in poor water – the more Mayflys you find, the better your water is doing.

Street Sweeper Unicorn 1 – there is a Unicorn hidden on the side

HAT 5

Cemetery duty is important, especially in a town as old as Salisbury. While it comes with the maintenance of the cities cemeteries, it also includes helping with more historic based projects. One such project, currently getting ready for phase 2, is the creation of a memorial and cemetery for the nearly 500 unmarked African-American graves that were discovered in a field in town.

This job also comes with the crucial job of protecting “the foot”. In this case, the picture says more than I can – and YES, it is an actual grave.

Grave of a foot in a cemetery

HAT 6

I admit that as I write this, I have not yet been with the Fleet division of Public Services. However, I am told that they can maintain and repair all of the city equipment, from new street sweepers down to weed eaters, internally. This in itself is amazing considering that, at least for the street sweeper, the equipment goes well beyond the complexity of your average car. I am very eager to find out more.

A LOT OF HATS

I am sure that there are even more hats that Public Services wears, but I have already written way more than intended on my week of experience alone. Let us just say that Public Services does a lot for the City, and there would AT LEAST be potholes, flooding, and mucky water everywhere if they were not as good and dedicated to their jobs as they are.

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HR Packs a Punch with Small Gestures!

Meet Chatham County’s Human Resources Director, Carolyn Miller.

funny photo of HR Director Carolyn Miller dressed as Dorothy for Halloween
Carolyn Miller: our fun, lively Human Resources Director

On Thursday last week, I had the opportunity to shadow Carolyn.  I learned more about how conflicts are managed, HR consultations, new employee orientation, and all the many things our HR department does and manages. But of course, I got to learn more about the little things that Chatham County’s HR department does that makes a big impact on employees. 

Little things, Big impact

Thing 1: Promotions are celebrated by baked goods. Chatham County employs over 500 employees and HR makes sure to celebrate each promotion. Every time that there is a promotion in the County, the four HR staff make a basket of baked goods for that employee.  This is definitely a nice touch that shows that HR cares and is proud of you!

photo of powerpoint from new employee orientation that says diversity, equity and inclusion
Picture from new employee orientation of the beginning of the diversity, equity and inclusion portion

Thing 2: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are embedded into new employee orientation. Chatham County’s HR department makes sure that diversity, equity and inclusion is something that you hear from the beginning of your career with Chatham County. Carolyn reviews key definitions and how every individual’s culture impacts their reality, starting with her own story. Carolyn stresses the importance of these values and the continued work that everyone must engage in to overcome our implicit biases.

Thing 3: Desk chairs and colors were intentionally selected to impact organizational image. You are probably wondering what HR has to do with desk chairs and colors. Apparently, a good deal! Carolyn Miller told me that she and the previous County Manager intentionally picked a medium oak colored desk and cloth-backed chairs for their offices to promote a more welcoming space. She said that they steered clear of mahogany desks and leather chairs because that created a more ostentatious look. Moral of the story is that HR played an important role in being intentional in how they crafted the County Manager’s space.

picture of HR staff dressed in wizard of oz costumes
Halloween 2018: HR staff dresses as the Wizard of Oz

Thing 4: HR + the County Manager judge an annual County-wide employee Halloween costume contest. First and foremost, the HR department does reverse trick-or-treating and goes to each department in the County to pass out candy on Halloween. In addition to that, the departments (as individuals or groups) can also enter the costume contests! I saw the pictures from years before…Chatham County employees go ALL OUT.

Thing 4: An employee-generated policy idea became HR policy & it is the only one of its kind in the STATE. In the County, there is a Personnel Committee where employees are selected to represent employees to HR staff. The Personnel Committee presented HR with the idea of a “Tobacco Free Petty Leave Policy.” Petty leave for those who don’t know is “free time off” granted by your employer to use for running errands or whatever you want. Chatham County does grant each employee an allotted amount of petty leave, but if you are a non-tobacco user (verified from your medical provider) then you are granted additional petty leave known as tobacco free petty leave. If you are a tobacco user that enrolls in a cessation program, you are granted some tobacco free petty leave as well. This is the only policy like it in the state and it was completely generated by employees and accepted by HR. This shows HR’s commitment to employee health.

photo of goody bag filled with tootsie rolls for 2017 employee appreciation day that says great serivice is how we roll - happy employee appreciation day 2017!
2017 Employee Appreciation Day

Thing 6: HR marks “Employee Appreciation Day” and visits every department with small gifts. On this day in March, the HR department and the County Manager go to every department and office to pass out goodies and talk with folks to show their appreciation. This is a great way for people to interact with the County Manager.

Thing 7: Annual Salsa and Chili Contests for employees. Every year in the fall, County employees can also compete in the annual salsa and chili contests. The chili that won last year had an unexpected twist – CHOCOLATE. Apparently, it was a mole (Mexican dish)-inspired chili recipe.

Needless to say, I learned a lot about how Chatham County’s Human Resources Department gets creative to make employees happy and proud to work for the County.

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COMMUNICATION IS KEY with TRANSIT LEFTOVERS (COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSIT WEEKS)

For those of you either disappointed that I didn’t post last week or because I didn’t post about Transit, hopefully this double-header will make up for the wrong that has been done.

Example of an electric bus.

Last week, I spent an enlightening week with Transit. In addition to doing some Excel projects for Transit that will hopefully save some time and effort in the future, I was able to research busing options that Salisbury may be interested in pursuing in the future. For starters, I looked at electric buses. These vehicles present a challenge in that they save money and the environment over time, but the upfront cost of the vehicle is significantly higher than a gas or diesel vehicle, and it requires extra infrastructure and maintenance training for the electric batteries. Other vehicles I researched were smaller shuttles (electric and gas) that may be less expensive but still cater to Salisbury’s ridership, and family vans that could potentially be used like a local government Uber. All of these ideas sound interesting and worthwhile, but how can you predict what your city will need years down the road (small pun, not sorry), considering these vehicles are a long-term investment.

This just in, let’s talk about Communications!

Communications really is the key, especially to a local government that wants its citizens to be aware of what is going on and how their local government can benefit them. For example, the Salisbury Police Department has some really cool initiatives to help reduce crime and build the relationship between Police and residents (they have a Police Ice Cream Truck!!!), but no citizens would know of these efforts if communications wasn’t there to get the message out. All that is to say, your initiative/program could be the greatest in the world, but it means nothing if it isn’t communicated to and understood by the people it is meant to help.

One of my favorite projects this week was working on an article about Fleet personnel who hit a huge goal in Emergency Vehicle Technician certification. While writing the article is challenging due to the difference in style from this blog, where I basically ramble on and yet you are STILL reading, but it is rewarding knowing that even just a few citizens will see that city staff are trying to better serve the city. Plus, you get to show staff that you appreciate their hard work and accomplishments.

Filming for Salisbury Now.

A final cool project was a video I helped on (I held the boom mic so I am kind of a big deal) for Salisbury Now, which is a television program about what is going on in the City, produced by the communications department and aired on local access TV. These videos can also be viewed online, and are such a neat way to get the information to people like me, who would rather watch a video than read a newsletter.

That’s all for now! Tune in next week for Public Services, and maybe I will fill a pothole!

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MEMO: Chatham Organizational Quirks

**DIsclaimer: if you recently finished year 1 of the mpa program, it may be too soon to see another memo. if this post is triggering, please click the small ‘x’ in the upper right hand corner. Other than that – welcome to this week’s blog. Surprise! It’s written in memo format. every MPA-er knows that memos are life. So, here ya go!

TO:                  MPA Matters Readers

FROM:         Courtney Cooper-Lewter, MSW/MPA Intern 

DATE:           10 July 2019

SUBJECT:  Chatham County Manager’s Office Organizational Culture & Quirks

The purpose of this memo is to outline some of the organizational quirks of the Chatham County Manager’s Office, from an intern’s perspective. 

BACKGROUND

HAPPY TWO MONTH-IVERSARY to me and the Chatham County Manager’s Office! I have spent the last two months really diving deep into understanding Chatham culture and the Manager’s Office, in general. I am very grateful to be working in an office that embraces me as part of the team, not just an intern.  Plus, this office is quirky and eclectic and awesome! So in this memo, I will discuss some of the key things that make this office’s culture different.

DISCUSSION

According to Management Study Guide, a healthy organizational culture increases motivation, unifies, and brings out the best in employees. So far, there are three aspects of the Chatham County Manager’s Office that make it stand out as a great place to work.

      1. Christmas in July: Yep, that happened. Our awesome Safety and Risk Manager, Marilyn Grant, surprised everyone in the office with a gift + Christmas card on July 1st. The gifts were thoughtful and pretty spot on! For my gift, I got a pretty scarf! I have no idea how she knew I loved scarves. A heavy coffee drinker in our office, who shall remain unnamed, got a cute monogrammed coffee tumbler. After some further investigation, I found out that this is her yearly tradition in the office. I was pleasantly surprised and it was a great mid-summer pick me up!
      2. Eclectic Knowledge: You would be surprised to know that the majority of the folks working in Chatham County Manager’s Office don’t have an MPA or even a government educational background. Our Budget Director has a PhD in psychology. Our Human Resources Director has a history background. And, our County Manager has an environmental engineering degree from NC State! We also have folks that are experienced in furniture sales, pharmaceutical companies, and have basic law enforcement training (BLET) all in one office. This shows that Chatham County Manager’s Office is a place for everybody (and where just about any question can be answered).
      3. HR on the Ground: Chatham County’s Human Resources department is awesome and housed in the County Manager’s Office! It seems like the HR staff individually knows every 500+ employees in the County. It is obvious that they make an effort to learn about new employees and be approachable. My office is right across the hall from the Benefits Manager’s office and people pop in all of the time to ask her questions and just talk. I am convinced she has magical powers because she remembers tons of details about people’s lives, like where their kid goes to school or a vacation someone took recently. A few weeks ago, the HR Director cleaned my office as part of job shadowing of the one of the maintenance workers. HR invites folks out for lunch for check-ins. The HR Director even bought us lunch on July 5th as a celebration of being at work the day after the holiday. Later this week, I will be shadowing the HR Director, so tune in next week to see what I learn!

FINAL VERDICT

This final verdict is in….Chatham County Manager’s Office is a warm, welcoming, and fun place to work. 10 out of 10, would recommend!

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Weeks 6 and 7 at the Urban Institute

This week at the Urban Institute I had the privilege to bond with the other interns and meet other Urban Institute members at the summer check-in. We got to see how Urban recruits its interns and the work that fellow colleagues are currently conducting as full-time research assistants.
One intern from Duke is working on broader social policy and the other intern from Rice University, also in LHP, is working on child care practices for working parents.
During this time, the interns had the ability to sit in on a lunch with the CEO. We learned how health care policy impacted the Urban Institute and effects of the political divide. There was a sensationalized moment in the Fall of 2016 when Congress was passing a health care bill to repeal the Affordable Care
Act. The Urban Institute responded with policy updates and information that informed the decision makers about issues with the policy rhetoric. As the health care bills were being updated, Urban Institute, responded by fact-checking the information and providing updated facts about the health policy. We learned about this during the intern luncheon chat from the CEO herself. It was quite a fascinating discussion and input.
Urban Institute has a history of being a figure for fact checking during pivotal times in American history. It was founded as the special project of LBJ, during a time of rapid change in the suburban and metropolitan US. The demographic shift and reliance on solid research is not too different from today’s age. We are experiencing a divided US electorate and more people questioning policy choices and asking for facts and figures.
The essence of the Urban Institute and its purpose as an organization advancing the policy and learning about ways to respond, is what will promote long-term strong policy and more informed constituents.
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Connecting the dots

Over the past few weeks, I have conducted 26 interviews and attended eleven community meetings in an attempt to gather important information needed to push the human relations initiative forward. The surprising thing is that my interviews have yielded slightly different information than expected. Which, for the record, has not been a bad thing. It just creates more alternative pathways for a human relations initiative.

I’ve spent the past week, catching up and recovering from the many meetings and interviews. I have been reviewing notes, inputting notes, updating spreadsheets, and creating more spreadsheets. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a spreadsheet with all of my interview questions and notes so that responses are easy to locate. After attending some sessions at, what I like to call, YouTube University (regular YouTube), I figured out the best and most straightforward way to begin coding my interviews. As I am digging through my research…it feels a little something like this…

gif of moving dots that connect and change shapes, then disconnect and connect again into different shapes

Obviously, there are some clear connections between the results of the interviews and feedback from community meetings. The challenge is that there are so many different ways to connect and present the results. In addition to the results, I asked each interviewee if they knew of any community members that may be able to support my research. Thanks to a little bit of snowball sampling, I now have a list of secondary contacts which will provide me with more findings. So, I’ve got spreadsheets on spreadsheets on spreadsheets.

gif of Steve Urkel looking overwhelmed
Me…looking at all of my spreadsheets

Even though it feels slightly overwhelming, I know that as I continue to dig deeper it will get better! Plus, since I already have a spreadsheet system in place, it’ll be easier moving forward with my results.

I am glad that I finally have a documentation system that I feel comfortable with. But now, I am also making a slight transition…I will begin looking into the research. I have tons of topics that I want to review to see how they apply to human relations, public interactions with local government, and diversity initiatives. To start, I will begin with digging deeper into Chatham County history by:

  • renting DVDs from the Chatham County Public Library on the County’s History
  • talking with historical associations, churches, and families about Chatham County
  • reading up on the History of Chatham through existing reports

Even though things are shifting, I will still have interviews and meetings to attend. I will also be shadowing a department head for a day too! So, things should be getting pretty interesting this month.

I look forward to updating you next week!

gif of waving blowing kiss

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Week Eight: From Local Government to Presidential Candidate

Local government has many incredible leaders, but the 2020 Democratic debates showed just how many people are hoping to make the jump from the local to federal level. Although Mayor Buttigeg and Mayor de Blasio are the only candidates running that are still in local government, 8 of the 20 candidates who debated this past week got their start there. That’s 40% of the candidates!

Image result for yay gif

The eight folks representing local government during these debates are: Cory Booker (former Mayor of Newark, NJ) , Pete Buttigeg (Mayor of South Bend, IN), Julián Castro (former Mayor of San Antonio, TX), Bill de Blasio (Mayor of New York City, NY), John Hickenlooper (former Mayor of Denver, CO), Beto O’Rourke (former Mayor Pro Tempore of El Paso, TX), Bernie Sanders (former Mayor of Burlington, VT), and Eric Swalwell (former City Councilor of Dublin, CA).

While I was watching these debates I couldn’t help but analyze some of their roles. As some of you may know, most local governments have either a Mayor-Council or Council-Manager form of government. In Mayor-Council governments the Mayor is in charge of day-to-day activities. One example of this is New York City, NY. Whereas, in the Council-Manager form, city managers are tasked with these activities. The City of Durham functions as a Council-Manager system.

In a recent article in CityLab, several leaders discussed their experiences in local government, and how this would inform them in the role as President of the United States. Hickenlooper said, “I do think that having been a mayor provides wonderful training and experience of finding ways to bring people together and achieving goals and accomplishments through that unity.” One book called, “If Mayors Ruled the World,” points out that local governments are capable of changing the world because they rely on collaboration and interdependence. This type of leadership will be necessary going forward as politics get more complicated.

Image result for leslie knope local government

Personally, Governor Hickenlooper’s words were encouraging to me, because it shows that people are realizing the change-makers that exist in local government. More people are understanding our dedication to creating positive communities, and our drive to further this.

No matter what happens, we all know the best Mayor of all time is Mayor Max of Idyllwild, California.

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WHAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT SIDEWALKS (WITH ENGINEERING)

An actual sidewalk in downtown Salisbury

First off, congratulations for looking at a picture of a sidewalk and thinking “that looks interesting” – you may be in a small but important group of people!

The truth is, sidewalks (like many local government services) are often overlooked or forgotten about because they aren’t the flashiest topic. However, a lot of foresight and planning is put into these sidewalks by people, like the engineers in Salisbury, so that the citizens they serve can get around a little bit easier. For example, sidewalks are built on a 2° slant so that stormwater will run into the gutter, instead of collecting in a puddle that hungrily awaits your brand new shoes. Further, the incline of a sidewalk ramp cannot be greater than 8° for wheelchair access. Oh, and the truncated domes that stick out right before a crosswalk – those help people with vision impairments know when they are about to cross the road. Admittedly, I think most of these features are required for ADA compliance; however, I felt it was worth pointing out the small details that go into making everyone’s commute a little easier. Sidewalks – you don’t think about them (or their features) until they aren’t there.

Just so that you don’t think life in Engineering is all about sidewalks, I’ll move on to some GIS (Geographic Information System). You may recall that I used GIS while with the Planning Department. Well, here it is again, and in case the message hasn’t come across – GIS IS HELPFUL IN MANY WAYS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, SO GO LEARN HOW TO USE IT! Seriously, if you can take a class, you should. I plan on taking one next spring myself.

GIS with Curb and Gutter Layer and Aerial Imagery

Ironically, one of my GIS projects involved…drumroll please…SIDEWALKS (right when you thought you had escaped). The Engineering department is updating the GIS Sidewalk layer to show sidewalks that have been added since the last aerial imagery was taken by Salisbury in 2014. Using the newer aerial imagery from 2018, I traced out every new sidewalk on public streets that I could find (cross your fingers that I got them all), which can then be viewed for various purposes, like tracking sidewalk cleaning.

For my other GIS project, we move slightly off the sidewalk…and onto the curb. Actually though, I used the aerial imagery (and Google Street View when harder to see) to highlight every Salisbury street that has a curb or gutter. This layer (pictured below) will eventually be used to help with street cleaning, insuring that every known curb/gutter and corresponding drain are free of debris so that the stormwater system can work properly.

Close-up of GIS Curb and Gutter Layer
The Entire Curb and Gutter Layer for Salisbury with Stormwater features marked by icons

Engineering may not be in my wheelhouse, but I certainly enjoyed my time in the department. At the very least, it made me appreciate the little things that make a town better for the people that live in it. And yes, I do like sidewalks! What gave it away?

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Week Seven: The Fellowship of the Interns

Image result for fellowship of the ring

One of the most important parts of any internship is the network you make along the way. Working with the Budget & Management Services Department and getting to know everyone better has been incredible. After a few weeks, I realized I also wanted to get to know other City interns as well. Although I love working with my department members, I wanted to gain more insight into what other folks in a similar experience to myself are learning. The Assistant Director of BMS recommended that I send out an email to all department leaders asking for their interns’ contact information. Thankfully, all of the department heads were excited to have their interns involved, and quickly shared their names with me.

We now have a cohort of around ten interns within the City of Durham. We come from a variety of departments, including: General Services, Community Development, Budget & Management Services, City Manager’s Office, and Economic Workforce Development. Everyone has unique interests in local government, and we are all hopeful that this experience will allow us to learn more about how local government functions.

Image result for gifs about friends

We had our meeting earlier this week, and it was an incredible experience. Each member had fascinating insights into local government, and we all found ways that our work tied together. For example, one intern is working on a project with General Services that will increase trails in the Durham area. He was discussing the financials of the project and budgeting for the improvements, and as I listened I realized just how much I had learned about the fiscal year budget process. It was really incredible to have conversations with folks just as nerdy about local government as myself, and I cannot wait to see where our careers take us.

One of my fellow interns is within the Office of Economic Workforce Development, and she is learning about Durham’s policies on minority and women-owned businesses. Her assignment is to find data on these businesses and create an open data portal for folks in the community to learn more about locations to shop. One of the most beneficial things she has taken away is how complicated gathering data can be, but that community partners can make the process easier.

As we learned about in Human Resources this past semester, the people you surround yourself with at work can change your own experience. Creating relationships in any position is essential to the well-being of yourself and others. I think that by connecting with other interns I won’t just have support from budget staff but also from others in the same career stage as myself. This is crucial to a local government career because as you talk with others about the field, you learn more about changes that can be made, which can lead to positive changes in your community.

Image result for leslie knope on teams

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Diversity Buzz

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become standard vocabulary for many organizations to include in their missions, presentations, and conversations around their organizational work. As public servants, these should be organizational values. In our work, we serve a wide range of people with varying backgrounds and cultures. But, the struggle comes from moving beyond the use of the words and building them into organizational action and culture. So this week, I got to experience some of the ways that Chatham County is working towards building diversity, equity, and inclusion into organizational action and culture.

The first event that I attended was the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) training for the Chatham Public Health Department. The training was conducted by the NC Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities. The training was a good combination of self-reflection about our backgrounds, activities to push us out of our comfort zone, and discussion to apply this knowledge to our work moving forward. Below is a slide from the training that mentions the drivers and determinants of health, meaning the things that impact health disparities. What stood out to me most was how the trainers pushed us to think about how these drivers and determinants impact the people we serve in Chatham County.

picture of a powerpoint slide from the CLAS training that says the drivers and determinants of health. it says social, economic, environmental, ecological, and cultural factors can contribute to drivers and determinants of health. It states environmental, education, housing, transportation, health care, food & nutrition, violence, and poverty as social determinants.
NCDHHS, NC OMHHD CLAS Training Slide

This past Saturday, Chatham Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE) and the Chatham County Library hosted an event celebrating Juneteenth. For those who do not know, Juneteenth is an important holiday for many people in the African American community. It stems from the end of the Civil War. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery (as we traditionally define it). However, African Americans in Texas remained enslaved for an additional two and a half years. On June 19th, 1865, Union soldiers made their way to Texas declaring the freedom of African Americans. For many in the African American community, Juneteenth is a day of remembrance, reflection, and celebration of the actual end of slavery. The event hosted by CORE and the library was titled a celebration of African American Culture and Resilience. It was an amazing space to share history and create community. The event hosted speakers that talked about “African Civilation before Slavery” (Dr. Charles Johnson, NCCU), Human Trafficking in the Historical Context of U.S. Slavery” (Robin Colbert & Christy Croft, NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault) and “Native Americans, Africans & Slavery in NC” (Dr. Arwin Smallwood, NC A&T University). I am thankful that the community was able to have access to such rich knowledge.

picture of the Juneteenth event
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Watkins-Cruz of the Juneteenth Event

And to top it all off, I attended a session from the Chatham County Leadership Academy. There were attendees from all different departments in the County like emergency personnel, officers, nurse supervisors, and a nutritionist. This particular session was Cultural Competency Part II taught by our Human Resources Director, Carolyn Miller. It was a two-hour session that discussed privilege, institutional racism, and implicit bias (system I vs system II thinking). Most importantly, Carolyn Miller talked about how we have to dig deeper when we incorporate diversity into our workforce. She described that it has to go beyond just representative bureaucracy (though important), but that we need to begin to ask the WHY questions. It was a really insightful session that incorporated a lot of great information around racial diversity, equity, and inclusion to push those working in the County to create a more inclusive workplace.

Chatham County definitely has room to grow, as do many other institutions. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the commitment of different folks in the community working towards making diversity, equity, and inclusion not only espoused values, but also enacted values in the County.

picture of me, Stephanie, and Darrell in a giant chair at lunch
From left to right: Me, Stephanie Watkins-Cruz (Chatham County Policy Analyst), and Darrell Butts (Chatham County Budget Analyst) at lunch after the Cultural Competency Part II session.

P.S. I have found my favorite lunch spot! It’s Mi Cancun, where this lovely photo was taken. We can get a good, hearty and YUMMY lunch for under $7. (Also, do you spot any UNC-Chapel Hill MPA alums???)

Anyways, I look forward to updating you again next week!