Equity, Inclusion, and Justice

No current engagement opportunities are available related to this project. 

We are Milwaukie

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Virtual Workshop - Workshop Ended Friday, May 5, 2023

The City of Milwaukie prioritizes equity, inclusion and justice in how it serves the community. The city is currently working with Keen Independent Research to assist in the development of a comprehensive diversity, equity and inclusion plan to help further these goals. Input is crucial to creating a plan that resonates with the community. A virtual workshop, similar to an online survey, has now closed. All community members were invited to participate by providing feedback about the city’s services, events, communications and more.

For more information or other ways to get involved, visit keenindependent.com/milwaukiedei2022 or contact Keen Independent at 503.482.8386 or cityofmilwaukieoregondei2022@keenindependent.com.

Equity Steering Committee (ESC)

The ESC is comprised of community members of all backgrounds working to help reduce inequalities in city services, recruit and retain city staff from communities of color and other marginalized communities, and collaborate with local agencies and organizations to facilitate equality, justice, and inclusion actions.

You can view the committee's current roster and find meeting agendas and minutes at www.milwaukieoregon.gov/bc-esc. The terms of the initial committee members were randomly staggered to ensure that at no point will all members be term-limited at the same time.

Initial Conversations With BIPOC Community

In response to the national reckoning around race and policing, City Council and staff have been meeting with Milwaukie's Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) community members about their personal experiences interacting with the city. The goal of these initial conversations has been to hear directly from BIPOC community about how to make Milwaukie a place that truly lives up to its vision of being safe and welcoming to all, and begin charting a course forward. On Aug. 18, 2020, City Council made equity, inclusion and justice its newest goal.


Meet & Greet - Video Available from January 29, 2021!

Thanks to everyone that participated in the Meet & Greet on January 29, 2021 with Police Chief, Luke Strait, and Equity Program Manager, Jon Hennington. The event focused on the city's new police transparency efforts and responding to questions that were asked during the recent equity, justice, and inclusion listening sessions. If you missed the event you can watch it on the City of Milwaukie YouTube Channel below.

Join the equity conversation! If you have ideas or questions related to this meet and greet and/or equity in general please be sure to use the ideas and questions tools below to join the conversation!


Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Virtual Workshop - Workshop Ended Friday, May 5, 2023

The City of Milwaukie prioritizes equity, inclusion and justice in how it serves the community. The city is currently working with Keen Independent Research to assist in the development of a comprehensive diversity, equity and inclusion plan to help further these goals. Input is crucial to creating a plan that resonates with the community. A virtual workshop, similar to an online survey, has now closed. All community members were invited to participate by providing feedback about the city’s services, events, communications and more.

For more information or other ways to get involved, visit keenindependent.com/milwaukiedei2022 or contact Keen Independent at 503.482.8386 or cityofmilwaukieoregondei2022@keenindependent.com.

Equity Steering Committee (ESC)

The ESC is comprised of community members of all backgrounds working to help reduce inequalities in city services, recruit and retain city staff from communities of color and other marginalized communities, and collaborate with local agencies and organizations to facilitate equality, justice, and inclusion actions.

You can view the committee's current roster and find meeting agendas and minutes at www.milwaukieoregon.gov/bc-esc. The terms of the initial committee members were randomly staggered to ensure that at no point will all members be term-limited at the same time.

Initial Conversations With BIPOC Community

In response to the national reckoning around race and policing, City Council and staff have been meeting with Milwaukie's Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) community members about their personal experiences interacting with the city. The goal of these initial conversations has been to hear directly from BIPOC community about how to make Milwaukie a place that truly lives up to its vision of being safe and welcoming to all, and begin charting a course forward. On Aug. 18, 2020, City Council made equity, inclusion and justice its newest goal.


Meet & Greet - Video Available from January 29, 2021!

Thanks to everyone that participated in the Meet & Greet on January 29, 2021 with Police Chief, Luke Strait, and Equity Program Manager, Jon Hennington. The event focused on the city's new police transparency efforts and responding to questions that were asked during the recent equity, justice, and inclusion listening sessions. If you missed the event you can watch it on the City of Milwaukie YouTube Channel below.

Join the equity conversation! If you have ideas or questions related to this meet and greet and/or equity in general please be sure to use the ideas and questions tools below to join the conversation!


No current engagement opportunities are available related to this project. 

Ask Jon Hennington, the city's Equity Program Manager, a question about equity. 

  • Doesn't the entire idea of "equity" require the "disparate treatment" based on "suspect class" which is prohibited by Amendment 14 to the US Constitution?

    endomorphosis asked over 2 years ago

    Thank you for your question. Working towards equity is the process of identifying, addressing, and attempting to remove current and historic systematic barriers that have created disparate treatment among historically marginalized individuals and communities.

    When discussing the City of Milwaukie's Equity, Inclusion, and Justice goal, I often turn to a set of illustrations created by Tony Ruth and inspired by The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. While not perfect, the images below illustrate the basic concepts of equality, equity, and justice. The work we are doing as a city isn't about blocking access to the apples from the person on the left. Rather, it's about working towards ensuring that everyone is able to enjoy the apples (or maybe the Bing cherries, since we are in Milwaukie, after all).


    A tree is tilted to the left with most apples hanging on the left side. The person on the left holds out their arms for a falling apple. The person on the right has no falling apples on their side. The caption says: Inequality - Unequal access to opportunities.Inequality - Unequal access to opportunities 

    The tree still leans to the left with most of the apples on that side. However, identical ladders have been placed beside the tree. The person on the left now easily fills their bag with apples, as the ladder raises them to within easy reach of the low-hanging fruit. The person on the right is also lifted by the ladder, but the tree remains tilted away from them and the apples remain out of reach. The caption states: Equality? - Evenly distributed tools and assistance.Equality? - Evenly distributed tools and assistance

     

    The tree remains tilted to the left and the person on the left still has their ladder, but a taller ladder has now been placed on the right side of the tree. The ladders now allows the person on the right to reach the apples, however, the fruit still mostly hangs on the downward drooping left side. The caption states: Equity - Custom tools that identify and address inequality.Equity - Custom tools that identify and address inequality

     

    Planks and ties have been placed to straighten the leaning tree. Apples now hang evenly around the entire tree. Both of the people gathering apples now have ladders that give them easy access to the low-hanging fruit. The caption states: Justice - Fixing the system to offer equal access to both tools and opportunities.Justice - Fixing the system to offer equal access to both tools and opportunities