Town Of Arlington: Stand Against Racism Month Recap

Press release from Town of Arlington:

05/07/2021

Numerous Departments across the Town proudly participated in YW Boston’s Stand Against Racism campaign throughout the month of April. The purpose of the campaign is to spread awareness and inspire action to eliminate racism. The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) provided departments with YW curated content, resources, and the support needed to be able to hold conversations with staff focused on race.

“Talking about racial equity and racism is not easy, but fostering safe spaces to allow the discussions to take place is the first real step in making change,” said Jillian Harvey, Arlington’s Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion. “My goal was to assist with getting these conversations started, and I was delighted to be able to participate in many of them. Now the real work begins. We need to continue to normalize talking about race and I am grateful that department leaders are already discussing dates for continued conversations and making plans to include these talks in monthly meetings.”

Many participants made pledges and commitments to actions they will take to fight racism. These actions ranged from personal to professional. The Department of Planning and Community Development kicked off the month, holding their open and honest conversation on April 1st. The staff were able to discuss issues of racism that were important to them. Throughout the month other departments and divisions including Human Resources, Recreation, the Libraries, and Council on Aging held invigorating conversations with all their staff. Large departments made efforts as well to participate, even when everyone could not be in the same room together. The Arlington Police Department held small workshops during their roll call meetings, which ultimately involved the participation of all Patrol Division personnel.

“I was really inspired by the creativity and determination leaders showed in finding a way to participate, and making it work for their department,” Harvey added.
 

Click the image below to view pledge boards

This press release was produced by Town of Arlington. The views expressed here are the author’s own.