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The League’s DEI Mission
Purpose of the Guide
Who Is This Guide For?
Definitions
What Is DEI?
What Does DEI Mean in Your City?
Planning Your Conversation
Common DEI Guidelines
When Talking to City Council
When Talking to City Staff
Facilitation Tips
Facilitating the Conversation
Follow up & Additional Planning
Additional Resources
Examples of How Other Cities Have Approached Starting This Work
LMC Resources

The League’s DEI Mission

The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) recognizes supports member cities as they work to ensure their workplaces and communities are welcoming places where all people belong, are included, and have opportunities to thrive. While this work is broad, it is also personal and local. Our goal is to meet cities wherever they are at to help them as they advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Purpose of the Guide

Launching DEI efforts can be complex, but for a city just starting out, it is also an exciting opportunity to build a more inclusive future. Oftentimes, DEI work will need the support of the city council and staff to help make it successful.

One approach cities can take is to have the person tasked with carrying out these efforts facilitate a high-level conversation with the city council to discuss strategy then bring the vision to staff for feedback. This input will help inform recommendations for the council and guide the development of a comprehensive DEI plan. This guide is designed to equip those facilitating these conversations with their council and staff.

Some parts of this guide might not apply to your city’s approach to DEI, but it is still important to look it over entirely. Overall, use what makes sense for your city’s needs.

Who Is This Guide For?

This facilitation guide is for a DEI-dedicated staff person whose main job responsibility is to help the city with DEI efforts. More specifically, a city that is just starting its DEI work and needs guidance on next steps.

OR

A person whose job has a portion dedicated to assisting the city with DEI efforts This could also include a person who has been tasked to start these conversations and guide the city in outlining what DEI related efforts could be and what makes sense for the city.

Definitions

Diversity: The mix of people from different backgrounds (including gender, race, socioeconomic status, age, ability etc.).

Equity: Removing barriers that improves outcomes for all by targeting the needs of a specific group—particularly those who are underrepresented.

Inclusion: When everyone can be their authentic selves, be welcomed, valued, and respected fully, and feel a sense of belonging.

Facilitator: Someone who helps bring about an outcome (such as learning, productivity, or communication) by providing assistance or guidance. A facilitator does not tell the group what to do or bring in their own agenda, but rather plans, guides, and manages a group to meet its goals. The facilitator focuses on the group’s process rather than driving towards a specific outcome.

What Is DEI?

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are both interconnected concepts and distinct values. In tandem, these can help a municipality ensure all their employees and residents have opportunities to thrive. DEI can also help city leaders and staff identify who is missing from their services and assess how various groups could be affected by a city’s projects and initiatives. DEI is a broad topic that can be used to describe various kinds of work. At its core, DEI aims to improve outcomes for all individuals to be able to build a safe, stable, and successful life; providing opportunities for all to feel a sense of belonging in your city.

What Does DEI Mean in Your City?

Cities have different approaches to DEI work depending on what needs are present in their workplace and/or community. This means that DEI efforts are defined— and look different — in different cities, tailoring it their context. An individual’s understanding of what DEI is will reflect how they approach incorporating it in their work. For these reasons, it is important to work together to establish shared language and understanding about what DEI means in your city’s context.

It is also important to know that different language is used to describe DEI work. Not every city uses the acronym “DEI.” Oftentimes, cities will use a combination of terms in addition to, or instead of DEI, including accessibility (DEIA), belonging (DEIB), justice (DEIJ), or simply use “equity and inclusion,” or some other iteration depending on what the city’s approach is.

Planning Your Conversation

Oftentimes the person facilitating DEI-related conversations is an internal employee. The objectivity of a facilitator is important, and you might be someone who is specifically tasked with helping craft a DEI plan. In this context, being objective might mean going into the conversation without judgement of anyone’s contribution and without influencing the group to agree to a particular path—welcoming all viewpoints and treating the initial conversation as more of an information gathering session.

If you are someone who has been assigned with a specific DEI responsibility, acknowledge that at the beginning of the conversation (e.g., “I have been charged with developing a DEI plan and I am here to start the conversation and hear your perspectives.”).

You should also clarify what the information gleaned from the conversation will be used for (e.g., “I will bring this information to staff who will give input for further developing recommendations for the council to consider and to inform next steps.”).

Common DEI Guidelines

  • DEI work is not an end goal that the city will achieve by accomplishing a certain set of efforts or objectives. This work is ongoing and challenges us to continuously learn and unlearn as we go along. This ongoing learning includes your own personal learning journey as you continue to be a leader in your city’s DEI efforts.
  • DEI work is more successful with the support and contribution of everybody in your organization, especially individuals in leadership positions. Leadership’s support can help bring everybody else along in DEI efforts and share the responsibility of communicating the ‘why’ for DEI.
  • When starting DEI work, think about the makeup of the city’s employees and residents, what kinds of services are or are not being used, and what that means in the city. This could include demographic information which can help share the ‘why’ behind the work.
  • DEI efforts can be led in various ways. One option for consideration is to bring in an outside DEI consultant to help facilitate these conversations.
    • For a list of consultants that have been recommended to LMC by cities, please contact LMC DEI Coordinator, Arianna Bloom (see below for contact information).

 

When Talking to City Council

  • Be prepared to help the council think through their DEI goals and how the city will communicate them in a way that makes sense in the city’s context. (e.g., participants might think about what services your city offers and potential ways DEI can be tied into those).
  • Understand the council’s desired outcomes from the conversation.
    • Be explicit about what the group hopes to achieve by the end of the conversation. Sometimes this could be as simple as: getting people to start thinking about DEI work.
  • Ensure your council is kept fully informed of plans for further conversations with staff.
  • Gather any supplemental resources or learning materials which might inform the discussion.
    • Gather examples of work the city has already done that relates to DEI including any available DEI-related data to help seek out obvious gaps in services. Even if the city is just starting DEI work, it is likely there have been some DEI-related efforts in various city services. These examples can often be found in your human resources department or public-facing efforts such as community engagement.
    • If the city has a mission or vision statement, it can be used to support the DEI work. For example, if the mission or vision includes language like, “The City strives to be a welcoming place.” This language can be directly tied to the goals of a DEI plan and help tie the work into the overall vision of the city.
    • This could also include examples of what other cities are doing, local partners such as county or state offices, or local demographic information.

When Talking to City Staff

  • Prepare to help staff understand where council is at with DEI (i.e., present the council’s perspectives on their understanding of DEI and why it is important for the city).
  • Ensure staff knows council has been informed of the work to gain further support of leadership and other staff.
  • Prepare clear information from the discussion with council.
    • Be explicit in what the council has discussed as their desired outcomes to gain input from staff.
  • Be prepared to answer questions from staff about why the city is engaging in DEI efforts.
  • Talk to the city’s public facing roles such as a community engagement role, city administrator, or departments who interact with residents daily. They likely have valuable insights about the community.
  • Gather any supplemental resources or learning materials which might inform the discussion.

Facilitation Tips

  • Establish a goal for the conversation.
    • This might be simply introducing the topic or working on a strategic plan for DEI. If a goal has been set prior to the conversation, it is important to share the stated goal with all meeting participants.
  • Meet people where they are.
    • Prepare that people will have different levels of knowledge and understanding of DEI and be willing to think beyond preconceptions about their abilities to engage with the work. Be patient.
  • Set expectations for the conversation.
    • Outline expectations for respectful dialogue. This includes allowing all participants to speak. If someone says something seriously problematic, stop the conversation, share why, and remind participants of the expectations that were agreed to in the beginning. If this happens, you might also want to follow up with participants to ensure they have the support they need.
  • Practice and ask for active listening.
    • Fostering and modeling an attitude of openness can help build trust and confidence to engage with DEI.
    • Encouraging active listening from those attending will be key for them to understand something they may not have engaged with directly before.
    • Ways to show active listening is to repeat back to someone what they said to ensure you are capturing it correctly, or to encourage someone to clarify or explain when needed.
  • Lead the conversation with empathy.
    • DEI work is both personal and professional. Acknowledge that people have different lived experiences and encourage their unique perspectives.
  • Model being comfortable with disagreement.
    • People will have different opinions and perspectives about how this work should be done and that is okay. If there is disagreement, help to re-frame statements to help all participants understand.
  • Keep track of time and keep the conversation moving.
    • Ensure that everyone has equal talking time and space to share and respect that some people might not feel comfortable talking.
  • Take notes.
    • Document key points and actions to reference as you continue your efforts.
  • Know that you do not have to know all the answers.
    • DEI is a broad topic and you likely will not have all the answers and that it okay. DEI is about challenging ourselves to keep learning
  • Take care of yourself.
    • This work can be mentally and emotionally taxing. Ensure you are taking time to decompress and practice self-care.

Facilitating the Conversation

Below are questions to consider asking during your conversations. Some of these questions might not be fully answered in the first conversation and will need further discussion as your city continues to advance the work. Additionally, the answers to these questions might evolve as the work evolves. Allow flexibility in the process.

Presenting these questions can help you get an idea of participants’ understanding of DEI and what they envision the work to look like in the city. Once you facilitate these questions with your council, you might present their vision for the city’s DEI strategy to staff for further input.

Tailor the discussion format to your group size. Options include personal reflections, paired conversations, small group discussions, or a combination of these.

  1. Why is DEI important to the city?
  2. How will the city define diversity, equity and inclusion?
  3. What are the short and long-term goals?
    1. Ensure that participants are creating these goals together and that everybody has had a chance to share their perspectives.
  4. Who will own the work?
    1. Who will lead specific projects or initiatives? Who will be responsible for ensuring the work is ongoing?
  5. How will the city sustain council support?
  6. How will the city sustain employee engagement?
  7. Where will the city find budget for DEI efforts?
    1. Utilize partnerships with other organizations and departments to get things funded. Remind people this is shared work.
    2. See the League’s Current Grant Opportunities page for information on grants that fund DEI work.

Follow up & Additional Planning

Once you have facilitated this initial conversation, identify individuals or a group that will lead the effort. This could be a committee, an informal group of employees, or a dedicated DEI role. It might also be helpful to identify a leader within each department to support the work. This does not have to be a director.

When you are at the point of next steps and you are looking to start outlining a DEI plan. Please see the League’s guide on Outlining a DEI Plan. This guide includes information and poses questions to help you think through what should be included in your plan and potential efforts.

Additional Resources

Examples of How Other Cities Have Approached Starting This Work

Cities take different approaches to starting DEI work. Some cities start with training, an internal assessment, or reviewing HR practices. Learning from what other cities are doing can help inform the path your city wants to take.

LMC Resources

 

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