Mayor Driscoll, Race Equity Task Force Propose Permanent Race Equity Commission

One day after raising the flag for Juneteenth at Salem City Hall, Mayor Kim Driscoll and Race Equity Task Force chair Shawn Newton filed a measure with the City Council to establish a permanent Race Equity Commission in Salem.

As proposed, the seven-member commission will be charged with six areas of responsibility:

1. Implementing elements of the City’s Race Equity Action Plan and updating the plan as needed.
2. Advising departments and City officials on strategies and approaches to ensure municipal programs, policies, budgets, and ordinances are developed in a manner that avoid and reduce systemic racism and bias.
3. Developing and recommending initiatives, programs, and policies to reduce systemic racism and bias in Salem.
4. Designing and conducting hiring and recruitment programs and advising on employee training and retention programs to increase diversity and cultural competency of City staff.
5. Supporting and guiding community organizations, employers, associations, nonprofits, agencies, businesses, and others in ways they can help reduce systemic racism and improve racial equity in Salem.
6. Seeking grants and other sources of support and resources in order to carry out the Commission’s work.

The commission will be staffed and supported in its work by the City’s new Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, a position proposed by Mayor Driscoll in the FY2022 City budget and approved by a 10-1 vote of the City Council earlier this month.

“The Race Equity Task Force has been meeting regularly for the past year, both as a whole and in smaller working groups, and we are pleased to share with you that their report will be issued in the coming days,” Mayor Driscoll and Chair Newton said in their message to the City Council. “We are incredibly grateful to the members of the Race Equity Task Force, who have dedicated themselves over this past year to the important work of addressing systemic racism and inequities in our community. That work, however, does not come to an end just because the Task Force is reaching the end of their process. The proposed Commission, in combination with the new Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, are intended to carry on this important work in the years to come, to ensure Salem only strengthens our commitment to being a city that works for and welcomes everyone.”