TITLE
Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with the Human Relations Commission to update and expand its mission and scope, and change its title to the Long Beach Equity Commission, in line with recommendations from the Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initial Report, and return to the City Council within 90 days.
DISCUSSION
The city of Long Beach is the 36th largest city in the United States and amongst the most racially diverse cities in the nation. It is also economically and socially diverse, with deep economic and health disparities amongst its residents.
To better address these disparities, in recent years, the City of Long Beach has become an emerging leader in efforts to institutionalize equity at the local government level. The City has participated in national capacity building programs, including the Governing Alliance for Racial Equity, as well as the Nation League of Cities, Race, Equity, and Leadership program.
In 2017, in response to a proposal by Vice Mayor Rex Richardson, and unanimously approved by the Long Beach City Council, the City created the Long Beach Office of Equity with the purpose of advancing equity and ensuring that all Long Beach residents have what they need to thrive. The office most recently released the Long Beach Equity Toolkit for city leaders and staff, which provides specific strategies that can be applied across departments to make positive changes through policies, programs and services.
On April 21st, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Long Beach City Council approved a request for the creation of a health equity lens statement on all staff reports related to COVID-19 impacts and response. This was done in acknowledgement of disproportionately large health impacts on people of color, in particular African Americans.
After the tragic killing of Georgia Floyd by Minneapolis Police Officers, the City of Long Beach implemented the Framework of Reconciliation, a strategy to help the City of Long ...
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