DATE: November 16, 2021
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Manager
SUBJECT
Title
Recommendation from Community Services Commission to Hayward City Council to Adopt a Resolution Apologizing to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and Latinx Community Members on Behalf of the City of Hayward for Its Implicit and Explicit Role in Perpetuating Historical Institutional Racism in the City of Hayward and Review the Attached Workplan
End
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That the Council:
1) Adopts the attached resolution (Attachment II); and
2) Reviews the accompanying workplan (Attachment III) consisting of recommended actions from the Community Services Commission and consider any recommended changes to enhance City staff work currently being implemented to address the City’s historical wrongdoings and complicity in institutional racism as part of the annual Strategic Roadmap review. End
SUMMARY
At the June 17, 2020 Community Services Commission (CSC) meeting, staff presented on the City’s Racial Equity Action Plan and the Government Alliance for Racial Equity (GARE) cohort details. Following this meeting, the CSC drafted a letter of support for the Racial Equity Action Plan and a call for further action by the City of Hayward in its commitment to anti-racism. The letter of support contained three attachments: 1) CSC commitments and intentions regarding the CSC’s work as a commission; 2) the Policy and enumerated Powers and Duties of the CSC per the Hayward Municipal Code; and 3) short, near, and long-term recommendations for addressing the City’s historical wrongdoings and complicity in institutional racism to the Council for consideration. Listed as a short-term recommendation was for the current Council to issue an apology to the Black Community on behalf of the City for its complicity in institutional racism in the City of Hayward. This letter and its attachments were shared with the full Council at the July 21, 2020 Council meeting <https://hayward.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=793413&GUID=5BF48901-43A7-4AA0-9181-11C18CA64A37&Options=info|&Search=>, as a document received after publication.
A CSC subcommittee was formed to prepare a draft apology in the form of a resolution. The CSC approved this item on September 18, 2021, and is recommending that the Council adopt the attached resolution (Attachment II) apologizing to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and Latinx community members on behalf of the City of Hayward for its implicit and explicit role in perpetuating historical institutional racism in the City of Hayward.
For consideration in conjunction with the resolution, the CSC subcommittee has recommended 11 tangible action steps that the City should undertake to address the City’s historical wrongdoings and complicity in institutional racism. Staff have created a “workplan” outlining the 11 CSC recommended action steps supplemented by staff with information on the work that City staff are currently implementing to support these recommendations (Attachment III). The workplan was created to better articulate which recommendations are being implemented and which recommendations require additional effort and resources. At this time, the workplan is only intended for Council review and not intended to direct staff work. The CSC will be meeting in December to review the workplan in greater detail and prepare recommendations to enhance the work that is currently being implemented for Council consideration ahead of the Strategic Roadmap annual review in early 2022.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment I Staff Report
Attachment II Resolution
Attachment III Workplan