County group makes recommendations on improving inclusion
Apr. 13—Frederick County will work on implementing a series of recommendations, including a study of disparity in the county's procurement process and reducing health disparities among the county's minority populations, to improve diversity and inclusion in county operations.
The seven recommendations by the county's Equity and Inclusion Leadership Team, along with more specific ways to implement each recommendation, were presented to County Executive Jan Gardner in a virtual meeting Monday night.
The recommendations will help shape a strategic plan to help improve equity and inclusion in the county.
Some areas where the county can improve, per the working group, include: Improving the ethnic and racial diversity of the county's workforce to better reflect the county's community; enhancing and expanding support for minority and woman-owned businesses; and establishing and maintaining professional development opportunities and requirements.
Some of the goals can be achieved fairly quickly, while others will take more time, said Michael Hughes, the county's chief equity and inclusion officer.
Meeting each of the larger priorities will require also achieving numerous smaller steps as well.
For instance, improving the diversity of the county's workforce will mean things such as funding a study of the county's hiring and retention policies and procedures and collecting and analyzing retention data, Hughes said.
Improving minority participation in county procurement and contracting would require conducting a disparity study to identify problems and creating an equal business opportunity advisory group, among other steps.
After meeting numerous times since December, the leadership team will get together in about a month to debrief on its findings, Hughes said.
Gardner said some of the recommendations were included in a mid-year budget adjustment, and others will be included in the county budget she plans to announce later this week.
She praised what she called the group's comprehensive list of goals, noting there are a lot of people in the county government who are interested in the topic.
"It makes me feel excited about what we can do," she said.
Frederick County Council President M.C. Keegan-Ayer said she was expressly excited to hear the recommendations, especially the one about reducing health disparities among various communities.
Follow Ryan Marshall on Twitter: @RMarshallFNP
