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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 13841 City of Palo Alto (ID # 13841) City Council Staff Report Meeting Date: 1/24/2022 Report Type: Study Session City of Palo Alto Page 1 Title: Report from the Human Relations Commission regarding their project titled “100 Community Conversations on Race and the Lived Experience in Palo Alto” From: City Manager Lead Department: Community Services Representatives of the Human Relations Commission (HRC) will be presenting a summary of their recent project; “100 Community Conversations on Race and the Lived Experience in Palo Alto” (Attachment A) for discussion with the Council. This is a Study Session, therefore there will be no recommended actions; however, the Commission will be requesting Council feedback on their possible next steps. Background The Human Relations Commission received a report on the 100 Community Conversations on Race initiative at their August 12, 2021 meeting and discussed next steps. HRC representatives at the meeting expressed their desire to present the findings of the project to the full Council. Information on this project was first presented to the Policy and Services Committee on September 14, 2021. The Policy and Services Committee made a recommendation to the Council that included further areas of consideration which included “support the HRC work regarding the 100 Conversations.” The September report also includes an update on the City’s greater Race and Equity/Social Justice work. Attachments: • Attachment A - 100 Conversations Memo - 12-17-21-revised TO: City Council FROM: Kaloma Smith, Chair Human Relations Commission DATE: December 17, 2021 RE: 100 CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE --STATUS AND OVERVIEW Background In response to a June 15, 2020 staff report on an initial framework and workplan to address systemic racism, Council directed the Human Relations Commission (HRC) to produce a report on “Black and Brown Palo Alto - History and Current Experience.” HRC Chair Kaloma Smith and then Vice Chair Valerie Stinger convened to research and write the report, with much community input, and the final report was presented to the Council on January 19, 2021. From the written and spoken retelling of personal lived experiences, four themes evolved. These were: • Persistent o We have been doing this a long time and we still don’t get it done. • Consistent aggressions o It’s the DAILY microaggressions that hurt. • Positive role models absent o Young people don’t have positive role models in their curriculum or around town. • Housing denied o Awareness of de jure discrimination limiting access to housing as well as evidence of de facto discrimination As the HRC believed that the Commission could play a vital role in addressing issues related to equity and inclusion in the community, they identified an action plan that centered on partnering with 100 community leaders to lead community circle conversations that would meet to discuss race and belonging over the next 12 months. They committed to making this moment a pivot point and commit to be a model for diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging. Project Planning Buoyed by the success of Palo Alto Unified School District’s successful community-wide 21 Day Racial Equity Challenge, Chair Smith and Stinger began the work to create the framework for the 100 Conversations. With key contributions from Inclusion and Diversity leaders at Stanford University, including Mohammed Soriano-Bilal, Associate Dean and Director, Office of Inclusion, Belonging, and Intergroup Communication, Inclusion and Diversity Education and Shalia Kotadia, Director of Culture and Inclusion, School of Medicine and additional input and review of a Community Advisory Committee consisting of representation from the City, community, academia, the arts, and nonprofit, a detailed Toolkit was created, website launched outreach conducted to recruit conversation leaders, and training sessions held to equip each conversation leader to utilize the toolkit. The Conversations were designed with this context: • Vision • Palo Alto is a model for equity and belonging, vested in diversity, inclusion, and equity, and committed to putting words into action • Goals • Engage in brave and honest conversation • Identify personal behaviors and make a personal commitment to change • Identify root causes and specific local initiatives/policy to reshape our community and address structural racism • Inclusion Criteria • Live, work, study, worship, shop in Palo Alto • The aim was to generate many different ideas. Diversity was sought; representative sampling, which is relevant for quantification and projections, was not sought. • Conversations were to be held between May 25 and Juneteenth. That time frame was extended to allow for graduations, summer vacations, and year end activity. Implementation The Conversations were structured in two parts, allowing for participants to give value to the process as well as the time answering questions. • ‘Experience with Race’, the first part, used open-ended questions and activities. The host could tailor the mix for the group. Situations and statements were prepared to promote deep and brave discussion. The examples were local and current. • ‘Ideas for Building a Climate of Belonging’ were sought in the second part. Discussion was specific to Palo Alto. Different groups were at different stages in their understanding and reaction to local racism. Some had very specific ideas; others, more general. Taken together, they give a sense of Palo Alto’s thinking. To date, 33 conversation circles have taken place attended by over 212 individuals. Most conversation circles had between 4-8 participants, a few were larger. 100 conversations was an aspirational goal. Sixty-four people were trained to be hosts. Some held conversations but did not record them. Some chose to co-host with another or chose not to host. Their reasons were anecdotally that they thought they would have help recruiting, that their neighborhood group was more advanced in their study of race, that the focus was too narrowly focused on race excluding questions of Asian experience or anti-semitism; and some ran out of time. It was noted that the period that the conversations took place was a busy one, competing with graduations, year-end school activities and summer vacations and while many local individuals whose efforts were pulled towards working for an extension of the Statewide eviction moratorium that was scheduled to end on June 30th. While advertised by the City, program volunteers and discussion leaders, there was not a greater push due to limited volunteer capacity and budget. Outcomes and Key Learnings The conversations offered an opportunity for those who participated to have a significant conversation on race. Approximately 30% of attendees had never had a conversation about race in Palo Alto before. Outcomes of the conversations were categorized into three areas: 1) Learnings 2) Experiences and 3) Emotions. An activity called Four Corners in which one had to reflect on a situation from the perspective of the target/victim, committer, supporter (one who speak up) and bystander was found to be especially helpful in understanding the impact of racist acts. Two outcomes are particularly important. First, many attendees expressed concern that classicism may compound the problems of racism faced by Black, Brown and Asians in Palo Alto. Racism is further compounded by increasing economic disparity and a lost sense of place. Second, white privilege, which so frames the lived experience of Black and Brown citizens, is barely understood by the dominant local population. Some other learnings, emotions, and experiences, which were important to the discussions, were captured in the summaries. These include: • Experiences in Palo Alto reflected a changing Palo Alto, where economic disparity compounds racial privilege and lessens a sense of place; DIE programs that were not uniformly staffed and funded; and a Police Department that was often, but not consistently sensitive to the community. • Racist incidents, for example in rental, job or automobile negotiations • Experiences with and profiling by the Police Department that have led to distrust among some people of color (POC). Racist treatment from realtors, educators and general community members who resorted to cultural stereotypes and ignorance • Experience of neighborhood watch • Inadequacy of under-resourced DIE programs • Experience of surveillance • Strong emotions including anger and sadness, but also led to the start of understanding • Dismay that we still face so much racism, ‘even’ in Palo Alto • Differing expectations of teachers • Learnings centered on white privilege While each of the conversations lasted about 90 minutes, participants left with a sense of personal commitment to continue to work on issues of equity and inclusion in Palo Alto and shared these during the survey process. Individuals expressed their personal commitment to understand more deeply the lived experience of Black and Brown Palo Alto, to advocate change and to learn helpful behaviors. More specifically, this included commitments to: • Be in further conversation with each other on this important topic, to continue the dialogue about local, systemic racism • Advocate for progress, improve justice in policing • Building Community, push Council to create real community; change how one welcomes marginalized communities • Learning and understanding, lobby our educational institutions to present an accurate picture of our history • Being an ally, learn and read more to understand how people of different races feel; learn how to be an upstander The way in which this program was designed, as a collaboration with a diverse group of professionals and community members, and the toolkit that was created, serves a model for continued and future action on inclusion and belonging in Palo Alto. It is not too late for conversation circles to still occur, starting the process of listening and understanding, expanding to include others in the community. The feedback of those who did participate, along with their suggestions for next steps, were brought back to the Community Advisory Committee for review and discussion, before being included in a report back to the HRC. While the conversations were a valuable and personal complement to a year of study of literature and history, follow through is anticipated. ‘The key now is for the HRC to actually roll the output into an executive summary of findings and to use that to create and drive a ‘”change agenda”’. It’s worth noting that interest and good will of community partners exists now and can be leveraged to realize the vision crafted at the outset. Palo Alto is a model for equity and belonging, vested in diversity, inclusion, and equity, and committed to putting words into action As they were designed to do, the conversations provided numerous and rich suggestions from the community for implementation. Participants were thoughtful. They expect, in turn, to see the how the work on inclusion and belonging will continue. Next Steps A recap of the project and its findings was presented to the HRC at its August 12, 2021 meeting by Chair Smith and former Vice Chair Stinger, the two principal leaders of the project. After follow-up questions and a time of discussion, the HRC voted (5-0) to recommend forward a list of topic areas to the Council for initial review, comment and direction; they are listed in the next paragraph. The first step in this process was a presentation to the Policy and Services Committee on September 14, 2021 as part of a greater update from city staff on the City’s Race and Equity Work. Policy and Services passed a recommendation that included that the Council consider ways in which it can “support the HRC work regarding the 100 Conversations.” The HRC is interested in working with the Council, staff and community in further exploring avenues to enhance Inclusion & Belonging in the areas of Policing, Education, Housing and Community Engagement. They are also proposing that Council consider including Belonging as a City Priority for 2022. The HRC believes that its past work for Council on 8 Can’t Wait, Report on Black & Brown Lives and Current Experience in Palo Alto and the 100 Conversations project were successful as they were the result of clear direction/recommendations from Council to the Commission to address. The Commission would again appreciate receiving clear direction/specific actions to pursue on the topics listed in the previous paragraph and/or other ways in which it can work in partnership with Council and staff to make progress in this important area. The HRC will utilize the findings from the 100 Conversations participants, along with the feedback received from the Council, to further inform its continued work on Inclusion and Belonging in the community.