To keep growing as a culturally competent organization, the City of Bellevue will:
- Enact and uphold equitable policies and practices;
- Train and hire culturally competent staff; and
- Provide programs that are responsive and accessible to all.
Good Work Has Begun
Since the City Council passed the Diversity Advantage Initiative in December 2014, the momentum for cultural competence among staff continues. The enhancement of skills and knowledge as well as developing allies to champion the work provides good indication of its sustainability and shared leadership throughout the organization.
Some of the following outcomes thus far.
Increased Coordination Among City Departments
Diversity liaisons have been selected to represent each city department,
tailoring diversity work to their departments and serving as conduits to support staff ideas and concerns.
-The ADA Core team will implement the recommendations from the city's ADA self-evaluation and transition plan.
Diversity and Equity Training
An integral part of ensuring the city is providing professional development with regard to cultural competency, all city staff are required to take Cultural Competence Foundations by 2020.
Development of Citywide Initiatives
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The Diversity Talent Hiring Initiative, a partnership with Human Resources, has resulted in many process enhancements within recruitment, hiring and retention. This initiative has resulted in Implicit Bias awareness training for managers and review teams, development of a manual "Hiring for Equity: A recruitment guide for hiring managers", a Supported Employment program which provides employment opportunities for people living with disabilities, and the Employee Resource Groups.
Communication Enhancements
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A hearing loop system has been installed in the council chamber, council study room and the Bellevue Youth Theatre.
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Expanding language access support is a priority. Residents and city staff have a wide variety of resources available for translation and interpretation needs including telephonic interpretation, onsite bilingual staff, cultural navigators in our Mini City Hall location, and third party providers for language translation, interpretation, and captioning.