Exclusive Content: Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

The Power of Community

Posted on June 30, 2020

It was barely a month ago when the video of George Floyd dying by the hands of a Minneapolis police officer surfaced. Not long after, people all over the nation took their voices to the streets in protests. The group that I have actively spent the most time with, and seems to be the most...

Systemic Racism: Removing Barriers in HR

Posted on June 30, 2020

Today’s Morning Buzz is brought to you by Brandi Leos, Sr HR Business Partner at the City of Tigard, Oregon (Twitter and LinkedIn). What I’m Watching: I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin What I’m Listening To: NYT The Daily Podcast (this one is about police unions) What I’m Planning: A camping trip to...

Finding Hope & Power in my ‘Pulpit’

Posted on June 29, 2020

This guest blog is by ELGL member Kelli Bennett, the Director of Communications for the Georgia Municipal Association. Want to write for ELGL? Send us an email and let's connect! Story time: Flashback to December 2014 at the height of holiday shopping season, and there I laid on my back in the middle of one...

How To Celebrate Juneteenth & Value Black Lives

Posted on June 19, 2020

This guest blog is by ELGL member Kelli Bennett, the Director of Communications for the Georgia Municipal Association. Want to write for ELGL? Send us an email and let's connect! On June 1, I dubbed June 2020 as #JoyJune and shared with my family and social media pals that I was going to be “intentional...

Influencing Change

Posted on June 11, 2020

Today’s Morning Buzz is brought to you by Jenn Reichelt, Manager with The Novak Consulting Group now a part of Raftelis – connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter! We are living in unprecedented times. Over the past few months, we have been in quarantine and practicing social distancing, all while becoming adept at virtual meetings and ensuring...

I Have to Ask: Race, Equity, and Societal Divides

Posted on June 10, 2020

In this series, ELGL Co-Founder Kent Wyatt poses three questions to the guest columnist, and the guest columnist selects one to reflect on. This week, Justin Amos, Business Manager with Fleet Management, City of Charlotte, goes off script to write about events in recent weeks. I will be honest. I had a complete “Let me...

Rewind: Tools to Address Implicit Bias in Local Government

Posted on June 5, 2020

This webinar originally aired on June 4, 2020. Implicit bias can interfere with how we do our jobs and other situations. In this webinar, participants will gain an awareness around the concept of implicit biases, the role they play in our interactions with others, and tools to help us address and minimize them. This webinar...

What a Southerner Learned about Housing Discrimination in the San Francisco Bay Area

Posted on June 5, 2020

This post is by ELGL member Andrew Hening, the Director of Homeless Planning & Research for the City of San Rafael, CA. Despite growing up in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, it took living in the San Francisco Bay Area to understand the deep-seated, systemic nature of racism in America’s housing system. Housing isn’t...

If You’re Surprised, You’re Not Paying Attention

Posted on June 3, 2020

This Morning Buzz was written by Katie Babits (LinkedIn, Twitter) and edited by Kylie Bayer (LinkedIn, Twitter). Our country is broken and it was designed this way. The systems that have created the current state of events are doing exactly what they were intended to do. Our systems were created by white people, for white...