‘Cultural competence’ to be key requirement in Lacey’s DEI strategic plan

The Lacey Commission on Equity discussed cultural competency as part of its work session in drafting the city's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategic Plan during its meeting yesterday.

Lacey Assistant City Manager Shannon Kelley-Fong said the definition of cultural competence in the plan would be based on the one used by the state's Office of Financial Management.

"Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people of all cultures and understand many cultural frameworks, values, and norms," the definition reads. 

Kelley-Fong discussed that cultural competence comprises four components:

• Awareness of one's own worldview,
• Attitude towards cultural differences,
• Knowledge of different cultural practices and
• Worldviews and cross-cultural skills.

She also highlighted that cultural competence is a "development process that continually evolves over an extended period of time."

Some commissioners, however, questioned the use of "extended period of time" in the definition as it connotes that the answers to some DEI issues would take "forever" to address.

Kelly-Fong explained that the strategic plan includes benchmarks and indicators to assess the strategies and methods of the city as needed.

Among the indicators included in the draft plan are:

• Percentage of job descriptions that incorporate equity as a core competency 
• Percentage of staff members that take the required equity training program increases and eventually reaches 100%
• Percentage of staff who identify as people of color and different genders increasingly matches community demographics at all departments and levels within the organization
• Percentage of total job applications received from applicants who identify as people of color and different genders increasingly matches community demographics.
• Percentage of staff who identify as people of color and of different genders that remain with city employment over select intervals of time (e.g., one year, five years, ten years) increasingly matches community demographics

The committee is eyeing the council's adoption of the strategic plan late this year or early next year.