Around Town Community
Values, Inclusion, Belonging and Equity A Recipe for Building Community
n Gethsemane Moss, Ed.D. In August 2020, Benicia City Council passed Resolution 20, allowing the city of Benicia to hire an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Manager. After an extensive interview process, the town of Benicia hired Dr. Maliika Chambers. Dr. Chambers is taking the lead in evaluating Benicia systems, analyzing
members matter, benefit from higherlevel sustainable outcomes. Forming collaborative partnerships enables constituents to create multi-layered solutions together. “It is about closing those gaps that are barriers to entry, whether it is race, age, gender, language proficiency… All of these things become
and false speculations. When we fail to engage in equity work, we put ourselves in a mindset of creating false narratives and making assumptions that further divide. Dr. Chambers stated, “One of the important things is that for any work like this, you have to be open to listening to the community, both positive and
“A community is a place where individuals are valued and are included and they belong equally and a place where individuals live, learn and work successfully. ”
data, addressing equity, and making the necessary recommendations to support all Benicia residents. Equity work is more than addressing situations about race. Equity work is also about perspective, gender, age, socioeconomics, and much more. Engaging in discussions and learning from our individual experiences provides an opportunity for growth. Communities and organizational structures that are proactive in equity work and believe all 20 • Benicia Magazine
barriers to entry and become predictors of one’s success, and we don’t think about it, but we know it,” stated Dr. Chambers. Dr. Chambers also stated, “My definition of equity is closing those gaps and, wherever possible, eliminating them that become predictors to people’s success. Because equity, true equity is beneficial to everyone and we all thrive in an equitable community.” Ideally, normalizing conversations about equity takes away the mystery
negative. Part of the conversation is, to be able to have it, you have to be able to articulate in ways that make sense, what the experience of being in Benicia is like. If you truly want to be successful in this work, you have to be willing to listen to the hard truth and not feel like no matter what’s happened before, we are starting from today, and I want to have that conversation.” In building such partnerships, the city of Benicia will join the Government Alliance on Race
