Governor's Diversity and Inclusion Council is developing strategies to overcome employment, contract procurement, and civic engagement disparities in state government
ST. PAUL, MN - A new report /governor/assets/2015_07_01_diversity_and_inclusion_council_report_tcm1055-114828.pdfissued today by the Governor's Diversity and Inclusion Council updates policymakers on the Council's work to improve diversity in the state's workforce and business supplier chain, and more equitably engage diverse people, communities, and businesses in the work of state government. The report describes the Council's plans to enhance diversity in the workplace, improve access to state government contracts for minority-owned businesses, and actively engage diverse communities in developing state policies.
"A government that serves all the people of Minnesota should reflect all of Minnesota," said Governor Dayton. "We must ensure that all of our citizens have equal opportunities to work for their state government, to do business with the state, and to participate fully in our democracy. This report, and the continuing work of the Council, will help us achieve those vitally important goals."
The Dayton Administration has already hired a full-time Statewide Recruiter who is charged with identifying candidates from diverse communities to fill senior leadership roles and other key positions throughout state government. That work is essential to achieving a more diverse state workforce. The work of the Governor's Diversity and Inclusion Council is supplementing those efforts, by taking a holistic approach to analyzing and improving the way state government engages, employs, and does business with diverse individuals and communities.
The Governor's Diversity and Inclusion Council, which is chaired by Governor Dayton, began its work on January 20, 2015. The Council's work is divided into three committees: Employment Practices, chaired by MMB Commissioner Myron Frans; Contracting Practices, chaired by Administration Commissioner Matt Massman; and Civic Engagement Practices, chaired by Human Rights Commissioner Kevin Lindsey. A summary of their recommendations to Governor Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature are included below.
/governor/assets/2015_07_01_diversity_and_inclusion_council_report.pdf_tcm1055-92709.pdfA full copy of the Council's report is available online. The Council will issue its next report to Governor Dayton and Minnesota Legislature on January 1, 2016. It will then issue annual reports each year, beginning in 2017, to continue the work of improving diversity and inclusion in state government.
A More Diverse State Workforce
The Council's Employment Practices Committee is tasked with developing strategies to improve diversity, inclusion, and equity in statewide employment practices. In consultation with communities and stakeholders, these are some of the barriers the Committee has identified to a more diverse and inclusive workplace for state employees:
- Inadequate systems to collect and analyze data that track diversity in the workforce
- Lack of training, leadership, and strategic plans to prioritize and understand workforce diversity
- Inadequate external outreach and communication with diverse communities
- Poor retention and workplace inclusion of new employees
To begin addressing these challenges, the Committee will work to meet these milestones by January 1, 2016:
- Update the strategic plans of each state agency to ensure the State of Minnesota meets the goal of increasing state government employment for people with disabilities to 7 percent by 2018
- Plan for diversity training and development across state government to ensure managers and all employees are engaged in making the workplace more inclusive
- Assess the impact of redesigning the state's website for state employee job applicants to improve access, and better collect and retain data on the diversity of the state's workforce
Better Access to State Contracts
The Contracting Practices Committee is tasked with identifying changes to policies and practices that the state can readily implement to achieve equity in state procurement and contracting. In consultation with communities and stakeholders, these are some of the barriers the Committee has identified that may contribute to contract disparities within state government:
- Information about state contract opportunities are difficult to find and understand
- State agencies are not routinely engaged with diverse communities and provide only limited outreach and education to vendors
- Process expectations require greater upfront investment by small vendors and some minority-owned firms to compete with large companies
- State requirements for bidding on contracts are too rigid and result in denial of opportunity
To begin addressing these challenges, the Committee will work to meet these milestones by January 1, 2016:
- Effectively implement legislation passed during the 2015 Legislative Session that will help veteran-owned businesses secure contracts, create a web-based portal to make it easier to apply for Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Targeted Group Business status, and expand outreach to small businesses
- Make it easier for businesses to access state procurement data, use the data to provide greater transparency on state contracting, and analyze that data to identify strategies that will help diverse businesses better-access state contracts
Better Civic Engagement Practices
The Civic Engagement Committee is working to improve the state's efforts to engage all citizens in the work of developing and sustaining healthy communities. In consultation with communities and stakeholders, the following challenges were identified:
- Communicating with some ethnic and racial communities is difficult because of distrust among some within those communities about the motives of government
- Lack of uniform training and education among staff charged with the responsibility for implementing civic engagement
- Transforming civic engagement from a process that is primarily a transactional-based interaction process to an interactive process that is primarily focused on creating a long-term institutional relationship
To begin addressing these challenges, the Committee will work to meet these milestones by January 1, 2016:
- Refine list of civic engagement best practices for state agencies
- Create steering committee to guide the work of educating and assisting agencies in civic engagement
- Convene meeting of state agencies to discuss best practices in civic engagement
- Meet with and develop relationships with individuals and organizations throughout the state of Minnesota who are interested in fostering and developing civic engagement
