Hi! I'm Keith and I will be post-tweeting today, Thursday, …

The Cuyahoga County Equity Commission Meeting may be watched here,

https://t.co/oOgVv7pe2Q

Note: it is live-streamed via youtube.

The Composition and the Duties of the Equity Commission may be reviewed here,

https://t.co/ZtrY5kCWXf

CCECM's agenda for Thursday, January 20, 2022,

https://t.co/nAUCjvntVW

I. CCECM was called to order at 10:04 AM by Chair David Merriman.

II. Roll Call occurred, those present:

Sheeba Marshall, Department of Human Resources
Lenora Lockett, Department of Equity and Inclusion
Vaughn Johnson, Department of Development

II(a). Minutes were approved without amendments.

III. No members of the Public were present to provide comment.

IV. Members shared that they were excited about the new year.

Chair Mirriam shared the Department of Human Resources was excited about a report produced by CCECM.

Johnson of the Department of Development noted that they are excited about community engagement in the Central Neighborhood concerning workforce development with minority businesses

and, "the beginning stages of a collaboration with Destination Cleveland to bring two significant minority focused conferences to Cleveland - the African-American Credit Union Coalition and the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions."

This may include a mentorship component with Historically Black Universities and Colleges.

Johnson noted that they continue to support the internal development of equity.

Awatef Assad of the County Law Department gave a presentation on the Proposed Cuyahoga County Employee Sponsorship Program.

Mrs. Assad is the Risk Manager of Cuyahoga County and serves as the Vice-President of Inclusion and Diversity for the Cleveland Metroplitan Bar Association.

"Equity and inclusion is a matter of fundamental fairness and opportunity."

Mrs. Assad reflected that, "A sponsorship program is key to help level the playing field."

She shared a collection of statistics and recent developments which may be read below,

"Sponsorship is how we build a more equitable and inclusive workplace. It is not [just] mentorship. ... It is more active ... it is to hold leadership positions..."

Mrs. Assad answered the question Who Are the Sponsors?

Her replies may be read below.

Mrs. Assad reflected on who are sponsees,

She shared advantages of Sponsorship Program, which includes increasing addressing implicit and affinity biases

Read below,

Assad notes that it is critical to build a formal structure and framework for the program and support from senior county leadership.

https://t.co/h8gjJ9JzyX

Assad reflected on a match-making process.

Assad recommended a one-year program check-in to measure the progress.

Assad then fielded questions.

The first question asked, "How does this fit in with a typical organization planning succession program?"

Assad, "It will complement."

Sheeba followed up, "How would you implement such a program? What have you seen in your research?"

Assad replied, "I don't have more to share with you but I could definitely work with you and hash it out, but I think ...

there are a lot of people deserving for sponsorship but at this core it is about building a future. ... The focus would be the underrepresented."

Assad fielded several other questions before being asked to return by the CCECM Chair Merriman to present to the Working Group members. Assad agreed to return, "Absolutely!"

CCECM then reviewed Agenda item VI. Race Equity Training Report.

Lenora Lockett, Department of Equity and Inclusion shared that previously in 2021 the CCECM decided that "[the County] needed to have racial equity and inclusion training for Cuyahoga County staff and leadership."

Training will be provided to over 4500 employees of Cuyahoga County. Management will be trained first.

The first part of the process is the stakeholders' analysis. It will include 5 focus groups.

Training won't happen until early May.

Per Mrs. Lockett, part of the communication plan is to advertise and market to the public about the implementation of the training to County employees.

Chair Merriman recommended to continue working with communications.

There were no questions.

Sheba Marshall thanked Mrs. Lockett.

CCECM reviewed Agenda Item VII. 2022 Equity Commission Objectives.

Lockett proposed that CCECM must push forth Equity plans, potential score cards, and working across departments to help implement and increase the goals of CCECM.

CCECM reviewed Agenda Item VIII. Discussion on the Equity Report

Lockett shared that Cuyahoga County's requirement of distribution deadline of January 31, 2022.

"Getting the report out to pilot programs and looking for feedback. ... Next week will be fine tuning the report."

Per CCECM Chair Merriman the Equity Report should be finalized by next week and ready to distribute by the deadline.

Cuyahoga County Equity Commission Meeting adjourned at or around 11:01 AM. This concludes the Cuyahoga County Equity Commission meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for March 17, 2022.

To learn more about Cuyahoga County Equity Commission review the Recovery Plan Performance Report of 2021,

https://t.co/QdwO5y0jin

Remember to check out recorded notes and live-tweets for other governance meetings. They are posted on the Cleveland Documenter's website, access past meetings here:

https://t.co/dmdYjEEusn

To become involved and for more meeting coverage, check out https://t.co/rgwG6GBmRl. Have questions? Think we got something wrong? Send any enquiries on the meeting or these tweets to @cledocumenters

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