Edina hires diversity manager to advance equity across city
The Edina City Council introduced Thomas Brooks as its new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager during a March 15 retreat, signaling the city's commitment to ensuring all residents can access city services and that city hiring reflects the community it serves.
Brooks, who previously worked for the State of Minnesota, will lead efforts to understand who lives in Edina, who currently uses city programs and services, and where gaps exist. His work will inform an Equity Strategic Action Plan—a data-driven roadmap designed to guide future policy changes across city operations.
"It's a great way for me and for staff to make sure that we understand the community—who's actually in the community and who's actually accessing city programs and services," Brooks said at the retreat. City leadership expressed confidence in the appointment, with one official calling Brooks "a thoughtful problem solver" and committing to work closely with him.
The city identified several priorities for the new position. Beyond understanding community demographics and service access, the city wants to address hard-to-fill positions within city government and improve diversity in recruitment. City officials acknowledged that some roles have historically received limited applications from diverse candidates and want to identify and remove barriers to those positions.
Brooks emphasized the untapped potential of applying an equity lens to the city's work. "I look at a city like Edina and certainly something special has been built here, but there is so much potential and opportunity particularly when we start to leverage an inclusive and equity lens in the work that we're doing," he said.
The city plans to engage the community as it develops the Equity Strategic Action Plan, using data to inform decisions about how to better serve all residents. City leadership stressed that this work aligns with the broader goal of making city services accessible to everyone, regardless of need, and building a municipal workforce that reflects the diversity of the community.
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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Other Topics from This Document
Equity Strategic Action Plan Development
Workforce Recruitment and Retention in City Operations
Service Accessibility and Community Engagement
Also from this meeting
▸Meeting Analysis
“it's a great way for me and for staff to one make sure that we understand the community um who's actually in the community and who's actually accessing City programs and services”
“I look at a city like Adina and certainly something special has been built here in the city but I also look at a city like Adina and there is so much potential and opportunity particularly when we start to leverage um an inclusive and and an equity lens in the work that we're doing”
“one of the things that Thomas and I will be working really closely on and also having the opportunity to engage the community in is as we look at our Equity strategic action plan to how can we move our community forward and follow the data in order to be able to make changes to best serve the rest of our residents”
“Thomas is a thoughtful Problem Solver I'm super excited for the opportunity to work alongside him to learn from him and to grow with him”
▸Source Document
[Music] the city's new diversity equity and inclusion manager began work earlier this summer Thomas Brooks will continue the work needed to follow through on the city's vision of providing a high quality of life for all its residents Edina TV shows us how Thomas is approaching his new role in any Community change is unavoidable but how a city views and reacts to that change takes intention Thomas Brooks has been on the job as the new diversity equity and inclusion manager for only a couple months but he's taken that time to learn and gather data it's a great way for me and for staff to one make sure that we understand the community um who's actually in the community and who's actually accessing City programs and services Brooks arrived at the city after working for the state of Minnesota a move he says brings him closer to both employees and residents on a day-to-day basis I look at a city like Adina and certainly something special has been built here in the city but I also look at a city like Adina and there is so much potential and opportunity particularly when we start to leverage um an inclusive and and an equity lens in the work that we're doing work that includes looking at guiding documents one of the things that Thomas and I will be working really closely on and also having the opportunity to engage the community in is as we look at our Equity strategic action plan to how can we move our community forward and follow the data in order to be able to make changes to best serve the rest of our residents Services accessible to anyone regardless of need which goes hand inand with recruiting and retaining a diverse Workforce some of those hard to fill jobs that we have within the city that maybe aren't getting as many applications as we'd like or are particularly harder to diversify because there are so uh limited applications and like what can we do to create ideas taking City operations into sharp focus with the help of a new and experienced point of view Thomas is a thoughtful Problem Solver I'm super excited for the opportunity to work alongside him to learn from him and to grow with him from Edina City Hall I'm Scott Denfeld Edina TV Brooks resum includes a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a master's degree in industrial and organizational psychology he also serves on the Minnesota Board of Social Work where he aims to reduce barriers for social workers especially those working with diverse communities
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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