Because Malden is a racially and linguistically diverse city, it is imperative that our city government create a strategic plan and work towards adopting anti-racist and fully-inclusive policies and practices. This strategic plan must outline the city’s commitment to a comprehensive set of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals. This will help to ensure that all Malden residents, especially those who have been historically marginalized by white supremacy, are safe and welcomed. Vital to this strategy is the collaborative development of a long-term (5-10 year) strategic plan by the mayor and a DEI Director. To make the substantive, systemic changes our city requires, the DEI Director will need to possess strong organizational leadership abilities that can address and remedy flawed systems that currently exist in the city. This individual must also be supported by the mayor in executing this initiative and have decision-making authority.

We applaud Mayor Christenson for declaring racism to be a public health crisis. We also appreciate Mayor Christenson and the City Councillors who have supported hiring a person to focus on DEI work within our city. These commitments have come in part due to the advocacy of groups in Malden including the Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition (GMAACC), Malden Community Organizing for Racial Equity (MaldenCORE), Malden Police Alternatives and Accountability (MPAA) and others. However, the proposal the Mayor has put forward for this position does not come close to responding to the needs our community has advocated to address. Specifically, we are concerned that the salary, title, and essential duties and responsibilities listed in the draft job posting will set the person hired up for failure. Additionally, the DEI Coordinator position will not attract candidates with the diverse set of talents needed to do this important work, and will therefore be unable to create and sustain the change that the Mayor had intended. Therefore, we encourage both Mayor Christenson and our City Councillors to make the following changes to the DEI position, and to commit to further investment in the coming years in order to set our city up for success in this important work.

Position, Job Posting, and Hiring of the DEI Director

(1) Change the title of the position that will be posted from "DEI Coordinator" to "DEI Director."

(2) Increase the salary of the DEI position from $65,000/year to $105,000/year. This will bring the salary in line with the median salary for director-level positions in Malden city government and with DEI directors in neighboring cities. Commit to maintaining funding for the position for at least the next 5 years.

(3) Include community members on the hiring committee, especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community members and members of the Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission.

(4) Fund recruitment (a hiring firm and/or advertising) for the position to ensure that candidates with diverse backgrounds and talents are recruited.

(5) Reduce the essential duties and responsibilities of the position so it is possible for one person to fulfill them and to empower the DEI Director to focus on making transformative change.

(6) Increase the minimum number of years of relevant professional experience from 3 to 10 years and increase the expected educational level to a Master’s Degree. However, allow candidates to meet this standard through a combination of formal education and lived experiences.

Support for the Future DEI Director in Fiscal Year 2022 (Beginning July 2021)

(7) Commit to funding two additional positions that will report to the DEI Director. One of these positions could have some of the responsibilities in the original draft "DEI Coordinator" job posting that are critical for our city and are also too much for a single DEI Director, such as sitting on all hiring committees to provide a DEI lens, investigating public concerns related to DEI, and assisting with the implementation of the city's ADA transition plan. The other position could be an administrative position.

(8) Commit to providing the DEI Director with a budget for ongoing training (such as anti-racism training) and evaluation of city employees, for initiatives, and for professional expenses.

(9) Commit to including the DEI Director on high-level decisions that are made in our city and to giving the DEI Director the authority to implement structural changes.

(10) Commit to collaborating with and fully supporting the DEI Director as they work toward transformative change. This collaboration and support could include the DEI Director having weekly planning meetings with the Mayor as they work together to create the 5-10 year strategic plan.

Support for the Future DEI Director over the Next 2-4 Years

(11) Implement the strategic plan that will have been collaboratively written by the Mayor and the DEI Director. The following action items should be considered for the strategic plan:
---Increase hiring of BIPOC & LGBTQIA+ employees in the city of Malden at all levels, including management-level positions, by 28.6% within the next 3-5 years.
---Assess recruitment and retention efforts by partnering with Human Resources to construct a detailed list of Malden city employee demographics. The list should include the level of the position held by each employee, along with their race, ethnicity, and gender. Malden Public School (MPS) staff should also be included.
---Produce an anonymous, city-wide employee survey (aggregated by race and gender) to assess the climate and culture that Malden employees experience, including MPS employees. Address any challenges with follow-up actions and goals.
---Develop a professional mentorship program with BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community members to provide support and potentially create a career trajectory toward working in the city of Malden.
---Create Affinity Spaces for educators of color and LGBTQIA+ educators in the MPS. These affinity spaces should work in partnership with the DEI Director to address issues of bias, sexism, homophobia, and racism in the MPS.
---Provide grants to support the development of small businesses in Malden that are owned by BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ community members.
---Provide grants and scholarships for high school seniors and veterans applying for college that are centered on civic engagement, DEI, political science, education, and other fields identified in the strategic plan.
---Work with the MPS Superintendent and the Malden School Committee to implement culturally responsive teaching in the MPS and to decolonize the MPS curriculum.
---Require anti-racism and other training workshops for all Malden educators and city government employees.

(12) Expand the DEI Director’s team into an Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that is fully funded, is given office space that is easily accessible to the Mayor’s office, and that is based on the strategic plan that will have been collaboratively written by the Mayor and the DEI Director. Positions that may exist in the office include:
---Assistant Director for LGBTQIA+ Advocacy Center
---Assistant Director of Education and Instructional Training
---Assistant Director of Accessibility Services and Supports
---Assistant Director for Anti-Racism
---Administrative Assistant
---Social Media and Web Content Specialist
---Community Engagement & Events Manager
---Budget Manager
---Office Manager

We understand that like everything else, a potential rebuttal to this petition is that adequate funds are not available to implement the changes required to best serve the diverse residents of Malden. However, we will no longer accept budgetary constraints as an excuse. Immediate action by our city government to center DEI work is imperative.