Is Thurston County’s racial equity council making progress? One issue is lack of members
Recruitment and participation are still top priorities for Thurston County’s Racial Equity and Inclusion Council almost two years after it first met.
During a Wednesday meeting, six and at times five members were present out of seven active members. Floyd Chapman, co-chair of the council, suggested members prioritize recruiting people they know from the community.
“The goal is to have full participation,” Chapman said. “Full participation versus minimal participation is 15 versus seven. Right now, we’re at a critical minimal participation level.”
Devi Ogden, the county’s racial equity program manager, said the council has eight vacancies. If anyone else leaves the council, it won’t be able to function as the Board of County Commissioners directed in December 2021. Such an outcome would be another setback for the county’s racial equity and inclusion efforts.
However, Ogden said recruitment and participation concerns are not unique to the Racial Equity and Inclusion Council.
“The council is one of many volunteer organizations within the county,” Ogden said in a statement to The Olympian. “It faces similar challenges all advisory board and commissions face related to recruitment and time commitments.”
The several council members who convened Wednesday recognized the challenges they face but resolved to meet them with optimism.
“The optimism that has to be in place for people that do this kind of work should infect us,” Chapman said. “I think we need to appreciate that Thurston County is a place in which this work can get done...”
What can be done to improve participation?
Juliet Lawson-Hall, a former chair of the council, recently resigned to become a full-time student, Ogden said Wednesday.
Membership may drop to six if another member does not complete required training about the Open Public Meetings Act, Ogden said.
One issue that has repeatedly been raised by past council members has been compensation. On Wednesday, Ogden told the council the county is considering a proposed one-year stipend pilot program.
In its most recent form, Ogden said the program would offer members of four advisory boards $50 per meeting. Those four would include the county’s Racial Equity and Inclusion Council and Historic Commission as well as the Regional Housing Council’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board and Homeless Services Advisory Board.
The county is considering compensation for work done in task forces and subcommittees, Ogden said. However, she said the county has not yet devised a way to track members’ time.
Ogden said she expects to brief the board about the proposal later in the summer.
Council member Kamilah Keyes-Brown said stipends show participants that the county values their time and expertise. However, she also said the council needs to acknowledge barriers in the community.
“There’s a sense of being used or tokenized and there’s distrust. …” Keyes-Brown said. “If barriers are not tackled, if trust and relationship is not built, people are not going to gravitate to these boards.”
Keyes-Brown said she “stumbled upon” the council while looking for ways to get involved in the community. One solution may be recruiting college students, she said.
“A lot of college students who are going for their degrees, they are very optimistic about the future,” Keyes-Brown said. “They’re very excited about wanting to learn and be a part of the community. They just don’t know how.”
Anyone interested in applying to the Racial Equity and Inclusion Council can contact devi.ogden@co.thurston.wa.us with questions. An application is available on the county’s website.
How did the county get here?
Seven initial council members first met in August 2022, many months after the county commission voted to establish the council in December 2021 and over a year after the county board declared racism a crisis in March 2021.
After its first meeting, the council met monthly through November 2022 but then stopped, according to its posted agendas.
Then in February 2023, the former county manager fired the county’s first racial equity program manager. That decision delayed efforts to create a plan to promote racial equity and left the nascent council in limbo for months.
The county hired Devi Ogden as the new racial equity program manager in June 2023 and she reconvened the council in July.
The county commission approved its phased Racial Equity Action Plan last November. Part of that plan calls for establishing equity leads in all county departments and offices.
Ogden said all but two county departments have identified equity leads: the Coroner’s Office and the Clerk’s Office.
“Two offices were unable to participate at this time due to staffing constraints and time capacity. However, I am serving as their lead and remain in coordination with those offices to ensure they are included in relevant conversations,” Ogden said.
Since it reconvened last year, the council has striven to meet monthly, but three meetings were canceled — one in September and November 2023 and then February of this year.
Following what the council has been doing hasn’t been simple either. Agendas and meeting minutes were not posted on the county’s website for months this year.
The county posted the missing documents a couple weeks ago after The Olympian inquired about the status of the council.
“There was an administrative oversight on posting agendas and minutes online, but that issue has since been resolved and you can now find minutes from previous meetings on the website,” Ogden said. “All future meeting agendas and minutes will be posted within the appropriate timeframe.”
So, what has the council been up to? On April 12, the council elected Chapman and Auzimuth Jackson as co-chairs. Their focus now turns to developing a “strategic plan for projects and focus areas” to work on for the next two years, Ogden said.
More recently, the county commission approved new bylaws for the council on May 21.
The bylaws outline the council’s purpose as well as expectations for the council members and rules they must follow.
This story was originally published June 3, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
