Diversity & Inclusion Committee

The mission of the City of New Smyrna Beach's Diversity & Inclusion Committee is to promote a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment where employees can bring their full selves to work where their differences will be embraced and encouraged.

Objectives

  • Strive for a diversified organization that will represent the diverse communities and citizens we serve.
  • Build inclusive teams and cultivate a sense of belonging by educating and facilitating the removal of bias and barriers.
  • Enhance employee engagement and moral.
  • To expand community engagement and impact.

Our aspiration is to lead and advocate for a better shared future.

Goals

  1. Create a more inclusive workforce for retention of employees of underrepresented groups and increase representation for racial/ethnic minorities in director positions to 30% over the next five years.
    • Measures: Invite those minorities in leadership positions to complete a survey that would assist the city with solutions to underlying issues and/or concerns regarding diversity and inclusion within management roles. 
  2. Assess whether current policies, practices, and procedures are inclusive and sensitive to the various cultures in our city.
    • Measures: Committee will review current policies, practices, and procedures making recommendations to senior management.
  3. Ensure interviewing panel is diverse on a variety of levels (e.g. gender, age, ethnicity) to gain broader perspective of candidates’ qualifications.
    • Measures: Work with recruiter early in the process to get support to diversify the panel.
  4. Develop, improve and/or modify promotional materials so that they are culturally sensitive and accessible to all target groups.
    • Measures: Make a concerted effort to review and modify the city’s website and marketing materials to show more inclusive images and highlight notable accomplishments by leaders in underrepresented groups.  
  5. Offer trainings on enhanced internal communication via phone, email, or in-person interactions with all city staff. This would provide better collaboration among internal employees where we can understand various communication styles among employees at all levels.
    • Measures: Bring in experts in organizational business process improvement to facilitate meetings, activities and training. 

Committee Members

  • Anvar Abrorkhujaev 
  • Christopher Edwards 
  • James Daniels  
  • Chris Dymond 
  • Travis Kendrick  
  • Heather Kidd  
  • Danielle Larkowski  
  • Tracy London  
  • Mike Lynn  
  • Darryl Pierce 
  • Rick Ramirez  
  • Khalid Resheidat  
  • Robert Salazar  
  • Annette Scott  
  • Sharon Taylor-Harding  
  • Irma Terry