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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> it is oftentimes lost in discussion specifically with the public safety agencies, we frequently talk
<br /> about diversity and the hiring of women in fire service. One(1) of the things I feel like sometimes
<br /> gets lost in all of that is that we always attempt to recruit and hire the best people for these positions.
<br /> The simple fact of the matter is that the people that work for public safety agencies, with our City
<br /> and every other city, enjoy what is called the public trust. In other words, when a citizen calls 911,
<br /> it is typically the worst day of their life. So,they have to know that the officers responding to their
<br /> emergency,be it Police,Fire, EMS or whatever,are trustworthy and if there is one hundred dollars
<br /> ($100) on the kitchen table,that will be there when they walk out. Not only that but the resident is
<br /> going to be ok with our officers locking the door for them and making sure their house is secured
<br /> and all of their worldly possessions are good to go. On top of that, then we are taking them to the
<br /> hospital or, obviously, on the law enforcement side they have different dispositions, but I wanted
<br /> to start with that.
<br /> Chief Cox continued,Thirdly,in order for us to have good context for this discussion,I put together
<br /> some stats, associated with diversity within our department, prior to me becoming the Fire Chief
<br /> and then after I became the Fire Chief. The reason I delineated that is because as a member of the
<br /> South Bend Fire Department, I've been with the Department for almost twenty-six(26)years now.
<br /> The twenty(20) years prior to 2012,here on this pie chart(referencing a slide in the presentation)
<br /> shows the diversity breakdown for our department. In essence, and this has been public, and this
<br /> has been presented to Council previously, this is not anything we are proud of. The department,
<br /> along with departments nationwide, did not do much regarding recruitment. Frankly, Fire
<br /> Departments throughout the country basically had the stance that we have jobs available, they are
<br /> good jobs, if people want them, they should come to us. What we decided to do in 2012, and it
<br /> was a good time to recruit because a lot of people were looking for work still as we were coming
<br /> off the economic downturn of 2008.We took that advantage and started a lot of different initiatives
<br /> within the department to make sure that we were reaching out, not only to a broader general
<br /> population,but focusing specifically in diverse communities within the City and the region in order
<br /> for us to bring in more diverse applicants.
<br /> He went on, As you can see (referencing the slide of the presentation), all of the individuals we
<br /> have recruited between October 1991 and October 2011, one hundred and fifty-six (156), or
<br /> ninety-five percent (95%) were white and male. Four (4) were African American. Two (2) were
<br /> Hispanic. We have one (1) Asian American that was hired during that time and one (1) Pacific
<br /> Islander hired during that period of time. Moving forward from 2011,we've hired fifty-seven(57)
<br /> individuals to our department, forty-eight (48) of which were white. Five (5) of those individuals
<br /> were African American. Four (4) were Hispanic. As of right now, we have not hired any other
<br /> Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders. Male/female employees,there is a special piece I would like
<br /> to point out. In the fire service in general, only about three percent(3%)of firefighters nationwide
<br /> are female. There is an organization called I Women and that is basically a female firefighters
<br /> union. They did a study several years back and they accounted for the fact that a lot of women
<br /> don't want to be fire fighters. That was an anomaly in the data that they had to work out. What
<br /> they came out with was a statement as a union supporting women in the Fire Service. All
<br /> departments, nationwide, should be shooting for a total of roughly seventeen percent (17%) of
<br /> their workforce being female, taking all things into account. So, between October 1991 and
<br /> October 2011, the South Bend Fire Department hired a total of four(4)women. I have three (3)in
<br /> the presentation because one (1) of those quit about two (2) years after we hired her. She is no
<br /> longer part of the demographic of the department. In the same timeframe, we hired one hundred
<br /> and sixty-four (164) men. Since 2011, we've hired eight (8) additional women to the department
<br /> EXCELLENCE j ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov
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