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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK <br /> investment by the end of the year, another eighty-one(81)jobs by the end of the year, and another <br /> eighty-five (85) grants in workforce given by the end of the year. That concludes my brief <br /> presentation. <br /> Christina Brooks, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the City of South Bend with offices here on <br /> the 14th floor, stated, Good evening, Council. I want to quickly go over some of the <br /> accomplishments for this year, 2019. One (1) of the major accomplishments is the completion of <br /> the MBE/WBE Disparity Study. This was a project that started last year with the hire of the <br /> consultant,Colette Holt&Associates.We've made sure that in this process,we collected over four <br /> hundred(400)individual procurements and contracting data sets that were used in the analysis for <br /> the Disparity Study.We held several stakeholder meetings.The final two(2)stakeholder meetings <br /> happened this year with an MBE stakeholder meeting in person at the West Side Small Business <br /> Resource Center for project impact at the CUC. We've been able to implement some of the race <br /> and gender-neutral initiatives that were introduced in 2018. We're starting to work through those <br /> this year. CHA, as a part of the Disparity Study, received copies of our amended ordinance from <br /> 2011 as part of the Disparity Study, and an update on the ADA transition plan of 2013, the Title <br /> Six (VI) Plan, and current internal procurement policies and contracting policies, and Board of <br /> Public Works contracting approval processes, and current ODI purchasing organizational charts. <br /> All of that was submitted as a part of the Disparity Study. We've amended the final draft for <br /> delivery to the public for August of 2019, and we expect to actually host a community meeting <br /> after that is delivered as well. <br /> She continued,The second(2nd)accomplishment this year for our office has been the Living Cities <br /> Inclusive Procurement Grant, which was a $50,000 award in cash to be delivered this year. We <br /> also received technical assistance from Griffin & Strong Law Firm out of Atlanta, Georgia who <br /> has over twenty (20) years of experience in managing procurement projects throughout the <br /> country. We established a Committee that's going to help us actually move forward with our <br /> proposal. The proposal that we submitted that actually won was to bring together and leverage <br /> about a little over a billion dollars in procurement and contracting dollars from the top ten (10) <br /> employers here in the City of South Bend to actually help support and create minority businesses <br /> through CBAs. So,we'll be working with Griffin&Strong.We actually had a call today with them <br /> to help us see that project through to fruition.The third(3rd)major project for our office is working <br /> with the South Bend Police Department and Innovation on a Homegrown Project, which is a <br /> community nomination process for ethnically diverse candidates and referrals from the <br /> community.There will be multiple entry points for that program,the first(1St)of which is a middle <br /> school program,and then a high school program,and then also a post-secondary entry point.Those <br /> post-secondary entry points could actually culminate in a full-time position with a partnership with <br /> the St.Joseph County Police Department as a Corrections Officer, earning about$35,000 right out <br /> of high school, but with the support and training for parallel programs in diversity and inclusion <br /> education, as well as mental wellness, in addition to public safety education over a three (3) year <br /> period to prepare them to apply and be a competitive applicant for the South Bend Police <br /> Department. <br /> She went on, Some of the goals that we have for our office include continuing policy and process <br /> changes in procurement and contracting that were recommended by the Disparity Study. We also <br /> want to make sure that we're moving forward and keeping our timeline for the Inclusive <br /> Procurement Grant Proposal. We also are going to continue to roll out the Homegrown Project <br /> with the Local Law Enforcement Diversity Recruitment Plan and move into Phase Two (2) with <br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT <br /> 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574 235 92211f574.235.9173 TD 574.235.55671 www.southbendin.gov <br /> 19 <br />