2017 Administration Department Annual Report

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2017 Annual Report • Administration • St. Anthony Village, Minnesota 29 In August the teams and elected leadership were invited to hear a presentation from Leon Andrews, Director, Race, Equity and Leadership (REAL) program of the National League of Cities on the topic of moving elected leadership to advance racial equity. The REAL initiative serves to strengthen local leaders’ knowledge and capacity to eliminate racial disparities, heal racial divisions, and build more equitable communities. In addition to the GARE cohort, Councilmembers Jan Jenson and Randy Stille were able to attend the presentation. On December 6th the 2017 GARE Introductory Cohort completed its year-long work with an event at Silverwood Park. The teams heard from De Nichols who serves as the Director & Principal Designer of Civic Creatives, an impact design studio that partners with communities to develop interactive experiences, tools, and initiatives that confront issues of racial inequity, social division, food insecurity, and civic disengagement. The event included acknowledgement of Introductory Cohort Teams by the Blue Cross / Blue Shield of MN Center for Prevention. Staff presented St. Anthony’s draft plan to the City Council on November 28th for input. The plan can be found on the City’s website at http://www.savmn.com/282/government-alliance-on- race-equity-gare. The city has also committed to continuing with the GARE program in 2018 by assembling an Implementation Cohort that will meet throughout the year. The focus of the Implementation Cohort will be to collaborate with other cities also in the implementation phase to share experiences exchange ideas.