Members of the Spano Administration in Yonkers, including commissioners, staff directors and Mayor Spano himself have completed a four-day session designed to help root out systemic bias and racial inequities. The nationally recognized racial equity consulting firm Joyce James Consulting was brought in for the sessions. The firm’s facilitators aided city staff in discussing the city’s institutions and structures in a way that looked for systemic rather than individual factors contributing to racism.
“Institutional and structural racism are at the core of racial inequities in all helping systems,” said Joyce James, CEO and president of the company that bears her name. “Thus, the solution requires a systemic response that transforms the culture and holds all levels of the institution accountable. The journey to an antiracism institutional culture requires a long-term commitment.”
James says that rather than fixing what may be wrong with people, her firm concentrates on finding out what’s wrong with systems and institutions and then recommends ways to fix those problems. Her firm is to prepare a written report for Yonkers on what was found and make recommendations on how best to deal with the issues.
The plan in Yonkers is for the training to be a catalyst for developing strategies to build more effective programs, strengthening community partnerships, and beginning to transform the city’s systems to better understand and respond to the needs of the diverse groups and ethnicities that make up its various communities.
“This training is imperative for a city like Yonkers, which prides itself of the rich diversity and culture of everyone who calls Yonkers their home,” said Spano. “Now more than ever, it is incumbent on us as city leaders to broaden our lens to truly understand the often perpetuating institutional and structural racism that leads to racial inequities in the design and delivery of services and programs, locally and nationally. The training and thought-provoking conversation is about building the trust and support in the community so we can make meaningful change in our city.”
