DEI will be a theme of MMA Annual Meeting

The topic of diversity, equity and inclusion will be featured throughout the MMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show in January, from the opening keynote to the final workshop.

Eddie Glaude Jr., a New York Times bestselling author, Princeton University professor and political commentator whose work has helped people better understand the dynamics of race, democracy and religion in America, will be the keynote speaker during the Opening Session on Jan. 19.

An MSNBC commentator and author of several books, including “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own,” Glaude engages Americans in an honest dialogue about the country’s racial past and present.

At the Annual Meeting, he will discuss how America’s promise of equality has rung hollow for Black Americans, even six decades after the civil rights movement. But the promise of equality still lives, he says, if people work together and create the conditions to think more carefully and systematically about the issues confronting America. The country needs a moral reckoning, he says, for a new America to emerge.

A DEI workshop, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: The Significance for Municipalities,” will be repeated during each of the conference’s three workshop sessions.

Diversity, equity and inclusion is an emerging field in municipal spaces, and many cities and towns are at different stages in their journey, ranging from “where do we start” to implementing DEI into their policies, practices and organizational culture.

The Annual Meeting workshop will:
• Discuss how this important work impacts communities
• Explore core DEI foundations
• Recommend best practices based on a municipality’s level of need

The workshop will be led by Pittsfield Chief Diversity Officer Michael Obasohan and Sharon Select Board Chair Kiana Pierre-Louis, who is the assistant dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Northeastern University.

Racial Equity Group CEO Bird Guess, who’s working with the MMA to develop a strategic DEI plan for the organization, will also be available to meet members during the conference. He’ll be spending some time in the MMA’s Trade Show booth and will speak during the Annual Business Meeting of the Massachusetts Select Board Association.

Racial Equity Group worked with the MMA on its recent Municipal DEI Survey to identify the extent to which municipalities have emphasized DEI in municipal practices, policies and culture. Racial Equity Group will use the results to identify the resources and education needed to support municipal members engaged in this work, according to their level of need, and establish benchmarks for success.

The Racial Equity Group is also conducting a series of member focus groups, which will serve as another mechanism for gathering information about DEI work being conducted at the local level.