Nikki Purvis is Chief Equity officer of the Office of Equity and Inclusion at the City of Milwaukee. The Office of Equity and Inclusion is very new as of January 1st, 2021, and it will work on addressing, eradicating, and dismantling racism within the city government. 

According to Nikki, just because this office is new, it does not mean that they have not been engaged in the work. They have developed a Racial Equity Action Plan, and the creation of this Office is a part of that plan. It is about creating the infrastructure so that they can be impactful and start to create some change. Our goal, our task is to implement our action plan but also to identify policies, programs, and procedures and to identify what should change. If you want different outcomes, you have to make sure that you have all those diverse voices at the table. You have to have all three (diversity, equity, and inclusion) working in sync with one another. They intermingle.

If you have ideas, thoughts, or you want to help, feel free to email us. And you can always share with your elected officials your thoughts and opinions about how we move forward in this work. 

What we talk about: 

03:50 – I’m still trying to figure out what that (diversity and equity) means for me personally, and even from the city’s perspective because we’re new on this journey that it is going to take us some time to determine and define what that means for us as an agency and an organization. 

11:42 – I do not know if we’ll ever completely dismantle racism. It didn’t happen overnight; it’s been over 400 years. But we all have to have a personal commitment to eradicate and dismantle racism. It’s not just one person’s responsibility. It is everyone’s responsibility.

14:05 – The city of Milwaukee has a Racial Equity Action Plan. And that plan was created by several members from various departments. We participated in the government alliance for race and equity of this community learning group. 

19:00 – There are some small wins that we have accomplished, like the racial equity leadership training. Our racial equity and inclusion leadership team is composed of representatives from each city department and most of our elected officials’ offices.  

28:05 – It is important that we hold ourselves accountable to make sure that it is just not a transactional change, but a transformative, and that we are transparent in our process and accountable to the works that we do or do not do. 

What we mention: 

Office of Equity & Inclusion

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