SALISBURY — During Tuesday’s city council meeting, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director Anne Little presented the department’s annual report. When speaking with council, Little said that the report’s purpose is to “re-affirm the city of Salisbury’s commitment to eliminating wrongful disparities and inequities and to celebrate its achievements in doing so.”

The report summarizes what they have done in the past year and foreshadows their plans for the future.

Last year, city council wished for the DEI Department to expand and for diversity, equity and inclusion to be a better part of the “organizational culture.” Creating a human relations specialist position was one of the main ways funding was spent. Cheryl Lide was hired for the job back in January.

Little mentioned how Hannah Jacobson and the Planning and Neighborhoods Department helped them fund the position with money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Both departments have since partnered up to create a “Salisbury Housing Umbrella” to better handle fair housing matters. Little noted that the entire city staff completed their DEI training. City council will receive that same training in September.

Little said that they have organized and attended different local events to keep a presence in the community while also working with other equity organizations to learn about better practices and share what Salisbury has done so far.

For the coming year, the central priority for the DEI Department is to grow and “through training and education, identification and removal of barriers, and engagement initiatives,” further merge with the city’s ideals. Little is excited for the next phase of the police department’s “Cultivating Community Conversations” that will focus on youth, college students, businesses and other targeting communities.

The DEI Department is offering residents the same kind of training that city staff recently finished to try and engage with them more. Little included that DEI staff will still have their own training sessions going forward. Other goals include reviewing the city’s policies to remove any hurdles that may affect certain demographics. Little wants to build on the department’s pre-existing partnerships in order to strengthen their programs and development.

Little would go on to praise the city for putting her in a “phenomenal position” to have the DEI Department succeed.

“The fact that our support is demonstrated, the fact that the vision is intentional, and that we are working really hard to be who we say we are one step at a time, one issue at a time, that’s the best,” Little said.

Council would reciprocate that appreciation by highlighting the importance of the department to Salisbury.

“This is beyond symbolic action. This is beyond just having really nice, cool events. This is shifting policy, this is shifting budgets, this is shifting how money is spent in our city for our residents. This is about how we make sure to take care of barriers of people coming and feeling belonged,” council member Anthony Smith said.