SALISBURY — After a year of effort, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategic Action Plan is finally complete and ready to begin implementation.

DEI Director Anne Little presented this update to city council at their Nov. 21 meeting and highlighted the main goals that the plan encompasses: internal workplace equity; information, education, and training; talent acquisition, management, and retention; annual planning; awareness and support; leadership by example; procurement policies; and DEI staff core team.

Salisbury’s vision and mission for the DEI department is for them to represent and nurture equality throughout all aspects of the city and to take legitimate action towards achieving their goals. Little’s job is figuring out ways to do just that. 

“It’s like a map, it is a guide for the steps that we need to take to start doing that,” Little said. “It is our starting point.”

The city collaborated with WPR Consulting, LLC, a North Carolina-based consulting firm, to devise this plan and they will also be hands on when it comes to enacting these policies.

Little describes the plan as fluid and they intend to change things as they see fit. As of now, DEI, along with WPR, will be looking at examining the city’s practices and policies and make adjustments accordingly. This can be something as simple as altering wording in the employee handbook or going as far as to revising how Salisbury undertakes certain actions.

City staff have already finished some of their training with the next round coming up shortly. 

It is the DEI department’s intention to partner with other outside organizations such as local businesses and the Rowan Chamber’s Minority Business Council to establish fair representation. DEI has finalized a city staff survey on organizational culture with the intention of doing a separate demographic report of Salisbury. 

“As we talk about doing programs, we need to know who we are and who we’re doing programs for and how we match up against the demographics of the community,” Little said.  

DEI has a staff in place at the moment, but Little wants their core team to come about “organically” when working with other parties.

The strategic plan allows Little a better sense of what still needs to be done both internally and externally. For her, practices and policies, demographics, the next part of training, and internal employee resource groups are DEI’s “main, tangible priorities.” 

The upcoming city council retreat in early 2024 is going to present an outline for what path Salisbury will follow for the year and Little is prepared for molding the strategic plan to what comes out of those discussions. 

“The retreat will follow council’s priorities for the city and then I will be able to lay the template of the action plan on their priorities…As we go about meeting those priorities, we’re doing so with the mindset of DEI,” Little said. 

Now that constructing the bulk of the strategic plan is over, the real fun can commence. Little says that if the strategic plan is done correctly, it will have a “positive impact on everyone.” Salisbury is projected to look completely different in a decade and the city realizes this by doing their best to make it a place where all people feel included. 

“I’m excited that it’s done. From both a personal and professional vantage point, throughout the process of doing it, there’s a weightiness to it because it’s not enough, now that it’s done, we got some work to do. The weightiness for me is ensuring that we’re getting the work done, are making an impact, that we are doing what we said we wanted to do, and being who we wanted to be,” Little said.