Question & Answer Follow-up to August 2 Work Session on the City's 2021-2023 Equity PlanCity of Dubuque
City Council Meeting
Action Items # 7.
Copyrighted
August 16, 2021
ITEM TITLE: Question &Answer Follow-up to August 2 Work Session on the City's
2021-2023 Equity Plan
SUMMARY: City Manager requesting time on the August 16, 2021, City Council
agenda for follow-up questions from the August 2, 2021 work session on
the City's 2021-2023 Equity Plan.
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Council
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
Question &Answer Follow Up to August 2 Work City Manager Memo
Session-MVM Memo
Follow -Up to Work Session Staff Memo
Work Session Item Staff Cover Memo Supporting Documentation
Work Session Item Progress Report on Equitable Fine Supporting Documentation
and Fee Reform
2020 Equity Report Supporting Documentation
THE CITY OF
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TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Question &Answer Follow-up to August 2 Work Session on the City's
2021-2023 Equity Plan
DATE: August 10, 2021
Human Rights Director Kelly Larson requests time on the August 16, 2021, City Council
agenda for follow-up questions from the August 2, 2021 work session on the City's
2021-2023 Equity Plan. During the August 2nd work session, there was insufficient time
to respond to all Council Member questions.
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Mic ael C. Van Milligen
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Attachment
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director
Dubuque
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To: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
From: Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director
Date: August 9, 2021
Subject: Question &Answer Follow-up to August 2 Work Session
The purpose of this memo is to request time on the August 16, 2021 City Council
agenda for follow-up questions from the August 2, 2021 work session.
On August 2, 2021, we held a work session to update Council on the progress on
various items that are part of the City's 2021-2023 Equity Plan. Attached for reference
are copies of memos submitted for that work session, the work session PowerPoint
presentation, and the 2020 Equity Report, which includes the equity plan in the
appendix. During that work session we had insufficient time to respond to all Council
Member questions. Consequently, staff will be present at the August 16 City Council
meeting to answer any remaining questions. We will not, however, be presenting on
August 16.
cc: Jill Connors
Mark Dalsing
Collins Eboh
Chris Kohlmann
Alexis Steger
Rick Steines
Dubuque
THE CITY OF
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To: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
From: Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director
Date: July 26, 2021
Subject: 2021-2023 Equity Plan Projects Update
The purpose of this memo is to provide you with an update on the status of several
projects that are part of the 2021-2023 City of Dubuque Equity Plan. This update will be
presented to the City Council at a work session on August 2, 2021.
In February 2021, we submitted the 2021-2023 Equity Plan to City Council. There are
approximately 30 projects included in the plan, along with several state and federal
legislative priorities. Projects were prioritized for the plan based on the following
activities that had significant community engagement:
• the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing completed in 2019;
• the Black Lives Matter work session held in July 2020;
• the NAACP Next Steps for Justice community conversations during the summer
of 2020; and
• the Equitable Poverty Reduction and Prevention Plan completed in 2020.
Projects are being completed using the six equity impact questions as a framework,
which are:
1) What equity concern are we trying to impact more directly through this project?
2) What does the data tell us about which groups will be impacted, how they will be
impacted, and any likely barriers?
3) How will we engage the community members most impacted by these inequities?
4) What are our strategies for advancing equity and who is likely to benefit or be
burdened by the various strategies?
5) What is the plan for implementation and how will we anticipate and address
barriers?
6) How will we ensure accountability and evaluate and measure results?
During the work session, we will provide updates on the status and equity implications
of the following projects:
• the School Resource Officer Work Group;
• the work being done to review the Dubuque Community Police Relations
Committee (DCPRC) structure and duties;
• steps being taken to address specific elements of the Analysis of Impediments to
Fair housing, including fair housing testing and efforts to expand the number of
housing providers accepting housing choice vouchers;
• the work to establish a Municipal Careers Pipeline;
• the City Council priority of Equitable Fine &Fee Reform (note: this project is the
subject of a separate, detailed memo);
• police use of force and personnel early warning system interventions;
• efforts to improve diversion opportunities, including for circumstances where
brain health is at issue;
• critical incident response training of paramedics;
• population health and EMS care interventions;
• expansion of broadband and wi-fi access;
• support for socially and economically disadvantaged businesses; and
• childcare efforts to improve employment opportunity and sustainability.
Action Requested
This memo is background for the presentation that will be offered to the City Council on
August 2 and is provided for your information. No action is requested.
cc: Jill Connors, Economic Development Director
Mark Dalsing, Police Chief
Collins Eboh, Organizational Equity Coordinator
Jeremy Jensen, Assistant Police Chief
Chris Kohlmann, Information Services Manager
Alexis Steger, Housing &Community Development Director
Rick Steines, Fire Chief
2
Dubuque
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To: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
From: Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director
Date: July 29, 2021
Subject: Equitable Fine &Fee Reform Progress Report
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide you with a report on the progress of the
Equitable Fine &Fee Reform (EFFR) project group.
Background
For years the City of Dubuque has worked to advance the development of equity plans
within city departments. This work has focused on internal assessment
and the implementation of processes to assess the City's impacts on residents, as
these impacts may result in furthering disparities. This work has primarily been done on
a department by department basis. Until now, there has not been a comprehensive
effort across the organization to identify how the City's actions and initiatives, including
fees and fines implemented by the City, may disproportionately impact the populations
in our community historically discriminated against and/or currently struggling
financially.
Research from many sources shows that low-income communities and communities of
color are often hit the hardest by fines, fees, and financial penalties. This potentially
makes the City a creator of inequality in conflict with our goals to advocate for equity;
a contributor towards economic disparity, not a proponent of advancing equity. In
August 2020, the City Council made equitable fine and fee reform a policy agenda high
priority. This aligns with the Council's intended outcome of an equitable community that
does not leave anyone behind by acknowledging an individual's financial situation and
the impact of unpaid fines and fees on obtaining and maintaining stable employment
and financial self-sufficiency.
As a result of this Council priority, a work group was created with the task of providing a
report with potential direction and actions. The workgroup consists of representatives
from multiple departments:
Collins Eboh, Organizational Equity Coordinator (work group lead)
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Denise Blakely-Ihrig/Chris Lester, Water Department Manager
Heather Satterly, AmeriCorps Director
Jeremy Jensen, Assistant Police Chief
Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director
Mark Dalsing, Police Chief
Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist
Maureen Quann, Assistant City Attorney
Shante Weston, Civil Rights Specialist
This report lays out the scope of the problem nationally and locally, along with some
best practices. From there, we describe:
1) the equity concern we are trying to impact;
2) the local data that has informed our thinking;
3) the community engagement we have done to date;
4) the strategies that are in process and/or recommended for the future; and
5) next steps for implementation, ensuring accountability and evaluating progress
over time.
The Scope of the Problem and Best Practices
Understanding the problem requires first understanding what is meant by "fines and
fees" and how fines and fees escalate to becoming "court debt." For our purposes,
fines are charges that are imposed based on the violation of an ordinance or statute.
These can include fines associated with, for example, nuisance ordinances, parking
violations, or criminal statutes. Fees, in contrast, are charges for services, such as
water and sanitation fees, animal licensing fees, or for reimbursement of costs
associated with failing to pay an initial fine or fee that has been assessed, such as late
fees, court costs, surcharges, collection fees, etc.
The overarching problem nationally relates to court debt, which can arise through
several channels and consists of various types of debt. Court debt can be owed in civil,
juvenile, and criminal cases, including criminal cases that have been dismissed. It
includes various types of debt —fines that have been imposed based on violations of
criminal or civil codes, restitution for victims of criminal behavior, indigent defense fees,
jail fees, surcharges, court costs, late fees, collections costs, etc. Fines and fees
escalate to court debt when enforcement through the court is necessary. There are
differences in the level of court debt associated with this escalation depending on
whether the underlying violation is civil or criminal in nature, with the total amount for
any citation being composed of multiple component parts.
A simple misdemeanor criminal citation consists of a fine, a criminal surcharge, and
court costs. For instance, a speeding citation for a person traveling 16 to 20 miles
above the speed limit in a 25 mile per hour zone will be comprised of a $120.00 fine, an
$18.00 criminal surcharge, and $55.00 court costs, resulting in a total expense of
$193.00 for a person pleading guilty or found guilty of the violation. A person cited for
2
failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle will see a $135.00 fine, a $20.25 criminal
surcharge, and $55.00 courts costs on the citation, resulting in a total expense of
$210.25. Iowa law establishes the fines, criminal surcharges, and court costs for these
scheduled violations.
Civil citations for violations of the City of Dubuque Code of Ordinances consist of a
state -established range for fines and state -established court costs. Iowa law dictates
that court costs for a civil citation are $95.00. Iowa law also determines that the fine for
a first offense civil citation may range from $0.00 to $750.00. A second offense civil
citation may range from $0.00 to $1,000.00. Cities and counties may choose the fine
sought, as long as it falls within these available ranges. A first offense civil citation for
failure to vaccinate a dog or cat for rabies carries a $750.00 fine and $95.00 court costs
if found guilty at trial. A second offense for not maintaining a building or structure in a
responsible manner under the International Property Maintenance Code carries a
$1,000.00 and $95.00 if found guilty at trial. Civil citations have higher court costs but
do not have a surcharge.
This chart shows the increase in court debt in Iowa over the past twenty years.
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The following two charts depict increases between 2017 and 2019, and show that
surcharges represent an increasing percentage of account receivable, increasing from
17% of the total accounts receivable in 2017 to 28% of the total in 2019.
3
Accounts Receivable June 30, 2014
{Dollars in miilionsj
Fines, $257
Ca
Surcharges,
$224.1
Attorney Fees,
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Accounts Receivable June 30, 2017
(Dollars in millions]
Surcharges,
7.4
Fines,
ttorney Fees,
$167.6
*Note -totals may not add up due to rounding $12i.3
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/DF/1069863.pdf
Several of the problems related to court debt can only be addressed through State
legislative and rule changes. For example:
Court costs. Once a person receives a citation, the state assesses court costs
that the City has no power to alter. Court costs for civil citations are currently $95
dollars. Court costs for simple misdemeanor criminal citations are currently $55.
Court costs are administrative costs that the City pays up front, and the court
assesses to the losing party upon completion of the matter. Court costs are
separate from and in addition to any fines that are assessed with judgments.
Scheduled fines. Many simple misdemeanor fines are scheduled fines which
means the amounts are determined by Iowa lawmakers and set forth in Iowa
Code. Consequently, the City cannot modify these fines. Many simple
misdemeanor traffic fines are scheduled fines. For example, ared-light violation
0
will cost $195 dollars (this encompasses the fine, surcharge, and $55 court
costs) because Iowa law dictates that amount.
• Community service. Iowa law determines that community service is allotted at
the same rate as the minimum wage and must be linked to the fine at hand.
Current minimum wage in Iowa is $7.25 per hour, so when assigning community
service after a charge has been filed, the rate of $7.25 per hour applies. This is
severely undervalued as compared to the national value of a volunteer hour,
which is currently $28.54. This value is used to value in -kind volunteer hour
contributions by many non-profit, school district and government entities.
• Payment plans. The minimum eligibility amount and schedule for payment plans
are also determined by state law and consequently beyond the City's control.
Iowa Code currently states that payment plans will be granted for amounts of
$300 or more, and $50 must be paid every thirty days until the amount is paid in
full. The City has no authority to modify the payment plan guidelines.
Magistrates and judges have the authority to combine separate fines and fees to
reach the minimum eligibility amount, but that is the extent of local control
regarding payment plans.
• Indigent defense fees. Under Iowa law, an indigent defendant is required to
reimburse the State for the total costs of legal assistance provided. Attorney fees
for defense historically range from $63 to $73 per hour and can total from $300
for a simple misdemeanor to $18,000 for a class A felony. See
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/IR/1050233.pdf. Additional charges
such as travel, photocopying expense, telephone expenses, postage, parking,
lodging, meals, etc. can be added on top of the hourly rate.
Concerns have been raised around the ways in which unpaid debt can interfere with
ongoing employment and financial stability. As just one example, when a resident in
Iowa has a criminal conviction of any kind and has court debt, a hold is placed on the
person's vehicle registration. If the conviction was for a vehicular crime, then the
person's driver's license is automatically suspended as well. If the crime is non -
vehicular and the person's financial state prevents them from paying the court debt, the
hold on the registration turns into a suspension when the renewal of their tags goes
unpaid. If they continue to drive — to get to work for example —they may then be
charged with driving with expired tags, a vehicular crime that leads to license
suspension. There is also anecdotal evidence from attorneys who have worked "rocket
docket" that people believe that paying the court debt is enough to reinstate their
license, which is untrue. They must also file with the DOT and pay a $30 reinstatement
fee. Depending on the amount of time that passes, they may also need to retake both
the written and driving tests.
Another concern is specific to indigent defendants. Both constitutionally and statutorily,
all court debt other than fines, surcharges, and victim restitution are to be assessed only
after it has been determined that the defendant has an ability to pay. And yet, in 2020
the State of Iowa had $177,924,445 in indigent defense debt at a collection rate of 2%.
Outstanding fines, in contrast, were at $264,643,905 at a collection rate of 18%. See
Iowa Legal Aid Comment to Proposed Rule, Iowa Department of Revenue, ARC 5272
5
(Dec. 8, 2020). In 2020, the Governor signed SF457. The bill removed jail fees from
the definition of court debt, so that delinquency in paying those fees will no longer affect
one's driver's license, registration, eligibility for expungement, etc. It also allows
agreements for payment of court debt in excess of $100 (down from $300) and permits
the judiciary to establish a lower threshold by court rule. However, the bill also made it
more difficult for defendants to get out from under court debt by proving an inability to
pay. Under this law, defendants are presumed to have the ability to pay and there is
little to no remaining oversight into court decisions regarding someone's ability to pay -
courts no longer have to provide reasons for finding that a defendant is able to pay, a
court can ascertain ability to pay before knowing the full scope of the debt, and direct
appeal of a judge's decision is available in fewer situations. See "Critics say law touted
as reforming court fines and fees will be a civil rights setback," Des Moines Register,
6/25/2020.
A third concern is with the constitutionality of the amount of debt assessed and accruing
in criminal cases that have been fully dismissed. From FY2014 through FY2019, the
Iowa Judicial Branch assessed $15 million in fully dismissed criminal cases. See Iowa
Legal Aid Comment to Proposed Rule, Iowa Department of Revenue, ARC 5272 (Dec.
8, 2020).
In 2016, the Conference of Chief Justices and State Court Administrators established
the National Task Force on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices. This group released a set
of principles in 2017 to be put into practice by courts across the nation. See
https://www.ncsc.org/ data/assets/pdf file/0016/1609/principles-fines-fees.ashx.pdf
These include a set of fundamental fairness principles related to:
o addressing the disparate impact that fines, fees, and bail practices have on the
poor and racial and ethnic minorities;
o not initiating license suspension without a determination of ability to pay and a
finding that nonpayment was willful;
o modifying fines and fees imposed based on income and ability to pay;
o insuring representation by court -appointed counsel is free of charge, stating "no
effort should be made to recoup the costs of court -appointed counsel from
indigent defendants unless there is a finding that the defendant committed fraud
in obtaining a determination of indigency."
The magnitude of the problem nationally has moved the concerns beyond a "liberal" or
"conservative" issue. Advocates for reform include the following and, despite
differences in underlying values and reasons for focusing on reform, they agree that
reform is necessary:
• Fines and Fees Justice Center
https://finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/2020/05/26/national-effort-to-reform-
harmful-fines-and-fees-announces-local-champions/
• PolicyLink https://www.policylink.org/our-work/'lust-society/fines-fees
• National League of Cities https://www.nlc.org/article/2020/10/16/how-cities-are-
transforming-fines-and-fees-to-advance-equity-and-financial-security/;
https://www.nlc.org/initiative/cities-addressing-fines-and-fees-equitably-Gaffe/
• Institute for Justice https://ij.org/case-intake/fines-and-fees/
• Texas Public Policy Institute Right on Crime
https://rightoncrime.com/category/priority-issues/pretrial-justice/
• Americans for Tax Reform https://www.atr.org/hidden-costs-fines-and-fees
• Americans for Prosperity https://americansforprosperity.org/government-fines-
and-fees-are-out-of-control/
Best practices and innovations in this arena vary across jurisdictions. The Fines and
Fees Justice Project recommends the following starting points, which have helped to
focus the efforts of our work group:
• identify what is mandatory and what is discretionary to collect;
• identify how fines and fees are collected, including the cost to collect and the
amount successfully collected;
• use community engagement to understand pain points for people most impacted
by fines and fees;
• examine the Texas statute on community service as a model — it is very broad
and includes things like completing courses to improve self, skills, and
employability;
• allow the defendant choice in deciding whether to pay a fine or choose a
community service alternative;
• establish a guideline that fees will not exceed 2% of income;
• keep the process for verifying community service simple.
The Equity Concern we are Trying to Impact
The work group's goal is to ensure equity and fairness in City policies, procedures,
fines, and fees while advancing equity for low-income communities and communities of
color. As noted in the Equitable Poverty Reduction and Prevention Plan (EPRPP)
adopted by the City Council earlier this year, "[I]ow-income families who cannot pay
their fines and fees can have their driver's licenses suspended, wages garnished, tax
refunds intercepted, and credit negatively impacted. These can have dramatic
consequences that deepen poverty, including job loss, loss of income, inability to pay
other bills, interest rate increases, and crushing debt." Theoretically everyone pays
things likes fines and restitution, but only people who are indigent/have an inability to
pay incur certain costs like indigent defense fees and jail fees that arise because of an
inability to afford their own attorney or to afford bond or bail while awaiting trial. On the
one hand, the constitution requires that everyone be provided counsel and a speedy
trial (or be released in the interim) and yet one's financial status is intricately intertwined
with the degree to which these rights are "real" in any pragmatic sense.
This income equity issue becomes a racial equity issue when we consider the following
median income data for the City of Dubuque from the 2019 American Communities
Survey 1-year estimates:
Race/Ethnicity � Median Household Income
White $56,843
7
Black or African American
$12,068
American Indian and Alaska Native
$22,614
Asian
$58,958
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
$40,417
Two or more races
$29,183
His anic or Latino of an race
$44,583
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino
$56,974
Moreover, the EPRPP goes on to note that "people of color -particularly Black
Americans —are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system and such
fees and fines make it even more difficult for them to achieve financial stability." Black
and African -American community members are likely to be particularly hard hit by the
financial repercussions of fines and fees. Finally, in discussing the degree to which
background checks are an ongoing impediment to fair housing in the Analysis of
Impediments to Fair Housing, the consultant recommended that we educate the public
on having criminal records expunged. The related equity challenge with this "solution"
is that expungement is not an option if have not paid all court costs, fees, fines, and
restitution assessed by the court. See Iowa Code 901 C.3(a)(d).
This is not to say that compliance with State and municipal codes is irrelevant, it is only
to note that fines are not an effective way of gaining compliance among people who
cannot pay —instead fines and fees in these situations push people further from an
economically sustainable life. In the meantime, the City expends tax funds in trying to
recoup money that is not there. The work group is interested in developing cost-
effective alternatives to payment that can achieve compliance while also supporting
people in moving toward financial self-sufficiency and preserving administrative time
and money.
To reach this goal, the group is focused on answering the following questions at the
local level:
• Are certain fees charged disproportionately to low income people who cannot
afford to pay?
• Are certain fees disproportionately impacting people of color?
• Are certain fees creating a major barrier to reentry?
• What is the impact of fees on revenue? Are they an effective or ineffective source
of revenue?
• What is the City spending on collections and what is the rate of success?
• Where are the opportunities for reform that will make a difference for struggling
individuals, be equitable for all populations, be fiscally feasible and within local
government control?
Local Data Reviewed
Data from Departments on City -assessed fees
Earlier this year, we surveyed departments in an attempt to answer the following
questions about municipal fines and fees:
• What is the least -collected and most -collected fee?
• Which fees bring in the most revenue?
• What's the breakdown of fees vs late fees?
• What are late fee +court costs as a percent of the initial fee? (e.g. if you're late
paying your dog license and end up paying late fee +court cost)
• Which fines and fees aren't we enforcing/following through on and why?
• What revenue numbers fluctuate the most in a 5-year history? What might that
tell us?
• Where are there outliers in the data? What does that tell us?
• What fees are turned over to collections? What is our cost for this? What
percentage of fees are collected after being sent to collections?
Overall, the responses we received did not allow us to answer most of the questions
posed with any degree of confidence. We concluded that we could not conduct an
accurate, organization -wide analysis without a consultant, along with significant
changes to our data collection and reporting process moving forward. Our
recommendations for next steps in order to do such an analysis are detailed in the
strategies section of the memo below.
The information we received, however, did allow us to identify these four high revenue
areas for further investigation:
Fee
Actual Revenue Generated FY19
Ambulance Fees
$ 1,104,932
Utility Billin Penalties
$ 295,734
Parkin
$ 281,302
Pet Licenses
$ 174,554
Of these, utility billing penalties and pet licenses have late fees associated with them.
Utility billing and ambulance fees are subject to being turned over to collections. Unpaid
parking tickets that are more than thirty days in arrears result in a hold on a person's
ability to renew their vehicle license and registration until paid. In addition, utility billing
penalties can be avoided if the customer enters into a payment plan, and ambulance
fees may be excused by the City Manager for inability to pay. While we also suspect
nuisance violations are a prime area for potential reform, we were unable to collect
meaningful cross -departmental data at this point to perform an analysis.
Recommendations for addressing data shortcomings are included in the strategies
section of the memo below.
er
Based on the results above, we decided that the best data we have to work with at the
local level currently is the data around our four highest revenue generators: utility billing,
parking tickets, ambulance services, and pet licenses. The data collection in these
areas permits us to overlay race and income by address in order to determine equity
impacts and also measure whether any interventions we pilot are successful over time.
We are not sure that ambulance fees will be a worthwhile focus area, since most
ambulance fees will be covered by insurance. Before ruling it out, however, we would
like to dig a little deeper into the data to make sure that people not covered by
insurance and/or those who experience delays in insurance payment are not being
harmed by late fees and collections fees.
As an example of where we are headed from a data analysis perspective, the following
maps were created based on aging utility billing accounts receivable in January 2021. In
the map below, median income by tract based on the most current ACS 12 month
survey data is shown along with a density analysis of accounts with past due utility
billing balances from January 2021. The red shaded areas of the map show any
statistically significant spatial clustering of customers with past due balances. It can be
observed that not only does a statistically relevant clustering of points occur, but also,
the highest saturation of points show in and closely adjacent to Census tracts 1 and 5
which are those with the lowest median income per ACS survey.
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Faculty and students at Loras College also assisted in doing some spatial mapping of
the distribution of late utility bills. They compared the spatial distribution of Utility Billing
accounts that had incurred Fees during the final months of Fall 2020 and Spring 2021.
Starting from 1000 accounts they were able to geocode 955 addresses. They then used
the 2014-2018 American Community Survey (ACS) to extract census data from
Dubuque County and its 26 census tracts. Each map compares the census tracts along
with their respective variables highlighting the gradient of values. Overlaid on top of
each census gradient map are the geocoded addresses of fined utility accounts. Below
you'll see the that greatest proportion of fined accounts are found in the census tracts
with the highest proportion of Black/African American residents, residents with higher
levels of poverty and residents with the lowest household income.
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Figure 1. Census Tracts of Black/African American households. The higher numbers and warmer colors
indicate higher numbers of Black/African American households.
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Figure 2. Census Tracts of Ratio of Income to Poverty Level. The higher number and warmer colors
indicate higher levels of poverty
12
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Figure 3. Census Tracts of Median Household Income. The higher number and warmer colors indicate
higher levels of household income.
We acknowledge this data may be somewhat skewed due to the pandemic, and that we
may need to adjust over time as families move past some of the instability of the past
year or so.
Currently, we are in the process of obtaining reports from the other three high revenue
generator categories (ambulance fees, parking tickets, and pet licenses) that will allow
us to create heat maps to examine the degree to which there are overlaps in fines and
fees owed in particular areas of town, and the demographics of families being most
impacted.
Data from State of Iowa on Court Debt and Local Data on Top Ten Charges Annually
We do not have municipal level information on court debt, so we are making informed
judgments on where to focus local criminal interventions based on a combination of
state data on court debt and local data on our top ten charges every year. We started
with state data on the amount of outstanding court debt overall. Then, we eliminated
surcharges and "other" costs leaving only court costs (which is where indigent defense
fees and jail fees are recorded). Next, we sorted the remaining debt by race in order to
identify the top ten charges within each racial group and the amount of court cost debt
represented by those charges. Finally, we compared these top ten charges with the top
ten charges locally to help narrow and inform areas for intervention.
While not an exact science by far given the data we are working with, we can see that:
• One of our top ten charges every year is for possession. Normally, this is a
secondary charge to other charges here in Dubuque. This is also one of the top
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ten charges generating court debt for four sub -populations at the State level:
Blacks, Asians/Pacific Islanders, Caucasians, and Hispanics.
• A second top ten charge locally that is within the top ten charges generating
court debt at the State level is Driving while Suspended/Revoked. This is within
the top ten types of charges generating court debt at the State level for four
subpopulations: Asians/Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and American Indians.
• A third top ten charge locally that is within the top ten charges generating court
debt at the State level is Theft. This is within the top ten types of charges
generating court debt at the State level for three subpopulations: Blacks,
Caucasians, and American Indians. Many of these charges, and the one that
falls in our local top ten, are for fifth degree theft where property taken is valued
at less than $300 and includes actions like writing bad checks.
• A fourth top ten charge locally that that is within the top ten charges generating
court debt at the State level is disorderly conduct. This is within the top ten types
of charges generating court debt at the State level for two subpopulations: Blacks
and Caucasians.
• A fifth top ten charge locally that is within the top ten charges generating court
debt at the State level is OWI. This is within the top ten types of charges
generating court debt at the State level for one subpopulation: Hispanics.
In many instances, the City is not the primary prosecutor on charges for a variety of
reasons. Some violations are covered by both a local ordinance and the State criminal
code, the latter of which permits jail time while the City can only issue a fine.
Sometimes there are multiple charges from a single incident, and keeping them
together under State prosecution is the most effective approach. Charges related to
controlled substances, OWI, and some levels of driving while suspended or revoked are
more than simple misdemeanors, which makes automatic diversion or deferred
judgment more challenging. Moreover, there are no diversion options for adults on any
of these charges, though there are options for juveniles. These considerations all
impact our recommendations below.
Community Engagement
While quantitative data can give us some potential starting points, we also sought input
from community members most likely to be impacted by excessive court debt or unable
to pay fines and fees that are accumulating. In partnership with Loras College and the
Civic Leaders program, we designed and administered a community survey that was
available to the public from April through June. The purpose of the survey was to
understand the experience of various cultural sub -groups within the city of Dubuque,
including the experience within the city and in connection with various resources (or the
lack of experience and connection with various resources), to identify quality of life
issues directly affecting the community, and to begin to take steps to address
disparities. The survey was distributed in paper to local non -profits and community
organizations, online (https://tinyurl.com/dv9ta72b), in person at governmental facilities
and directly emailed to 828 City of Dubuque Utility customers. It is estimated that this
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canvas reached thousands of residents, however, from this outreach canvasing effort,
20 survey responses were collected.
Table 1. Demographic Information of Survey Respondents
Age
18-29 — 33.3%
30-39 — 33.3%
40-49 — 27.8%
50-59 — 5%
Gender Identity
Male — 31.6%
Female — 63.2%
Prefer to Self-Identif — 5%
Race
Rather Self -Identify — 11.1
Black/African-American — 16.7%
White/Caucasian — 66.6%
Hispanic/Latino a x — 5%
Relationship
Single — 57.9%
Married — 31.6%
Divorced — 10.5%
Education
Did not graduate — 5%
Completed High School/GED — 27.8%
Some College — 27.8%
Completed Colle e — 38.9%
Employment
Employed Full -Time — 52.6%
Employed Part -Time — 26.3%
Self Employed — 5%
Unemployed — 10.5%
Supplemental Disability — 5%
Avera e Household Income
$23,108
Housing
Own — 17.6%
Housing Choice Voucher — 11.8%
Rent — 58.8%
Staying with Friend/Family — 11.8%
Children
Avera e 1.33 Children per household
Note: The Demographic data profile at times closely matches that of the City of Dubuque (Age, Gender
Identity, Education), and at others is less representative (Race, Housing, Household Income).
78.9% of respondents reported a previous municipal fine or fee including late utility bills
and traffic violations and the average fine amount reported for these fines was $83. 50%
of respondents reported that the fine amount was difficult to pay, as one respondent
reported, "If money is already tight, adding another $50 to the bill (essentially an entire
months bill), is only going to make it more difficult to catch up." 55% of respondents
reported paying court fines, fees, or costs for themselves or a loved one and the
average fine was $7,757. 55% of the individuals who were paying those fines were on a
payment plan with all paying the minimum payment of $50 per month. 77.8% reported a
number of consequences for difficulty repaying the fines and fees including, but not
15
limited to: trouble meeting daily expenses such as childcare costs, groceries,
transportation, etc.; missed monthly bills such as rent, utility bills, car payments, etc.;
stress over meeting court -ordered payments related to their case, and lowered credit
scores.
Some suggestions from survey respondents:
• "We need to replace our system of fines and fees with more structural ways of
generating revenue that doesn't disadvantage poor and working-class people."
• "They are very difficult to understand and you cannot get genuine answers from
the people who generate them. If we cannot afford the fines even when they may
be fair we definitely cannot afford a lawyer to look into the notice or the fine...We
can and should do better."
• Explain the paperwork and fees
• "Take their income and cost of living into consideration"
• "Get rid of parking meter discrimination (rich can pay it; poor cannot)"
While fewer than 50% of respondents elaborated on what the city could do, almost all
responses mention equitable changes in the distribution and assessment of fines and
fees. In terms of proposed solutions to make these equitable changes in fines and fees,
respondents mentioned ideas like raising property taxes as a different income stream to
fines and fees, working with residents and thinking about the effects that fines and fees
may have on the economy if individuals are removed from their ability to pursue
employment because of court dates, or losing access to transportation due to shifting
finances.
Moving forward, ongoing community engagement strategies will need to be included in
any pilots we develop and implement to determine the extent to which we are having
the impact we intend. One of the biggest mistakes that institutions seeking to "help"
families in poverty tend to make lies in prioritizing the judgment of professionals over the
judgment of the families experiencing poverty. The interventions most likely to succeed
will be those that are co -created between people with professional expertise and people
with lived experience expertise.
Potential Strategies for Advancing Equity
With the information we have been able to gather to date, we have identified several
potential short and long-term strategies for consideration. In general, we have premised
these strategies on the following considerations:
1) Fines and fees that are civil in nature and established by City ordinance, policy
and practice are most within our authority to revise.
2) The majority of criminal offenses will require working collaboratively with
Dubuque County and other partners.
3) Once any charge —civil or criminal —proceeds to court, our options for
intervention become more limited and costs for the resident increase due to a
variety of statutes and court rules that are beyond our authority to revise.
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Short-term strategies
Strategy #1: Consider ashort-term pilot that leverages the data we have available
related to our four highest revenue generators on the civil side to identify potential
changes in policy and practice likely to positively impact households and/or areas of
town where there is significant overlap in these unpaid fees. Specific recommendations
for next steps may include:
1) Assessing the effectiveness of each fine or fee to determine its success in
creating the desired action (for example, late fees' impact on future payment in a
timely manner).
2) Creating an ability to pay assessment that places residents in a graduated
payment plan or another type of program like community service (San Francisco
uses qualifiers like receiving Housing Choice Vouchers, and incomes that are a
certain percentage below poverty level.) Another option would be to consider
making community service choices available to everyone as alternatives to
payment.
3) Identifying the likely impact on revenues and management costs to implement.
4) Creating an implementation plan that includes a community engagement plan
and feedback loop.
Strategy #2: Develop and/or revise community engagement and/or criminal diversion
options that are targeted to positively impact subpopulations who are most negatively
impacted by the current structure. While there are several diversion and mitigation
programs in Dubuque (see Appendix A), we do not have any data readily available to us
that would allow us to conduct an equity analysis based on race or income. Specific
recommendations for next steps include:
1. Fill the position of Community Diversion &Prevention Coordinator that was
approved in the FY22 budget and focus that position on exploring pre -charge and
post -charge diversion options with both City and State prosecutors. This position
will also be tasked with developing a formal Community Service program.
Currently, the Police Chief is gathering community feedback on the position.
2. Focus criminal efforts on pre -charge diversion, working in collaboration with the
County attorney, Department of Transportation, and other entities as needed
3. Develop a structure that provides alternatives to payment for people who are
facing significant overlap in fees under strategy #1 above.
4. Catalogue current diversion and mitigation options, starting with those identified
in Appendix A, including:
a. collecting and examining data disaggregated by race to determine who is
benefitting from current diversion and mitigation options and who is not;
b. creating a more structured approach for where people are diverted
currently.
5. Determine whether modifications/additions to current diversion and mitigation
options are necessary in order to:
17
a. positively impact subpopulations likely to face court debt based on our
analysis of the overlap between our local top ten charges and the amount
of court debt for people with those charges disaggregated by race.
b. Reach and benefit subpopulations for whom the current efforts do not
appear to be effective in avoiding escalating court debt.
Strategy #3: Address the larger problem of court debt through legislative priorities and
proposed revisions to court rules in collaboration with other municipalities in Iowa, the
Metro -Coalition, and/or the Iowa League of Cities. The following steps, most of which
were included in our 2020-2021 State Legislative priorities, continue to be
recommended and are in need of more focused action:
1) Oppose efforts to further restrict or eliminate ability to pay protections. This past
session, HSB 658 was proposed and would have eliminated ability to pay
determinations across the board. A second bill, SF2374, would have made
ability to pay determinations more difficult than they already are.
2) Advocate for changes to court rules that would:
o Permit payment plans and community service for individuals who owe less
than $300;
o Allow for payment plans that are at amounts lower than $50 per month;
o Value community service hours at the same rate that other volunteer service is
valued.
3) Advocate for changes to Department of Revenue policies that would:
o exclude indigent defense fee recoupment and jail fees from the basis used to
calculate the 15% collection fee;
o develop a process for partial or full waiver of the collection fee based on
financial hardship.
Long Term Strategies
Strategy #1: Develop a consistent, cross -departmental approach to data collection.
Over the past year, the EFF team has met with departments across the City and
reviewed available data for this project. While some improvements have been made in
the collection process recently and analysis has been completed, the organization must
continue to make improvements in our "data -driven decision making" culture in order to
have the information necessary to make meaningful change. Specific recommendations
include:
1. Continue to make improvements to the way data is collected across enterprises
so that data extraction and manipulation is not such a manual process. The
rollout of the new Enterprise Resource Planning financial system has the
potential to greatly improve this process. This is a software system that will allow
us to automate and integrate several business processes.
2. Invest in a strong data governance program to establish the foundation for further
work on building a culture of data -driven decision making.
a. Seek professional development opportunities such as college courses or
webinars to develop leadership team members' ability to make data -driven
decisions. While many staff in our organization are able to produce data
sets, we can improve our analytical skills that allow us to use the data sets
to make decisions and pivot mid -program. Software tools and data sets
alone will not create adata-driven organization.
b. Build on the foundations laid by the Socrata team to establish clear data
governance policies organization -wide and in every department, including
establishment of data managers/champions.
3. At the front end of program or policy implementation, identify what customer data
will be necessary to have for program/policy analysis. This important planning
step ensures that departments won't be trying to recreate or piece together data
sets later, a burdensome process.
4. Identify standard demographic information that should be collected about
program participants and collect in a consistent format across programs and
software systems to allow for equity analysis. Where needed, assign customer
IDs so that demographic analysis can be complete without personally identifying
customers. Where collection of this data is not appropriate, equip staff with tools
and skills to us GIS-based census track data as a proxy to identify racial,
socioeconomic, or other demographic impacts geographically.
Ultimately, we hope to design strategies that could help us to identify the leading
indicators that are likely to lead to non-payment of fines and fees (i.e. loss of a job,
family health issues, etc.). If we can create a mechanism to help us identify when one
of these events happens and offer our interventions early, we may be able to prevent
things escalating to a financial crisis within a family. As COVID-19 demonstrated,
many, many people are a paycheck away from situational poverty. If we can improve
our ability to collect information that predicts the possibility of an escalating financial
crisis in a family, then intervene early before the household is in full financial crisis, we
may be able to head off cascading impacts. Taken as step further, if the interventions
we design are premised in expanding the potential for higher earnings in the family, we
may be able to foster longer term financial stability.
Strategy #2: Conduct a utility rate study
In fiscal year 2021, the City extended the monthly utility fee reduction program to water
and sewer services. Income -qualified residents are now eligible fora 50% reduction in
the base monthly water and sewer fee. In addition to the utility fee reduction program,
the Sanitary Sewer Utility has over $500,000 budgeted, in fiscal year 2022, to conduct
an Asset Management/Master Plan. This project will take a comprehensive look at the
condition of the sanitary sewer collection system components and assess future needs
of growth areas. Upon completion of the initial assessment, which is expected to take
18 months, data will be used to prioritize improvements to the sanitary collection system
to ensure the system meets the needs of the community. Any funding gaps, between
needed improvements and current funding sources, could then be addressed, through
further assessment, to ensure that system improvements are balanced with equitable
and affordable service charges for all users.
19
Currently, there is $100,000 allocated to a FY23 Capital Improvement Project to provide
funding in support of development of an equitable, affordable, and defensible water rate
analysis that will support not only operational and capital utility projects necessary to
continue the production and distribution of high quality drinking water, but will also
include assistance programs and water savings initiatives that do not take away from
operational expenses. The US Water Alliance states that "Water affordability is an
issue at both the household and utility level. The rates that utilities charge their
customers are the primary funding source for day-to-day utility operations and
investments in system improvements. Utilities need to raise rates to keep up with the
rising costs of labor and materials, and to make debt service payments on bond -
financial capital improvements...While many utilities are committed to assisting low-
income families, finding a balance between financial management of the utility and the
needs of vulnerable communities can be difficult." Conducting a rate analysis for both
water and sewer fees will ensure an equitable approach to utility management so that
both the needs of the utilities and our vulnerable population can be met.
Strategy #3: Engage Dubuque County in identifying and developing any additional
interventions to address court debt that are within municipal and county control.
Next Steps for Implementation, Accountability, and Evaluating Results
This memo is a status report and will be part of our Equity Plan Progress Report at the
City Council work session on August 2. As we continue to gather and analyze data, we
will be in a better position to determine what is most actionable and will bring forward
additional recommendations at that time.
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist
Mark Dalsing, Police Chief
Collins Eboh, Organizational Equity Coordinator
Jeremy Jensen, Assistant Police Chief
Chris Lester, Water Department Manager
Maureen Quann, Assistant City Attorney
Heather Satterly, AmeriCorps Director
Anderson Sainci, Director Office of Shared Prosperity and Neighborhood Support
Shante Weston, Civil Rights Specialist
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Attachment A: Current Mitigating Measures for Court Debt in
Dubuque
Juvenile Diversion
The City of Dubuque Police Department, its school resources officers (SROs), and the
City's partners engage in numerous diversion programs designed to assist primarily
middle school and high school juveniles from immersion in the criminal justice system.
The Juvenile Court Services (JCS) and other partners offer diversion programs in person
and online throughout the firstjudicial district. The following programs divert children from
the court process and attempt to change behavior, educate, and reform.
• Tobacco Diversion. SROs and the County Attorneys office collaborate in the
tobacco diversion program. Youths facing first offenses for underage tobacco
violations may complete a tobacco diversion course taught by the Police
Department's DARE officer and the Visiting Nurse's Association (VNA) instead of
facing criminal charges prosecuted by the County Attorneys Office. The course
explores health, financial, and other effects of tobacco use.
• Juvenile Court School Coach Diversion. JCS, the Dubuque Community School
District, and SROs work together to utilize this program. First time simple
misdemeanor offenders work with the Juvenile Court School Coach to discuss the
offense, process alternative pro -social behaviors, and assess the youth's needs.
The youth and the coach meet repeatedly as a method of diversion.
• Fight Diversion. SROs work with their respective middle schools to engage
students involved in physical conflict or conflict that may quickly evolve into
physical conflict in a fight diversion program. The program teaches and
encourages alternate methods of communication and conflict resolution. Students
who complete the program do not face criminal charges from the altercation.
• Weapons Diversion. JCS offers a weapons diversion course that involves child
and parent or guardian participation. It is offered for simple misdemeanor
concealed weapons charges, and it explores decision -making, consequences, the
dangers of real and decoy weapons, and police and civilian response to real and
decoy weapons.
• Shoplifting Diversion. JCS offers first-time youth offenders the opportunity to
participate in a course exploring the effects of shoplifting, moral reasoning, goal
setting, and future change. Parents or guardians participate with youths in the first
session.
• Alcohol Diversion. JCS partners with the Substance Abuse Services Center
(SASC) to provide an alcohol diversion program to individuals ages 18 and under
who are arrested for first-time alcohol related legal charges.
• Drug Diversion. JCS partners with SASC to offer a drug diversion program to
individuals ages 18 and under who are arrested for first-time substance abuse
21
related legal charges. Youths must participate in eight hours of programming split
over two consecutive evenings to successfully complete the program.
• Fire Safety and Prevention. JSC partners with the City of Dubuque Fire
Department (DFD) to offer this option to youths charged with reckless use of fire
charges. Through education about fire safety and prevention, JSC and the DFD
provide this this diversion alternative.
• Life Skills. Also offered by JCS throughout the first judicial district, low to medium
risk young people are given the chance to participate in two, two-hour sessions
covering law, choices, and decision making.
• Changing Lives Through Literature. Changing Lives Through Literature is a
partnership between the Carnegie -Stout Library, JCS, and the police department.
Youths complete afive-week reading, discussion, and learning process through
which they identify with characters in books, examine the characters and their own
life choices, and hopefully engage in alternative behavior moving forward.
Parental or guardian participation occurs in the initial stage. Changing Lives
Through Literature is generally targeted toward young people who have committed
simple misdemeanors and have little to no other criminal involvement.
• Restorative Strategies. Restorative Strategies is a non -punitive, community
building approach to addressing instances of harm or violations of law caused by
juveniles. Typically, police offer high school aged people who have committed
simple misdemeanors and have had little to no other criminal activity the chance
to participate in Restorative Strategies in lieu of criminal charges. The police have
partnered with the Restorative Strategies program since August 2017, and more
than fifty youths have been referred to the program as an alternative to criminal
charges.
Post -citation mitigating measures
Within the stricter confines that exist once a person receives a citation and has a case in
the court system, the City still offers options to minimize the impact on people. Some of
these examples include:
• For many simple misdemeanor moving violations, the City partners with Northeast
Iowa Community College to offer a National Safety Council approved defensive
driving course. People are eligible for the class once every six years. Completion
of the class results in dismissal of the citation. People are responsible for the cost
of class and their court costs, but this option often saves people nearly $100 and
helps with Department of Transportation consequences. If people receive
subsequent moving violations before defensive driving is offered again, other
options are available for dismissal of citations. Available options are determined
by many factors including the nature of the moving violation, the frequency of
moving violations for the driver, and the options the driver has previously used.
• For more significant moving violations like reckless driving or a first offense school
bus violation, the City offers a standard plea deal requiring six months with no
further moving violations, completion of the defensive driving course during those
22
six months, and six hours of community service at anon -profit organization located
in Dubuque. For school bus violations, this plea deal provides significant financial
savings as compared to paying the ticket, and it also allows a person to avoid the
30-day license suspension imposed by the Department of Transportation. For
people who need to drive to work, need to drive children to school or daycare, or
need to drive to other places, losing a license for thirty days has significant life
implications.
• For violations of the City's parental responsibility ordinance, the City offers
completion of the Visiting Nurse's Association's parenting class in lieu of fines. A
person is responsible for the court costs associated with the charge, but no fine is
assessed for people who successfully complete the parenting class. The class
teaches parents and guardians constructive techniques, coping strategies, and
other information designed to help parents and guardians be the best parents and
guardians possible.
• For some first offense simple misdemeanors like disorderly conduct, the City offers
a six-month probationary period. If a person receives no additional disorderly
conduct violations during that six-month probationary period, the charge is
dismissed. The person is responsible for the court costs but will avoid a simple
misdemeanor conviction.
• For first offense civil code violations like the social host ordinance, prohibited
noises, and appearing under the influence of a controlled substance in public, the
maximum fine available is $750 coupled with $95 court costs. For second
offenses, the maximum fine available is $1,000 plus $95 court costs. Although
these charges are civil, the economic impact is often higher than a criminal fine
and more than most people can bear. For first offenses, the City offers to reduce
the fine significantly to $50. If the fine reduction is accepted, the City offers
payment of the reduced fine or seven hours of community service in lieu of paying
that $50 fine. The court costs remain. For subsequent violations, the reduced
fines and community service offered double.
• For first offense rental license violations, if a person admits the violation and
complies with the required licensing and inspections, the City offers a 50% fine
reduction, lowering the fine from $750 to $375. The $95 court costs remain.
• For first offense violations of the International Property Maintenance Code, the City
typically offers a suspended fine format. The total fine is $750, but only $250 is
initially imposed. The remaining $500 fine is suspended, pending completion of
repairs by a designated date. If repairs are made, the City motions the court to
close the case. If repairs are not made, the City motions the court to impose the
remaining $500. The $95 court costs remain.
• For first offenses of the vacant or abandoned building ordinance, if a person admits
the violation and complies with the licensing requirement, the City offers a fine
reduction, lowering the fine from $750 to $100. Like all other cases, the court costs
remain.
23
This highlights many of the systems and options that currently exist as part of the
City's efforts to lesson the impact of enforcement while still attempting to modify or
deter future behavior and gain compliance with the law. Although the City has these
standard pathways, cases are evaluated on an individual basis. If the City finds valid
reason to proceed differently, it has some freedom to do so.
24
Final Report February 9, �o�i
Advancing Equity & Inclusion:5tatus Report
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1 I I I '
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City of Dubuque Intercultural and Equity Teams facilitated by Human Rights Department Staff
Report drafted by Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director
This report describes the City of Dubuque's workto advance equity, leading with race, overthe past
year. The work is ajourneythat continues to unfold in a non-linearfashion based on community needs,
community input, council policy direction, and the best available knowledge about effective practices in
racial equity, intercultural relations, and human and civil rights.
This report consists of the following segments:
1) A brief summary of zozo realities, including the global pandemic, the Black Lives Matter
movement, and our work to develop a Fair Housing Action Plan and Equitable Poverty
Prevention Plan with Public Works, LLC.
z) A reminder of ourfour equity goal areas and how they relate to City Council goals and
community equity indicators.
3) A summary of progress made by various departments as they work on department level equity
plans.
4) A set of recommendations for azozs-zoz3 Equity Plan for the City of Dubuque.
PROCESS AND CHALLENGE
Our process continues to be grounded in council policy direction, community engagement, and
ongoing learning and staff development. Community participation processes this year have heavily
informed recommendations forthe zozs-zoz3 plan. These include:
• community participation in the creation of two major planning documents: the Analysis of
Impediments to Fair Housing and the Equitable Poverty Prevention Plan.
• recommendations from community partners as part of a Black Lives Matter work session held
in July and follow-up conversations in August and September; and
• staffs ongoing relationships with the Human Rights Commission and with traditionally
underrepresented groups in the community.
Our work is also grounded in an understanding of the challenge of protecting and promoting human
rights in a representative democracy rife with human disagreement about individual freedom and
responsibility to others, or how best to ensure a minimum standard of living. These differences are
influenced by a variety of factors, including culture and individual experiences. As learning takes place
and new understandings emerge, changes in policy or law may follow.
A couple of points bear mentioning:
The Human Rights Department neither exists nor operates in a vacuum. Our work is
collaborative, cross-cultural, cross -departmental, and cross-sectoral by design. We also are at
times constrained by an existing legal and social structure.
We approach our work in ahuman-centered and developmental way. This means that we take
time for individual learning and growth, while simultaneously recognizing that accountability
for behavior change is necessary.
• Some of our interventions are at the individual level of learning and development, some are at
the institutional level of city government operations, and some are at the structural level of
interactions across institutions. All three levels play a role in creating and maintaining systemic
inequities.
• The blending of popular approaches to diversity and inclusion with an intercultural approach
and a focus on equity is innovative and this creates an organization in transition where
challenges are to be expected as we pilot, learn, and grow.
• We are very early in our work to advance racial equity using an intercultural approach and we
are experiencing the pain of being one of the trailblazers in this arena.
• We expect challenges and conflicts to continue; tackling them without abandoning our vision is
necessary to progress.
As we develop the organization and the
people serving within it, we create an
organization that is in transition.
Overall, however, we are continuing to
move towards an equitable and inclusive
culture where all people are healthy and
able to reach their potential, while simultaneously attending to any groups that are disproportionately
experiencing negative life outcomes as a result of social policies and practices.
The need to work effectively across cultural differences and the complexity of addressing historic and
current inequities requires a focus on working across sectors, effectively engaging the public in civic
affairs, and analyzing and adjusting our own City services towards more equitable outcomes. Our work
has become both more focused and more strategic as a result of certain realities that have faced us in
�o�o.
LOCAL IMPACTS: THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC, BLACK LIVES MATTER, AND THE
EQUITABLE POVERTY PREVENTION PLAN
In mid -March zozo, the City and County of Dubuque mobilized the Incident Management Team in
response to the global COVID-sg pandemic. For several months, many stafffound themselves re-
assigned toactivities focused on remediating the impact of the pandemic. While this work in itself had
a strong equityfocus, which is summarized later in this report, it did take staff awayfrom the more
proactive work set forth in department level equity plans. Much of the work this year has focused
around mitigating the impact of the pandemic on populations facing serious structural inequities in our
society. While we undoubtedly made some positive impact with our work, the reality is that the nature
and depth of the inequities in Dubuque and across the nation have made it nearly impossible to prevent
the disproportionate negative impact of the pandemic on our most vulnerable populations, including
our populations of color and, most notably, our Pacific Islander community members. At the time of
this writing, City offices remain closed to the public and many staff continue to work from home to
reduce the spread of the virus, as numbers of cases continue to climb. Current activities are focused on
preparing for vaccine distribution
In the midst of the pandemic, we experienced a resurgence nationally of public awareness and concern
about racial injustices, following several high -profile deaths of black Americans at the hands of police.
One homicide inparticular—the videotaped killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis —spurred public
outrage and actions around racial justice. Locally, community members organized marches and rallies
and held community conversations around racial justice and equity. In July, the City Council hosted a
two -evening work session called Black Lives Matter where a variety of community partners presented
their recommendations for local actions. City staff members held follow-up conversations with each of
these partners in August and September, with a particularfocus on identifying State and Federal
legislative priorities for Council consideration along with potential actions for department equity plans.
Throughout this time, the City continued its work with Public Works, LLC to conduct an Analysis of
Impediments to Fair Housing with associated recommendations, and to develop an Equitable Poverty
Prevention Plan. Both of these processes involved significant community engagement and the
recommendations were formed based on a combination of that engagement and best practices across
the country in addressing the barriers identified.
All of this has influenced the final segment of this year's report: a zoos-�o�3 equity plan that contains
several cross -departmental recommendations. These recommendations are premised in both the
disproportionate impact that the global pandemic has had on communities of color, the increasing
public support for addressing racial inequities, and the recommendations flowing from the Analysis of
Impediments and the Equitable Poverty Prevention Plan. While Human Rights staff time will focus on
several of the most significant of the projects included in the plan, departments will be encouraged to
continue work on their individual department plans and report on that progress at the end of zozi as
well.
CITY COUNCIL �035 VISION
STATEMENT
Dubuque �035 is a sustainable and
resilient city, an inclusive and
equitable community where ALL are
welcome. Dubuque �035 has
preserved our Masterpiece on the
Mississippi, has a strong diverse
economy and expanding connectivity.
Our residents experience healthy
living and active lifestyles; have
choices of quality, affordable, livable
neighborhoods; have an abundance of
diverse, fun things to do; and are
successfully and actively engaged in
the community.
CITY MISSION STATEMENT
Dubuque city government is progressive and financially sound with residents receiving value for their tax
dollars and achieving goals through partnerships. Dubuque city government's mission is to deliver
excellent municipal services that support urban living; contribute to an equitable, sustainable city; plan for
the community's future; and facilitate access to critical human services.
The City of Dubuque is dedicated to a viable, livable, and equitable community, and City staff play a key
role in contributing towards community sustainability. City staff is committed to:
• Service: We are responsive
• People: We care
• Integrity: We are honest
• Responsibility: We are accountable
• Innovation: We look for a better way
This report describes City staffs efforts during �o�o to advance inclusive and equitable service delivery
and to contribute towards the creation of a more inclusive and equitable community where life
outcomes can no longer be predicted based on the circumstances of one's birth.
4
A NOTE ABOUT DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
There is a lot of talk these days about diversity,
equity and inclusion and an equal amount of
disagreement about what these terms mean.
Reduced to its simplest form, and in the words
of Tonya Allen with the Skillman Foundation:
diversity is when we count people, inclusion is
when people count, and equity is when we can
no longer use circumstances of birth to predict
life outcomes. This report includes efforts in all
ofthese areas.
The work to be inclusive and advance equity is
life-long work that requires a focus on
individual growth and development along with
a focus on co -creating new ways of operating
that bring us closerto more equitable
outcomes. This report is a report of an ongoing
and ever-changingjourney.
CITY COUNCIL GOALS &POPULATION LEVEL INDICATORS
Each City Council goal has a relationship to one of the major quality of life areas that are commonly
considered when discussing structural racial inequities. In addition, national best practices associate
specific population level indicators with these various quality of life areas. Clarity on the indicators
helps to guide the types of strategies that might reduce inequities. The chart below summarizes these
relationships:
Council Goal
Community Equity Area
Associated Equity Indicators)
(all disaggregated by race)
Median Household Income
Robust Local Economy
Economic Wellbeing
Employment/Unemployment Rate
Vibrant Community
Criminal Justice
Youth Arrest or Conviction Rate
Adult Arrest or Conviction Rate
Livable Neighborhoods
Housing
Home Ownership
Housin Cost Burden
Vibrant Community
Health
Obesity Rate
Infant Mortality
Life Expectancy
Partnerships
Education
Pre-k readiness, grade level achievement,
high school graduation, college/career
certificate completion
Leadership &
Representation
Community support and engagement in
equity activities
Diverse Arts, Culture,
Arts, Culture &Recreation
Access to Parks and Recreational
Parks, and Recreation
Opportunities
Culturally appropriate or socially aware
pro rammin
Connected Community
Transportation
Access &Proximity to Foundational
Community Assets
Current demographic data forthe City of Dubuque is available at www.dbgdatawalk.com, as is data on
arrest rates, grade level achievement, and housing problems including cost burden. Efforts continue to
make the data surrounding these indicators publicly available through the City of Dubuque's data portal
at www.opendata.citxofdubuque.org. In general, like the rest of the nation, the City of Dubuque
experiences disparities based on race in the majority of these areas.
Important to referencing these indicators is the shared understanding that no one sector, institution, or
individual can directly and sustainability change these indicators. Rather, efforts must be collaborative
and cross-sectoral in nature. Neither is any single sector, institution, or individual exempt from
contributing if we are going to be successful. The four goal areas for our work inside the City
organization recognize that efforts at the individual, institutional and cross-sectoral levels are valuable,
with various individuals and departments contributing in different ways.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS
Interventions at the individual, institutional, and structural levels can help us advance equity.
• Individual interventions include educational opportunities to develop self-awareness regarding
cultural identity, and an understanding of the interconnectedness between people and context.
• Institutional interventions include practices and procedures that are effective in fostering inclusive
participation and contributions from a variety of people from different backgrounds.
• Structural interventions include collaboration across sectors to remove barriers and advance
policies that create a more equitable culture.
To advance equity in these areas, the City has established a set of four organizational goals. Using an
intercultural communication approach and skills, Human Rights Department staff members assist each
department in identifying the interventions that would be most appropriate for its equity plan in one or
more of four goal areas. The first three of these goals involve working at the individual and institutional
levels within City government, while the final goal involves external partnerships across sectors to begin
to address structural issues. Given the degree of disproportionality residents of color continue to
experience in major quality of life indicators, the current objectives under each goal area are focused
specifically on racial equity.
GOAL 1: ADVANCE EQUITY THROUGH WORKFORCE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
EFFORTS
In orderto insure an equitable and inclusive work environment, it is important for staff to be examining
data around the following questions:
• Who has the necessary skills forthejobs we have available?
• Who applies forthosejobs and how are they learning about the application process and openings?
• What are the civil service trends in departments using civil service exams?
• Who is and is not getting hired forthejobs?
• Who is and is not receiving development opportunities?
• Who is and is not receiving promotions?
• Who is leaving the organization and why?
• What steps will we take, within our sphere of influence, to address what we discover?
HIGHLIGHTS OF DEPARTMENT LEVEL ACCOMPLISHMENTS RELATED TO GOAL #1
Each department contributes towards turning the curve on organization workforce equity trends
through their department level equity plans related to staff development, recruitment, and retention
within the department.
STAFF KNOWLEDGE
In orderfor staff to play an active role in advancing equity, it is important to consider and address the
level of staff understanding around some key concepts. For example:
• To what extent do staff members understand individual implicit racial bias and ways to interrupt their
own bias?
• Does staff understand the importance of evaluating unintended consequences and making
adjustments to improve outcomes?
• To what degree do staff share an understanding of racial equity and the historically discriminatory
policies and procedures that continue to impact people today?
This year, staff participated in numerous learning activities related to racial equity.
• COVID-19 prevented our annual four -day
workshop. As a substitute, we encouraged City
staff to participate in virtual opportunities offered
through other entities.
• Sixteen City staff members read the book How
to be an Anti -Racist by Ibram Kendi while
participating in the four -week online course Hard
Conversations: Whiteness, Race, and Social Justice.
• Sixty-three City staff members attended the
virtual Race in the Heartland conference.
7
• Eighty-three staff members completed the virtual zs-Day Equity Challenge as part of the City's
Fall Wellness Challenge.
• All City staff from Planning, Human Rights, Police, Housing, and the City Manager's office
completed a workshop that included a
presentation on implicit bias, a presentation
on redlining, and anhour-long poverty
simulation activity.
Five City staff completed foundational racial
equity training offered virtuallythrough the
Government Alliance on Race and Equity
(GARE), and a variety of staff attended or
viewed GARE meetings and webinars on
racial equitytopics.
• Staff in the City Manager's office completed virtual training and practice on bias interruption
and how to respond to residents using "code," rude phrases, tones, micro -aggressions, or
overtly racist speech.
• Library staff completed training on Trauma Informed Care and training on serving homeless
populations.
• Budget and Finance Department staff created
and implemented a training session on budgeting
for equity, while Human Rights staff hosted office
hours on Fridays during the budget submission
process to assist staff in answering the equity
questions associated with Capital and Operating
improvement packages.
• Human Rights staff presented "Culture
Creator" segments on a variety of racial equity
topics as part of weekly all -employee calls.
................................................................
STAFF SKILLS AND TOOLS
In orderfor staff to be proficient in applying a racial equity lens to their work, they need to have the
skills and tools to do this well, along with the support of other internal facing departments. For
example:
• Are staff members building equitable and inclusive relationships with communities of color so that they
may engage in effective ways?
• Do staff members have the tools to actively analyze data disaggregated by race to determine who is
and is not benefitting from current ways of operating?
• Are staff members able to recognize biases inherent in commonly accepted narratives and expand the
narrative to include additional ways of seeing the world?
This year, internal facing departments continued to provide equity -related tools to support staff across
the institution. Most notably, the Public Information Office, Media Services, and GIS provided several
helpful tools.
• They developed an equity plan focused on assisting departments with inclusive language and
imagery while improve accessibility, distribution, and transparency.
• The developed a set of Communication Equity Guidelines along with the Communication Team.
These tools, when applied by staff throughout the organization, have the potential to advance
racial and economic equity by improving access and understanding of City information, programs,
and services.
• They assisted in developing the City of Dubuque Budgeting Web Map, which identifies CDBG,
Urban Renewal, and Urban Revitalization districts and includes census tract and demographic data.
The map is a key tool in helping departments examine who is benefitting and or not benefitting
from budget decisions that impact various areas.
• They replicated a Dubuque redlining map and developed comparison maps for use in Fair Housing
training. The maps provided a visual of the long-lasting impacts of systemic racism and classism in
our community. GIS staff continue to assist in developing an online story map to address the history
and current status of racial and economic inequities.
• Media services continues to live stream all City Council meetings through facebook, and nearly all
videos produced now include closed captioning. This is more inclusive forthe deaf and hard of
hearing population, thought it can also assist English language learners with comprehension and
retention.
ADJUSTMENTS IN RECRUITMENT PRACTICES
• A consistent recruitment structure has been developed and implemented, an Employee Handbook
created, and a full review and revision ofpre-employment processes undertaken consistent with
equity best practices, including elimination of credit checks on prospective employees.
• Unnecessarily including positions in civil service, which requires written tests, was determined to be
a barrierto a qualified and diverse applicant pool. Positions have been re-evaluated in accord with
current legal standards, with several positions removed from the civil service testing requirements.
• The Fire Department is including women and people of color on their interview panels.
• The Police Department's Community Resource Officerfeeder program continues to reap results,
with 63% of the CROs, most of whom are women and/or people of color, going on to be hired by
the department.
• National data and feedback from applicants who have declined positions indicate that low-income
communities and communities of color are less likely to engage in AmeriCorps service due to low
living allowances equivalent to minimum wage. This removes from our pool many applicants with
the lived experiences that are valuable to a successful program. Consequently, we have increased
the living allowance to an amount equivalent to �9.6o an hour.
ADJUSTMENTS IN RETENTION PRACTICES
• Based on a model in the Police Department, Human Resources developed and implemented a peer
support program. Peer counselors reached out to all staff following the murder of George Floyd to
provide support, recognizing the racial trauma that the incident was likely to activate in employees.
GOAL �: ADVANCE EQUITY THROUGH GRANT, CONTRACT, AND PURCHASED
SERVICES AGREEMENTS
Each year, the City of Dubuque budgets nearly �3,000,00o to be paid to a variety of grant, contract, and
purchased services partners focused on economic development, housing, health, and social and human
services. The budgeted amount also includes funds allocated for Arts &Culture, Neighborhood,
Community Development Block Grant and Sustainability grant programs.
In orderfor our grant and contract partners to be proficient in helping us to advance equity and
inclusion in our community, it is important to have conversations with our partners around the
following:
• What is the level of partners' understanding of implicit bias, historical discrimination, unintended
consequences, and racial equity?
• Which of our partners have racial equity plans?
Who is contributing towards the City's racial equity goals and how are they measuring and
reporting their contribution?
It also is important to know:
• Who does and does not apply for City funding opportunities and how do they become aware of the
process for applying?
• Who does and does not receive Cityfunding?
• Who is and is not situated to be competitive for Cityfunding opportunities?
HIGHLIGHTS OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS RELATED TO GOAL �
Partners receiving funding reported the following changes inpolicy/practice designed to remove
barriers and/or improve awareness, access, or participation during FYzo:
• Arts &Culture:
o so of 1g Arts &Culture organizations receiving FY�1 Operating Support Grantees,
representing 79.1% of the total funding awarded for FYzs, provided information on their
equity activities. Of these so organizations, g drafted and released solidarity /equity
commitment statements this year; 8 were adopted bytheir boards. Those statements are
available via websites &social media channels, and have been published to members /
listservs via email newsletters. In addition, 9 regularly participate in weekly Arts &Culture
virtual check -ins held by the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs; topics of the weekly check-
insalternate between COVID-19 impacts and equity/social justice work in the arts.
so
0 14 of the 1g FY�i Arts Operating Support grantees operate within or offertheir primary
programming in CDBG target areas.
o In April/May zozo, Bell TowerTheater reviewed and adjusted all staff and board policies
using an equity lens.
o Dubuque County Historical Society has developed a io-employee Diversity, Equity,
Accessibility, Inclusion working group tasked with developing an actionable strategy.
o Several Arts organizations have set goals towards diversification oftheir boards; board
recruitment is being attempted but difficult due to COVID-ig.
o Although COVID-1g has limited access to programs, Arts organizations have pivoted to
continue offerings and activities through virtual and streaming options creating hundreds
of hours of creativity and inspirational content that is available online at no cost.
• Employment:
o Four Mounds expanded programming to serve adults with barriers to employment.
o Fountain of Youth hosted a Wednesday night trauma group, brought community leaders
togetherto meet with populations re-entering from incarceration, and shifted the Partners
in Change program to phone and on-line in orderto continue during the pandemic.
• Housing:
o Community Solutions of Eastern Iowa hired a translator and printed documents in Spanish
to remove language barrier.
• Education:
o Four Oaks started "Stand Up," a diversity and inclusion committee and committed to hiring
a diversity and inclusion director.
o Riverview Center hosts monthly diversity, equity and inclusion trainings and expanded their
intake system.
• Transportation:
o Dubuque Dream Center provided transportation to all students to remove this participation
barrier.
o Riverview Center relocated to Elm Street for increased ease of access to services.
Partners reported the following people served through their programs in FYzo:
• Housing
o Community Solutions of Eastern Iowa served 66 White, 1 White Hispanic,lg Black/African
American, zBlack/African American and White, 3Mniti-Racial
o Opening Doors served 5 White, i White Hispanic, 3 Black/African American, iBlack/African
American and White
• Education:
o Dubuque Dream Center served 3o white, 5 White Hispanic, z Black Hispanic, i5o
Black/African American, and so Pacific Islanders
o St. Mark Youth Enrichment served 56 White, z White Hispanic, i3 Black/African American,
8 Black/African American and White, iBlack/African American and White and Hispanic, i
Asian, 5Mniti-Racial
o Four Oaks served 8 White and ZMulti-Racial
si
12
Employment:
o Four Mounds served 13 White, 1 Black/African American and White,lMniti-Racial
o Fountain of Youth served 17 White,l4 Black/African American, 1 Asian
o Dubuque Main Street contributed �7,8g6 in supporting a remodel of Fountain of Youth
office space and �3,961 for a new entrance at Adobo's restaurant.
• Miscellaneous:
o Washington Tool Library served 19z White, 9 Black/African American, zBlack/African
American and White, 3 American Indian, 7 Asian, z Pacific Islander.
o Riverview Center served 39 White, z White Hispanic, 3 Black/African American,l American
Indian, iMulti-Racial
o Lutheran Services of Iowa served iz White, zBlack/African American, zBlack/African
American and White
o Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, through DubuqueWorks, provided funding to
the Dubuque Dream Center, Fountain of Youth, and the Race Forward Conference.
Partners reported the following outcomes during FYzo (note that most partners are not yet
disaggregating their data based on race):
• Transportation:
o DuRide provided 9,9oz rides to z99 disabled or elderly community members.
GOAL 3: ADVANCE EQUITY THROUGH SERVICE DELIVERY AND COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT
In orderto ensure our services are being delivered in an equitable manner and the community is
equitably engaged with government, it is important to consider and address:
• Who is and is not accessing or using City services or programs and why?
• Who is and is not better off as a result of programs and services we offer and why?
• Who is experiencing barriers to accessing and/or using our programs and services and why?
• Who might be experiencing language or cultural barriers to accessing and/or using our programs
and services and why?
• Are the ways in which we are operating programs or services creating barriers and are there
alternative ways of operating?
• What assumptions by staff or by community members maybe preventing access and/or use of City
services or programs?
It is also important to considerthe ways in which we are conducting outreach and engaging with the
public.
• Who is and is not aware of our services and engagement opportunities and why?
• Who does and does not participate and why?
• Who applies to serve on our boards and commissions, who is appointed and why?
• How do they know when positions on boards and commissions are available?
• Who remains engaged with the City organization and who disengages?
13
HIGHLIGHTS OF DEPARTMENT LEVEL ACCOMPLISHMENTS RELATED TO GOAL 3
Each department plays a role in ensuring that their programs, services, and ways of doing business are
equitably available to all residents in our community and to examine who is and is not benefitting from
the services we provide. This requires engaging the communities most impacted in determining what
adjustments, if any, are needed to improve equity in the availability/ accessibility, affordability, and
usage of City programs and services. To date, most adjustments are being made based on anecdotal
evidence of best practices nationally ratherthan based upon the intentional application ofthe equity
toolkit with localized data and community input.
..................................................................................................................................................................................
ADJUSTMENTS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO CITY PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
• The Budget Balancing Act budget simulation and Taxpayer Receipt are now available in Spanish
and Marshallese.
• The City runs a free background check for housing providers on prospective tenants. As part of this,
the City had been providing arrest records in addition to conviction records. The Analysis of
Impediments to Fair Housing found this likely to be interfering with fair housing, and guidance from
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development cautions against relying on arrest records
in making rental decisions due to bias and disparities in arrests by race. At across -departmental
training session, staff examined the documents that housing providers receive and most people —
including police officers —were unable to read them correctly. Records staff reported the numbers
of questions they received and how it raised concerns about misinterpretation ofthe information.
As of October zozo, the City will no longer include arrest records in the background checks
provided to housing providers. Taking additional steps toward analyzing the results of background
checks for disparate impact is not planned at this time due to staff time and money that would be
needed to develop a data collection system for housing providers.
• The Library implemented a fine and fee forgiveness program with the following amounts forgiven
by ward:
Ward
Forgiveness Total
$75,014.93
$12,575.76
_$15,607.50�
$31,470.46
$30,137.02
I
1
2
3
4
Highest rates of forgiveness were in wards 3 and 4, which encompass the downtown core and have
the highest rates of poverty and racial diversity.
ADJUSTMENTS TO IMPROVE USAGE OF CITY PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
• 30% of all library programs offered in the past yearfocused on inclusivity, defined as programs that
feature various ethnicities, races, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, and
individual abilities.
�4
ADJUSTMENTS TO IMPROVE EVALUATION OF PROGRAM/SERVICE IMPACTS ON EQUITY
• Upon discovering that a single block had i�o
"quality of life" requests for service in atwo-year
period, the Housing Department looked more
closely at who was being negatively impacted.
They discovered the areas was 30%residents of
color. Rather than continue with traditional
enforcement methods, eight members of the
Department's community engagement team spent
a day in August �019 knocking on doors to engage
with residents, assess needs, and gather input on
solutions, picking up garbage in the neighborhood � �
as they walked. In the year since that engagement, "quality of life" complaints in that block
decreased to a total of �� complaints. There were also renovations and investments totaling nearly
�300,00o in three of the properties where large percentages of the complaints were originating.
• Creation of a heat map exposed that no Housing Choice Voucher holders are living in the Carver
school district and only one is living in the Eisenhower district, highlighting the connection between
housing and education. The Housing Department has envisioned several ways that mapping could
assist with evaluating the equity impacts of their work.
ACTIVITIES TO ENGAGE WITH RESIDENTS MOST IMPACTED BY INEQUITIES
The Economic Development Department adjusted the STEP UP partnership with Fountain of
Youth, and also began building relationships with black business owners in Dubuque.
• COVID-i9 presented
numerous challenges in
emergency management,
particularly with respect
to reaching English
Language Learners. Staff
were aware that our
Marshallese community
members have a high
incidence ofpre-existing
conditions and often live
multi-generationally in
close quarters. Human
Rights, Housing, Public Information, and Crescent Community Health Center worked closely with
community leaders in the Marshallese community and the Incident Management Team to translate
and share information, encourage testing, establish a quarantine shelter, and encourage infected
community members to willingly relocate to that shelter. Unfortunately, disparities in this
community still played out as we feared, though we likely saved some lives with our efforts.
i5
The Planning Service Department developed a
process to invite and include Native American
tribes and nations in the development of a
Protection Plan forthe mounds at the Four
Mounds site. Input was collected from Tribal
Representatives from six different tribes and
nations, significantly changing the design and
outcome of the physical plans forthe site helping
find solutions for both continued use and new
protection. The group also helped define the
need for development of an Inadvertent Discovery
Plan and Guiding Principles for Education and
Protection.
• The City Council hosted a work session overtwo evenings in July entitled Black Lives Matter.
Through this work session and follow-up conversations in August and September, community
partners presented numerous requests for action around racial equity. These recommendations
form the basis for many of the zozs Racial Equity Plan items at the end of this report.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT THROUGH BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS
One of the primary ways that residents obtain a voice in City government is through serving on City
Boards and Commissions. Ensuring that members are representative of the various constituencies
across our community is crucial. Data is updated and made available on the City's Open Performance
site at https://dubuque-performance.data.socrata.com/stat/goals/geaa-kz4s/4�gt8a/gcia-ii6e.
This year, the Clerk's office expanded the number of people receiving notification of Board and
Commission openings, and also began to develop an exit interview survey to assist with determining
where improvements might be made to better engage residents through their commission service.
GOAL 4: ADVANCE EQUITY THROUGH COLLECTIVE IMPACT PARTNERSHIPS
The City of Dubuque's Comprehensive Plan, Imagine Dubuque �037: A Call to Action, was adopted in
�017 following broad community outreach that made extensive use of both traditional methods and
technology to expand public participation in planning. Imagine Dubuque produced overiz,5oo ideas
from 6,00o people representing all sectors of Dubuque. Approximately �,000 or 33%elected to share
demographic details. Participation was generally reflective of Dubuque's demographics in terms of
gender, age, race and ethnicity. A commitment to equity is part of the plan's foundation.
Collective Impact Partnerships are cross -sector efforts designed to address disparities in major quality
of life areas. Current initiatives include the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, Re -Engage Dubuque,
the Dubuque College Access Network, and Opportunity Dubuque. The My Brother's Keeper Network
collaborates with these initiatives to insure continued disaggregation of data and a race explicit (not
race exclusive) approach. The Mayor and City Council have specifically prioritized partnership with the
Fountain of Youth, the Dubuque Dream Center, and the Four Mounds H.E.A.R.T. program.
For our community to address systemic inequities, it is important to consider and address:
�:
• What is the employment rate and median income for various populations in our community?
• How are youth of various backgrounds doing in achieving at grade level in school? In graduating
high school? In finding a career or attending college?
• Which populations have the highest levels of housing cost burden?
• How do home ownership rates vary across groups?
• Who is and is not likely to find themselves involved in the criminal justice system, and what are the
opportunities for second chances?
• How do health outcomes, particularly for preventable diseases, differ amongst populations? How
does this effect life expectancy?
• Who is and is not benefitting from the various partnerships and efforts designed to expand access
and opportunity?
• Who is experiencing barriers to accessing and/or using community opportunities? Which barriers
maybe language or cultural barriers?
• Are the ways in which we are operating creating barriers and are there alternative ways of
operating?
• What assumptions maybe preventing access and/or use of community opportunities?
KEY PARTNERS
Overthe years, several efforts such as Opportunity Dubuque, the Campaign for Grade Level Reading,
Re -Engage Dubuque, and the Dubuque College Access Network have collectively contributed towards
advancing equity in education and employment. Similarly, the Pacific Islander Health Project has had
an impact on advancing health equity with this population. Key partners in these efforts have included
the Dubuque Community School District, the Dubuque Chamber of Commerce, Northeast Iowa
Community College, and several recipients of City funding including the Greater Dubuque
Development Corporation, Dubuque Main Street, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque,
Crescent Community Health Center, and several of our local non-profit organizations.
The work of the Inclusive Dubuque Network also is worthy of mention, as that group includes
representatives from every major sector in the community, from faith communities to private business
to K-1z and higher education. The group is responsible for community education in the form of its Best
Practices in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program. Inclusive Dubuque also is home to the Business
Leader Equity Cohort, which includes executive representatives from American Trust, Dupaco
Community Credit Union, Crescent Electric, Kendall Hunt Publishing, Conlon Construction, John Deere
DubuqueWorks, Prudential Retirement, Alliant Energy, O'Connor and Thomas, Black Hills Energy, IBM,
Medical Associates, O-Casino, McGraw-Hill, Lime Rock Springs, Northeast Iowa Community College,
Dubuque Community School District, and Greater Dubuque Development Corporation. As primary
leaders supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within their organizations, the cohort has
been focused on deepening their knowledge of systemic challenges people in their organizations and
the community face and has identified initial project for impacting both their own organizations and
the broader business community.
The engagement of local financial institutions, who are heavily represented on the True North Board of
Directors, similarly is crucial to ensuring that families of color have access to the loans and capital
17
needed for home ownership, transportation, small business development, and ongoing education.
Moreover, people need to be banked to build credit and avoid predatory lenders. Opportunities to
further engage these institutions should be a priority in the coming year.
EQUITABLE POVERTY PREVENTION PLAN
This year, the Planning Services Department, along with a steering committee with representatives
from various sectors, worked with a consultant to develop an Equitable Poverty Prevention Plan. This
plan describes eight determinants of poverty and calls for a more coordinated community response to
Traruportonon
Puhl� TransR
car'OwncrsHp
address those determinants. The
results of this process, coupled with
community partner suggestions
obtained through the Black Lives
Matter work session and associated
conversations, form the basis for the
�o�s-�o�3 Equity Plan discussed
below. At the time of this writing, the
final plan has not yet been presented to
Council for adoption. As part of the
process, however, Public Works, LLC
presented draft recommendations for
community and council feedback and a
variety of those have been included in
the �o�s-�3 equity plan.
WHERE WE ARE GOING —RECOMMENDATIONS FOR zozs-zoz3
Now that the majority of departments have been through aself-assessment process and are beginning
to develop their equity plans, we will be shifting ourfocus to supporting efforts that normalize
conversations around race and equity throughout the organization and that operationalize the
application of an equity tool to specific programs, policies and practices. Common themes Human
Rights Department staff identified when meeting with departments on their equity plans are:
• differences in staff understanding and skills related to equity and inclusion, along with
uncertainty regarding where staff/departments are operating developmentally along the
intercultural development continuum;
• uncertainty regarding how to check for implicit bias in individual behaviors and in institutional
practices;
• the need fortwo-way mentorship where people are learning from one another;
• limited clarity and detail in equity plans, including a lack of specific goals, timelines, and
responsibilities;
• limited use of both qualitative and quantitative data to measure who is benefitting from our
services, who is being burdened, and whether or not any adjustments we make are effective;
• failure to systematize effective equity actions (i.e., continuation is dependent on the interest
and actions of a committed individual ratherthan part of how we do business);
• a need for a shared set of equity data sources that relate to major cross -departmental services,
have been strategically determined, are easily accessible, and are kept up to date.
Our goal continues to be to work towards having a minimum of two staff in each department who are
well-grounded inequity concepts and are working to apply an equity lens within the work of their
department. Ideally, one person will be a facilitator who can bring activities to staff meetings and
provide ongoing, department relevant development for staff and a second person will be responsible
fortracking progress on the department's equity plan. Given the hierarchical nature of our culture, it is
also crucial that department managers have a clear vision they can articulate to their staff regarding the
department's role in advancing equity.
PROPOSED CITY OF DUBUQUE EQUITY PLAN FOR �o�i-�o�3:
The attached chart contains a proposed equity plan forthe organization for zozi-zoz3. For each
project, it identifies the community inequity it is designed to contribute toward addressing, the cross-
departmentalteam members, the responsible department for reporting purposes, and whetherthere
are any associated improvement packages in the FYzz budget. It contains space to add specific
actions, timelines, and performance measures which will need to be determined by the relevant team
members. While departments may continue with additional action items as laid out in their specific
department level plans, it is proposed that these cross -departmental efforts be the primary focus of
Human Rights stafftime overthe coming year.
The Human Rights Department is proposing that departments report quarterly on their progress on
each of the items in the plan, with a focus on the following questions:
• What is the community indicatoryou are seeking to impact?
• What is your equity analysis of this indicator?
• Why does addressing this indicator matter?
• Why is there racial disparity in this indicator?
• What calls to action from Black Lives Matter or other community groups are linked to this
indicator?
• What will you do about it? Do your actions relate to other community initiatives that are
currently underway to address this disparity?
• How are you involving the community members most impacted?
• How are you measuring the impact of the work you do?
Once this proposed plan is approved, Human Rights staff will share it with relevant departments and lay
out the expectations forfilling in the plan with details and timelines, along with requirements for
reporting. It is also worth noting that there is related work that needs attention within our organization
in orderfor us to be effective in measuring the impacts of our work. Actions underway that will improve
our ability to report outcomes overtime include:
• the workthat is planned in Human Resources related to improved use of Neogov;
• efforts to populate the data in our open data portal and improved access to data in a usable
format;
• skill building around qualitative and quantitative data analysis, along with data
• efforts to align department performance measures with the open performance portal, and
• the work of the High Performing Government teams.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A COLLECTIVE EFFORT
As departments develop and implement equity plans and learn from communities most impacted,
there is increasing recognition of the magnitude of the issues facing our communities and the
importance of doing more. At the same time, departments are holding up what is going well and
sharing those examples with other departments.
Much remains to be done in terms of being able to show outcomes and evaluate efforts so that we are
continually learning and improving in our work. There continues to be a need for all departments to be
equally active. Ultimately, we are seeing some progress in what we acknowledge to belong -term,
ongoing work. Across all departments and throughout the community we must continue to ask who
else is and is not benefitting from all our organization and community have to offer and what might we
address next.
�o
Organization Goal 1: Advance Equity Through City Workforce Recruitment, Training, Tools, and Retention
Strategy iA: Develop shared understanding and normalize conversations around race and equity among City employees and partners
receiving City funds
Responsible Departments: Human Rights, CMO, ED, Housing, Human Resources, Facilitation Team
Community Key Actions &Timeline Project Performance Related FY�� Origination: Plan
Equity Area: Coordination & Measures Budget Items with Community
Education Reporting (disaggregated by Engagement
race)
Project
DEI &ICC Workshops
Human Rights
#/%of workforce
contributes
ICC &Equity employee orientation: Apr
and partner
towards:
and Nov zs
participants
increased
32-hour workshop: Novzi
Annual Equity Workshop: Oct zi
#/%with improved
community
understanding DE I,
leadership of
ICC concepts; #//o
equity
takin action
activities
GIS Story-Mappin
Human Ri hts
N/A
Budgeting for Equity
Budget/Finance
#/%equity
Score and identify priority FYzz items:
projects funded
12/2o
Outcomes of
Review and make adjustments to
projects funded
process: 6/�1
Training: 8/zs
Office hours: so/zs
Score and identify priority FYz3 items:
1z/zs
Organization Goal is Advance Equity Through City Workforce Recruitment, Training, Tools, and Retention
Strategy iB: Develop Intentional Network and Pipeline to City Employment
Responsible Departments: En ineerin ,Public Works, Water, WRRC, Fire, Human Resources, Human Ri hts
Community
Key Actions &Timeline
Project
Performance
Related FY��
Origination: Plan
Equity Area:
Coordination &
Measures
Budget Items
with Community
Economic
Reporting
(disaggregated by
Engagement
Wellbeing
race)
Project
Pilot Civic Infrastructure Track FYzz
Human Rights
#students
Equity Job
Black Lives Matter:
contributes
Identify racial equity issue: 6/�1
expressing career
Training Intern
Black Men
towards
Review data on outcomes by race: 6/�1
interest, by
(Engineering);
Coalition
addressing:
Develop plan with community/student
demographics
Youth
Employment
engagement: ?/zi
Implement plan: 8/zi
#students
AmeriCorps
Rate
disparities
Evaluate outcomes and adjust: iz/zi
completing, by
Program
Employee
Work Session update: i/zz
demographics
(Engineering)
Youth
AmeriCorps
Coordinator and
Funding Package
(Leisure
Services)
Evaluation Options for Organization
Human
wide plan — FY23
Resources
Organization Goal 3: Advance Equity Through City Services and Community Engagement
Strategy 3A: Support Development and Expansion of Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises
Responsible Departments: ED, Finance &Bud et, Human Ri hts, Le al
Community
Key Actions &Timeline
Project
Performance
Related FYzz
Origination: Plan
Equity Area:
Coordination &
Measures
Budget Items
with Community
Economic
Reporting
(disaggregated by
Engagement
Wellbein
race)
Project
MBE support
Human Rights
TBD by project
Minority Owned
Black Lives Matter:
contributes
Identify racial equity issue:l/zs
team
Business
NAACP;
towards
Review data on outcomes by race: i/zi
Microloan
Multicultural
addressing:
Develop plan with community
Initiative
Family Center
Median
engagement:5/zi
(Economic
Income
Implement plan: 6/zi-9/zi
Development)
disparities
Work Session update: 7/zi
Evaluate outcomes and ad�ust: io/zs
Vendors and Procurement
Finance/Budget
TBD by project
Identify racial equity issue: TBD
Review data on outcomes by race: TBD
team
Develop plan with community
engagement: TBD
• Work with Legal on minority
impact analysis sheet and
contract requirements
• Work on service contract bid
requirements (housing) that
discourage small contractors
Implement plan: TBD
Evaluate outcomes and ad�ust: TBD
Organization Goal 3: Advance Equity Through City Services and Community En a ement
Strategy 3B: Implement list Century Policing Efforts
Responsible Departments: PD, Human Resource, CMO/Nei hborhood Development; Le al, Human Ri hts
Community
Key Actions &Timeline
Project
Performance
Related FYzz
Origination: Plan
Equity Area:
Coordination &
Measures
Budget Items
with Community
Criminal
Reporting
(disaggregated by
Engagement
Justice
race)
Project
SRO Review
Human Rights
# of students
Black Lives Matter:
contributes
Identify racial equity issues: z/zs
diverted from
Switching Places
towards
Review data on outcomes by race: z/zi
criminal justice
Foundation;
addressing:
Develop plan for committee
system, by
NAACP
Youth arrest
recommendations toinclude proposed
demographics
Equitable Poverty
rate disparities
committee members; current and
Prevention Plan
additional data, community
engagement through parent/student
focus groups, best practice models,
timeline for developing recs: 3/zi
DCSD/Chief approval ofplan: 3/zi
Implement plan and develop
recommendations: 4/zi-6/zi
Review recommendations with City
Manager &Superintendent: 6/zi
Establish metrics to track overtime:
5/zi-6/zi
Share with BLM partners; Work Session
update: 7/zi
Implement recommendations: 8/zi
Evaluate outcomes and ad�ust: 5/zz
Project
Diversion
Police
# of individuals
Community
Equitable Poverty
contributes
Submit budget: sz/zo
diverted from
Diversion &
Prevention Plan
towards
If funded: Design position: 5/zs
criminaljustice
Prevention
addressing:
Design initial work plan: 5/zs
system
Coordinator
Youth and
Fill position: 7/zi
(Police)
adult
conviction rate
disparities
Create working group with GO staff,
CEC, COPS, Neigh. Dev: 7/zs
If not funded, regroup and revise: 4/�1
Firefighter Critical Incident Training
(Brain Health): 3/zs
Project
Use of Force and PEWS analysis
Police
TBD by Project
Black Lives Matter:
contributes
PEWS and Use of Force data — include in
Team
NAACP
towards
annual report and review with DCPRC:
addressing:
6/21
Equitable Poverty
Youth
Prevention Plan
and
adult arrest
DCPRC
Human Rights
#/% of complaints
Black Lives Matter:
rate disparities
Meet with NAACP on process: iz/zo
resolved to
NAACP
Discuss Next Steps for Justice items
satisfaction of
with DCPRC, identify pros/cons: sz/zo
parties, by
Review best practices and compare with
demographics
pros/cons identified by DCPRC: 3/zs
#/% of policies
Address any legal limitations related to
reviewed, revised,
proposals: 4/zs
and approved by
Identify points of agreement and
DCPRC
disagreement and make
recommendations to City Manager and
Chair of NAACP: 6/zi
Review PEWS and Use of Force data
with DCPRC: 6/zl
Work Session Update: 7/zi
Request DCPRC assistance/bias
interruption related to "neighbor
profilin "concerns: 6/�1
Organization Goal 3: Advance Equity Through City Services and Community En a ement
Strategy 3C: Equitable Fine and Fee Reform
Responsible Departments: Health, City Attorney, Human Ri hts, Police, Public Works, Finance/Bud et, Water, Fire
Community
Key Actions &Timeline
Project
Performance
Related FY��
Origination: Plan
Equity Area:
Coordination &
Measures
Budget Items
with Community
Economic
Reporting
(disaggregated by
Engagement
Wellbein
race)
Project
Civil Fines and Fees Pilot
Human Rights
TBD by project
AmeriCorps
contributes
Submit legislative proposals: si/zo
team
Community
towards
Submit budget items:ll/zo
Outreach
addressing:
Community survey and focus groups:
Coordinator
median
3/zl
(Leisure
income
Complete data gathering and analysis:
Services)
disparities
4/21
Identify racial equity issue/review data
Consultant for
on outcomes by race: 5/�i
Equitable Fines &
Identify potential pilot program and
Fees Assessment
policy changes: 7/�i
(Human Rights)
Initiate pilot program: g/�i
Implement work with consultant &
ad�ust pro�ect if funded: so/�1
Criminal Fines &Fees
Police &City
TBD by project
Community
Equitable Poverty
Request data from State:ll/�o
Attorney
team
Diversion &
Prevention Plan
Complete data gathering and analysis:
Prevention
5/21
Coordinator
Coordinate with County attorney and
(Police)
identify racial equity issue/review data
on outcomes by race: 7/zs
Community survey &focus groups:
so/zs
Develop proposals and policy changes
for bud et: si/zl
Organization Goal 3: Advance Equity Through City Services and Community En a ement
Strategy 3D: Advocate for State and Federal Legislative Priorities to Advance Racial Equity
Community
Key Actions &Timeline
Project
Performance
Related FYzz
Origination: Plan
Equity Area:
Coordination &
Measures
Budget Items
with Community
Multiple
Reporting
(disaggregated by
Engagement
race)
Project
State: decriminalize marijuana;
City Manager's
Success rate
Black Lives Matter:
contributes
mandatory minimum reform: iz/zo
Office (Metro
NAACP
towards
Federal: mandatory minimum reform;
Coalition; IA
Analysis of
addressing:
ex -offender re-entry support: iz/zo
League of
Impediments
Youth/adult
Cities)
arrest and
conviction rate
disparities
Project
State: predatory mobile home parks;
Black Lives Matter:
contributes
SOI pre-emption: sz/zo
Friends of Fair
towards
Federal: fully fund HCV: iz/zo
Housing
addressing:
Analysis of
housing cost
Impediments
burden
disparities
Project
State: adequate funding for ed;
Black Lives Matter:
contributes
substitute teaching requirements: sz/zo
NAACP
towards
Federal: public school funding sz/zo
addressing:
Grade Level
Achievement;
HS
Graduation;
post HS
completion
disparities
Project
State: Funding for 14-�4 y.o.
Black Lives Matter:
contributes
employment; funding for small bus.
Black Men
towards
dev.: i�/�o
Coalition
addressing:
Federal: Increase federal minimum
Analysis of
Median
wage; expand earned income tax
Impediments
income
credits: sz/zo
disparities
Project
State: minority impact statements:
Black Lives Matter
contributes
sz/zo
follow-up
towards
Federal: letter re: D,E,I EO submitted;
conversations
addressing:
reauthorize voting rights act; address
representation
public charge rule: sz/zo
disparities and
discrimination
Organization Goal 3: Advance Equity Through City Services and Community En a ement
Strategy 3E: Mitigate the racially disparate impact of the pandemic
Responsible Departments: Health, Human Ri hts, Fire, Police, En ineerin ,Library, Information Services, CE Team
Community
Key Actions &Timeline
Project
Performance
Related FYzz
Origination: Plan
Equity Area:
Coordination &
Measures
Budget Items
with Community
Multiple
Reporting
(disaggregated by
Engagement
race)
Project
Vaccination Plan with traditionally
Human Rights
#/%vaccinated, by
contributes
marginalized populations
demographics
towards
Identify racial equity issue:l/zs
addressing:
Develop plan with community
Life
engagement: i/zi
expectancy
Implement plan: z/zi-5/zi
disparities
Review data on vaccinations by race:
6/zi
Work session: 7/zi
EMS Care
Fire
TBD by project
Identify racial equity issue: z/zs
team
Review data on outcomes by race: z/zi
Develop plan with community
engagement: 4/zs
Implement plan: 6/zs
Evaluate outcomes and ad�ust: iz/zi
Project
Bee Branch Wi-Fi — Wi-Fi for census
Information
TBD by project
Broadband
Equitable Poverty
contributes
tracts i and 5
Services
team
Acceleration and
Prevention Plan
toward: Grade
Identify racial equity issue: z/zs
Universal Access
level
Review data on outcomes by race: z/zi
CIP
achievement
Develop plan with community
(Engineering);
disparities
engagement:4/zs
Neighborhood
Implement plan: 6/zs
Broadband CIP
Evaluate outcomes and adjust: sz/zi
(Housin )
Organization Goal 3: Advance Equity Through City Services and Community Engagement
Strategy 3F: Increase Engagement of communities of color and Immigrant and Refugee Communities with Government
Responsible Departments: PIO, Human Ri hts, City Clerk, Finance/Bud et, Plannin ,Leisure Services
Community
Key Actions &Timeline
Project
Performance
Related FYzz
Origination: Plan
Equity Area:
Coordination &
Measures
Budget Items
with Community
Representation
Reporting
(disaggregated by
Engagement
race)
Project
Language Access Plan
Human Rights
TBD by project
Analysis of
contributes
Identify racial equity issue: 7/zi
team
Impediments
towards
Review data on outcomes by race: 8/zi
addressing:
Develop plan with community
engagement
engagement:8/zs
disparities with
Implement plan: so/zs-4/zz
government
Board &Commission Recruitment and
Clerk's Office
#/%
Retention
Identify racial equity issue: z/zs
representation on
Review data on outcomes by race: 8/zi
Boards &
Commissions, by
Develop plan with community
demographics
engagement: 1/zz
Implement plan: 4/zz
#/%Boards &
Evaluate outcomes and adjust: sz/z3
Commissions
taking equity
actions
Low -Mod park improvements
Leisure Services
Access to parks,
FYzz CDBG 5-
Identify racial equity issue: ongoing
programs, and
year CIP program
Review data on outcomes by race:
services by census
annually
tract
Develop plan with community
demographics
engagement: annually
Evaluate outcomes and adjust: ongoing
so
Or anization Goal 3: Advance Equity Throu h City Services and Community En a ement
Strategy 3G: Develop Public Awareness of Racial Equity and Increase Culturally Relevant Programming
Responsible Departments: Leisure Services, MFC, Human Ri hts, Library
Community
Key Actions &Timeline
Project
Performance
Related FY��
Origination: Plan
Equity Area:
Coordination &
Measures
Budget Items
with Community
Education
Reporting
(disaggregated by
Engagement
race)
Project
Best Practices with Inclusive
Human Rights
# of participants
contributes
Dubuque: TBD
towards:
#/%with improved
increased
REAL Talk with Fountain of Youth:
understanding DEI,
community
ii/zo —1/zi
ICC concepts; #/%
takin action
leadership of
equity
Racial Equity Education Plan
Human Rights
# of participants
Racial Equity
Equitable Poverty
activities
TBD: Contingent on funding; include
#/%with improved
Education Plan
Prevention Plan
3o-day Dubuque Equity Challenge;
understanding DEI,
(Human Rights)
book discussions
ICC concepts; #/%
takin action
Implementation of Equitable Poverty
Human Rights
TBD by Project
Equity Metrics
Equitable Poverty
Prevention Plan in Collaboration with
with Office of
Team
(Human Rights)
Prevention Plan,
Inclusive Dubuque Equity Profile
Shared
Office Shared
Analysis of
Update
Prosperity,
Prosperity (OSP)
Impediments
TBD: Contingent on funding and
CFGD/Inclusive
Dubuque
data analyst
Black Lives Matter:
CFGD/Inclusive Dubuque Equity Profile
(CMO)
Black Men
Process
OSP office build
Coalition, Friends
out CIP (CMO)
of Fair Housing
OSP
administrative
assistant (CMO)
Consultant
support throw h
si
Public Works
LLC (CMO)
Project
LS Recreation Needs Assessment
Leisure Services
#/%increase in
Recreation
contributes
Contingent on funding
minority
Needs
towards
Identify Racial Inequities: Fall zi
persons/organization
Assessment CIP
increased
Launch RFP: sz/zs
participation in
(Leisure
culturally
Hire consultant: 4/zz
programs and
Services)
relevant
Community Engagement: Summer zz
services
programming
Review engagement feedback by race:
fall u
Develop plan winter zz/z3
Implement plan: 7/�3
Evaluate outcomes and adjust:
annually
Scholarship program
Identif racial a uit issue: on oin
y q y� g g
#/%Minority
Current & FYzz
Review data on outcomes by race:
Applications
O eratin
P 9
annually
#/%Redeemed for
Budget ($z5,000
Evaluate outcomes and adjust:
program types
annually)
annually
Project
STEP and STEP-UP
Leisure Services
#/% increase in
contributes
Identify racial equity issue: z/zi
minority
toward
Review data on outcomes by race: z/zi
participation in
addressing
Develop plan with community
programs and
educational
engagement: 4/zi
cultural events
achievement
Implement plan: 6/zi
disparities
Evaluate outcomes and ad�ust: so/�1
School ID as Library Card with DCSD
Library
TBD by project team
Identify racial equity issue: TBD
Review data on outcomes by race: TBD
Develop &implement plan with
community en a ement: TBD
1�
Evaluate outcomes and ad�ust: TBD
Or anization Goal 3: Advance Equity Throu h City Services and Community Engagement
Strategy 3H: Expand Access to Safe, Affordable Housing, including homeownership
Responsible Departments: Housin ,City Attorney
Community
Key Actions &Timeline
Project
Performance
Related FY��
Origination: Plan
Equity Area:
Coordination
Measures
Budget Items
with Community
Housing
&Reporting
(disaggregated by
Engagement
race)
Project
HCV Acceptance
Housing
TBD by project
Analysis of
contributes
Review data for racial equity impact: 6/zi
Department
team
Impediments
towards
Develop plan with community
addressing:
engagement:6/zs
Housing cost
Implement plan: 7/zs-z/zz
burden
Evaluate results: 4/��
disparities
Testing program
City Attorney
TBD by project
Fair Housing
Analysis of
Identify racial equity issue:l/�1
team
Testing Training
Impediments
Review data on outcomes by race: i/zi
Program
Develop plan with community
(Housing)
engagement: 6/zs
Implement plan: g/�1-1�/�1
Low Income Tax Credit Housing Projects
Housing
TBD by project
Analysis of
Identify racial equity issue:l/�1
Department
team
Impediments
Review data on outcomes by race: i/�i
Develop plan with community
engagement:l/zs
Implement plan: �/�1-5/�1
Project
Credit repair program
Housing
TBD by project
Credit Repair
contributes
Identify racial equity issue
Department
team
Program CIP
towards
Review data on outcomes by race
(Housing)
13
addressing:
Develop plan with community
Home
engagement
ownership
Implement plan
disparities
Evaluate and ad�ust
�4