When Mayor Kenney created the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, his goal was to create a City workforce that reflects the great diversity of our city. In addition to making our workforce better reflect the city’s diversity, part of our mission is to make the City an inclusive place to work for our almost 30,000 employees. As part of the efforts to make the City a more inclusive place to work, this month, we officially launched a new initiative called City Resource Groups (CRGs).
City Resource Groups are organized, supported groups of City employees who share a common diversity characteristic or consider themselves an ally of a diverse community. The groups are led by both an employee lead, and an executive sponsor who is a department head or cabinet member. After creating a resource group, employees get together to discuss how we can make the City a better place to work for that particular community. City Resource Groups are meant to be driven by employees, with a focus on networking, talent development, and creating at least one program or initiative a year the promotes diversity and inclusion within the workforce.
The initial cohort of City Resource Groups includes:
- LGBTQ+
- Women of Color
- Latinx
- Men of Color
In January, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of LGBT Affairs launched the City’s first employee resource group for LGBTQ+ employees and allies to pilot the City Resource Group Program. We were thrilled to see over 60 employees in attendance at the meeting. The monthly meetings have been a great success–and we’ve received some great feedback on how to make the City of Philadelphia an even better place to work for LGBTQ+ folks.
This month, the we’ll have the first meetings for Women of Color and Latinx employees. In June, we will host the first meeting for our Men of Color CRG.
After the launch of these initial groups, the City will open up applications for employees to create their own groups to make sure that all of our employees have a chance to make their voices heard.
