Let’s look at the proposal’s details:

1. While it recognizes the importance of Fair Housing testing, inadequate funds have been allocated for this initiative in 2005 and there are no assurances at all of funding beyond this year;

2. Though it highlights the pressing need to diversify our city’s workforce, the proposed solution of simply adding a recruiter to the AAD lets existing recruiters shirk what should be a shared responsibility;

3. The Language Assistance Program offers little real assistance to people needing to be heard and understood throughout City government; and

4. Two front-line working supervisors are cut in the Mayor’s proposal, reducing present services.

There are also no clear goals for this proposal – what, precisely, will the DCR will be expected to do better than current departments? How, specifically, will we measure the DCR’s success and with what new accountability measures? What funding commitments are being made to ensure that the DCR actually provides a higher and more effective level of service?

We can have more ambitious goals and guarantee accountability without a largely symbolic, bureaucratic change that compromises the core functions and historical missions of these departments.

The overwhelming majority of the staffs of both the EOC and the AAD (those members of our community who work tirelessly with increasingly limited resources to address issues of equality, diversity and discrimination) have expressed serious concerns about the proposal, concerns which have been largely overlooked. Numerous members of the AAD warned that the consolidation would result in “decline and degradation of quality of service” and suggested that funds allocated for the Director of the proposed DCR instead be used for both existing and new programs and staff. Staff of the EOC stated that “this proposal marginalizes individuals in the community whose concern lies in protected classes beyond race and national origin” and concluded, “residents of Madison are better served by not combining the EOC and the AAC.” Both staffs warned that the proposed DCR’s loss of “working, front-line supervisors,” specifically the AAD’s Contract Compliance Officer and the EOC’s Investigations Supervisor, will have a clearly “detrimental impact on productivity.”

A large segment of our community has also spoken out against this proposal. Progressive Dane stands with this diverse coalition of people from across Madison.

Progressive Dane believes strongly that we must take action as partners with the members of our community who are experiencing a Madison that is not socially inclusive or welcoming, who struggle to afford housing or secure family-supporting jobs, and who are tired of being victimized by racial profiling, and housing or employment discrimination. But change for the sake of change is not good enough. Our elected officials need to support innovative, broad and long-term actions by the existing agencies responsible for Equal Opportunities and Affirmative Action. Progressive Dane insists on actions that make a real difference for all people in our community. We must work to fully fund these initiatives with the same fervor we apply to fundraising for a new swimming pool, an Overture Center or State Street reconstruction. And we, the people of Madison, must hold our elected representatives accountable.

Progressive Dane will ardently support and work with those interested in funding and implementing tangible solutions that will noticeably improve the lives of Madison’s disadvantaged and underrepresented residents. But we do not support a proposal that unfortunately amounts to little more than rearranging offices in the Municipal Building and printing new letterhead. This would insult and ignore the voices of those in our community who clamor to be included, to be treated equally and to be heard.

Written by: Vicky Selkowe, Co-Chair Economic Issues Task Force and Bert Zipperer, former alder and winner of the 2005 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian award