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DEI Needs Discussion
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Summary and Background Information:
Commerce City hired Corona Insights, a Denver-based research and evaluation firm, in December 2022 to conduct a diversity, equity, and inclusion needs assessment for Commerce City to help provide input and guidance for the City's DEI Commission. The work began by forming a needs assessment advisory subcommittee of the Commission and meeting with each City Councilmember to gather their perspective, ensuring that the research process provided plenty of opportunity for participation and feedback. The workplan contained two research elements to support the work of the DEI Commission:
- Research focused on illuminating the diversity of the Commerce City community and disparities within the community.
- Research focused on what the DEI Commission needs in order to expand the impact of the Commission's work.
Approach:
- Kickoff meetings with the DEI Commission and the Commerce City DEI Team to introduce the project.
- Interviews with City Councilmembers
- Analysis of community data on diversity and disparities
- Interviews with DEI Commission members
- Case studies of DEI Commissions in other municipalities
- Meetings with other key informants to gather information
Summarizing the findings from the needs assessment:
- Commerce City is a diverse community with people from every race/ethnicity living throughout the city.
- But most residents are either Hispanic or White. Northern Commerce City is predominately White while southern Commerce City is predominately Hispanic.
- Economic, health, education, and housing disparities exist by geography. These disparities are notable considering comparison communities are almost always in between the north and south.
- These disparities reveal that the residents in southern Commerce City may need very different types of programs and support ...
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