What Inclusion Looks Like

I have been a child support officer for over 21 years. I started in Wright County in 2003. The staff was made up of all women, all Caucasian. I liked my co-workers. They were dedicated and competent. So were my supervisors. There was some racial diversity among our clients. And, of course, half of our clients were men. They did not have child support officers who looked like them or had the same life experiences. Even one of my friends thought I had joined an evil empire by working in child support because he had a bad experience in his child support case.

In 2015 I transferred to Hennepin County. There was a lot more racial diversity in our residents. The child support officers were much more representative of our clients’ demographics. Hennepin County did have male child support officers and supervisors. Except for one black man, all the supervisors and managers were white. While our male residents had the opportunity to have a man overseeing their cases, those who made the higher-level decisions were predominantly white women.

I had the opportunity to apply for the supervisor position more than once. I told the interview panel that if they had a candidate from an underrepresented group who was as qualified, I would want them to choose that other person. Over the next several promotions they selected a gay Latino man, a Latina woman, and a gay man. All of them are wonderful supervisors, and one was promoted to a higher-level management position. Since then, I have seen many other people hired into upper management who are non-White. The County Board has even made Equity a core value. They have served the county and its residents well and were all more than deserving of the positions.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion policies require a conscious effort to be aware of our biases and to give ALL qualified candidates an equal chance at hiring and promotion, including those who had previously been denied due to their race, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity. DEI does not mean hiring unqualified candidates. It means recognizing that many qualified candidates were overlooked in the past.

Department supervisors and managers have told me I would make an excellent supervisor. That means I would make more money and retire with more in the bank. Leaving the world a better place sometimes means stepping back. For far too long being white brought the privilege of being chosen first, sometimes being put before more qualified minority candidates.

I am pleased that our residents feel seen and heard by staff who understand more about their life experiences. People in service professions work with the public. Whether the profession is in the private, public, or non-profit sector, the public is better served by people whose outlook and understanding mirror their own.

Decisions made from a wide pool of perspectives bring in more business from a wider pool of clients in the private sector and serve clients and residents better in the public and non-profit sectors.
If we want to close the racial divide in our country, we need all our residents to feel represented and heard. That takes a mixture of people making the decisions that leave no group behind. And it takes a willingness from those of us who have been comfortable in our monotone leadership to be willing to let others be comfortable, too.