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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2017)
October 4, 2017 The Skanner Page 9 News County Makes Deadline to Combat Racism in Workforce By Melanie Sevcenko Of The Skanner News A fter one of Mult- nomah County’s highest ranking African American officials, Tricia Tillman, was ousted last month from her job as public health director — fol- lowed by the retiring of Health Director Joanne Fuller, along with more than a dozen people tes- tifying to the practice of systemic racism in the county workforce — Chair Deborah Kafoury has turned up the pres- sure. Last Thursday, the chair set a spring 2018 deadline to improve progress in workforce equity and review the county’s human resourc- es structure that could be attributing to institu- tional racism. During a quarterly meeting last week with Health Department lead- ership and Chief Oper- ating Officer Marissa Madrigal, Kafoury stat- ed, “We know there is institutional racism at Multnomah County. This is an organization that was built on the backs of people who didn’t have a voice.” “It will be long, hard process,” continued the chair. “It’s going to take a lot of open conversation and reflection. I do know that we are committed, your board of commis- sioners is committed.” Kafoury’s plan is to hire a national consult- ing firm with practice in dismantling structural racism in public institu- tions. To do so the firm would have to scrutinize the county’s existing human resources frame- work, examine policies and practices from hir- ing to termination, and most importantly, eval- “ This is an organization that was built on the backs of people who didn’t have a voice uate the complaint and investigation process, using the dismissal of Tillman — who called for a probe into racist prac- tices at the county — as a case study. In response to bringing in an outside consulting firm, Tillman told The Skanner, “I’m hopeful that this firm has been well vetted by diverse community leaders and staff with expertise in structural racism — and that they have the op- portunity to look beyond overt acts of racism to ad- dress impacts of implicit bias.” The county’s chief hu- man resources officer, Travis Graves, recently concluded an inquiry into Tillman’s termina- tion using more than Pathway 1000 – a Portland Community Reinvestment Initiative campaign to mitigate displacement and reclaim the historic heart and soul of Portland’s African-American community in North and Northeast Portland. The purpose of this initiative is to build prosperity for African-Americans and others displaced from Portland’s North and Northeast Neighborhoods by creating 1,000 affordable homes, thousands of living wage jobs, buisness growth, and development over the next decade. Please RSVP at pathway1000@pcrihome.org 120 pages of documents, including texts, emails and hand-written notes. In his summary letter, dated Sept. 25, Graves said he “did not find any evidence to support the conclusion that Ms. Till- man’s race or protected leave were negative fac- tors in her continued em- ployment.” “The record shows that both subordinate man- agers and Health Human Resources began receiv- ing a number of com- plaints concerning Ms. Tillman’s management over the organization be- ginning over a year ago,” Graves wrote. He added that Till- man received feedback regarding her perfor- mance from multiple sources – including from her supervisor, human resources, peers, and from at least one consul- tant – on what appeared to be her lack of clear di- rection. Yet Tillman’s 2016 per- formance records — re- leased through a public records request by the Portland Tribune — show a different story, one where the public health director received entire- ly positive reviews. “The process by which the inquiry was conduct- ed, analysis, conclusions, and release all serve to reinforce the reasons why I asked for an inves- tigation of systemic rac- ism,” she told The Skan- ner. In exchange for not su- ing the county, Tillman received a settlement of a year’s salary, plus a sum of $25,000 and a letter of reference. Commissioner Loretta Smith, too, was dissatis- fied with Graves’ findings and held her own press conference the day after the HR officer concluded his investigation. Smith was joined by Oregon’s first African American woman legislator, for- mer Sen. Margaret Car- ter, as well as Sen. Lew Frederick (D-Portland), one of three Black state senators, to publically address the recent events of racial bias within the county’s employment practices. Smith — who was also the subject of a county investigation earlier this year — asked the chair for an outside investi- PHOTO MOTOYA NAKAMURA/MULTNOMAH COUNTY The county chair is hiring an outside consulting firm to advise on structural racism Chair Deborah Kafoury speaks at Permanent Supportive Housing summit on Sept. 14, 2017 gation into institutional and structural racism. In addition to the con- sulting firm, Kafoury is calling for all racial com- plaints to be taken direct- ly to the chief operating officer and department directors. As it stands now, employees register complaints by calling the good government hotline, or by talking to their supervisors. The county will also collaborate with commu- nity members and the office of diversity and eq- uity to develop the new strategy. In the meantime, Mad- rigal said a national search will be considered in hiring a new health department director and has urged employees to reach out about con- cerns. As for Tillman’s future, she told The Skanner she is “committed to continu- ing to work for racial justice. I will start work again this month and I am considering other op- portunities.”
