City tries to build more diverse workforce

The city of Albuquerque has more female, Native American and black employees than it did a year ago.

Now it also has $1.3 million more to continue the workforce diversification efforts.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded the grant to the Albuquerque Office of Equity and Inclusion as the city strives to develop a workforce that better reflects the community’s demographics.

“We’re proud to support the City of Albuquerque in building a workforce equity model that provides economic opportunities that can change the lives of children and families in our communities,” Frank López of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation said in a news release.

According to data provided by the city, the total workforce grew by 97 employees, or 2%, between March 2018 and March 2019. Women accounted for most of the gains with 86 more in the city workforce than last year.

However, women still represent only 32.9% of city employees.

Over the last year, the city also increased Asian employment by 15%, Native American employment by 13% and black employment by 9%, though those racial groups still make up just 1%, 2.5% and 2.2%, respectively, of the city workforce. That’s lower than their representation in the city’s population as a whole.

Mayor Tim Keller cited the gradual change that has already occurred in the city’s employee ranks but said in a statement that “dismantling systematic inequities isn’t something that happens overnight, and there is more work to be done.”

City spokeswoman Jennifer Esquivel said in an email the city would use some grant money for marketing and some for new temporary positions that focus on “community outreach and engagement, training internal staff and coaching community members.”

The grant will allow the city to build upon the outreach it has done over the past year, she said. That has included job fairs, routinely sending job postings to community organizations that work with underserved populations and conducting an Albuquerque Police Department recruiting event geared toward attracting more black officers.

DIRECTOR DEPARTURE:

David Campbell has left the city of Albuquerque to take a job as Rio Rancho’s city manager. Campbell had spent the past 1½ years as the Albuquerque Planning Department director, but has a long history in city government that also includes previous stints as the chief administrative officer and city attorney.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Keller said the city is advertising for a new planning director. Brennon Williams, a deputy director in the department, has assumed the duties on an interim basis.