YWCA campaign working to boost civic participation
Hartford unit launches initiative with emphasis on equity, racial diversity on boards, commissions
The YWCA Hartford Region has launched a program to promote gender equity and racial diversity on municipal boards and commissions, especially those focusing on quality-of-life issues for residents.
Called the 50/50 Campaign, it seeks to educate and encourage community members to join their local municipal boards and commissions to ensure residents have a seat and participate in the decision-making process, and to help improve the quality of life for women, those who identify as women, children, and people of color.
East Hartford is one of three municipalities that is piloting the new campaign, as it has significant numbers of residents of color and marginalized individuals, and need to fill vacancies.
For example, East Hartford is in need of members to fill vacancies on these panels: Commission on Culture on Fine Arts and Culture, Commission on Service for the Disabled, Inland Wetland, Economic Development, and Planning and Zoning.
YWCA Director of Community Engagement and Advocacy Melinda Johnson said the campaign is grounded in the overall effort the state has to diversifying boards and commissions on the state level.
Johnson said the Secretary of State produced a report in 2020 that looked at the gaps that were taking place on the state level when it came to boards and commissions and it revealed what representation looked like on those panels, especially when it came race and gender.
Based on this report, she said the YWCA Hartford Region supported two legislative bills, which became Public Act 21-35, a Declaration that Racism is a Public Health Crisis, and Public Act 21-49. which requires by 2026 for the state will make good faith efforts
to ensure representation on state boards and commissions to closely reflect the most current census.
Johnson said the legislation made the team think about whether the same gaps revealed in the Secretary of State’s report also existed on the local level.
Johnson and her team decided to investigate this by going door-to-door and having conversations with municipalities to investigate whether this is true, which were West Hartford, Bloomfield, Hartford and East Hartford.
She said that each of the municipalities was able to confirm the same gaps exist locally, which led to creation of the campaign, where 50% of the efforts would be in collaboration with the municipality and the other 50% of the efforts would be in collaboration with residents, who might needs information on processes, policies and how to get involved.
During a recent town hall on the issue, there was a panelist discussion about what the town means to its residents, the community’s primary challenges when it comes to diversifying boards/commissions, and solutions to better recruit community members to serve.
East Hartford Human Resources Director Tyron Harris moderated the discussion with panelists Mayoral Chief of Staff Connor Martin, Library Director Sarah Morgan, and GOP town committee chairwoman/ vice chair of the East Hartford Housing Authority Prescille Yamamoto.
All agreed the town has a special place in their hearts, where they each feel a sense of community as residents.
Morgan said the town is a wonderful place to raise a family and a wonderful place to be the library director.
“There’s real support and appreciation for the many programs and services that we provide here, including community building and encouraging civic engagement. So, I always say East Hartford is like the biggest, small town. There’s a real warmth in East Hartford that makes it a good place to be and we have the second highest diversity index in the state, second only to New Haven, which makes it a really endlessly fascinating place to live as we learn from each other,” she said.
Martin said that although he was born and raised in Hartford, he gets that small hometown feel in East Hartford, which he learned when he became the chief of staff in 2021.
“It’s really opened up my eyes to almost everything in East Hartford. Even when I was campaigning as a town councilor, I got to see pockets of East Hartford that I didn’t even know existed. East Hartford has neighborhoods that are just absolutely beautiful. There are little gems that are hidden in East Hartford and you would never know … it’s given me a new appreciation for East Hartford, a place that I plan on buying a home and making a permanent home for myself and my family in the future,” he said.
Yamamoto said as a resident of the town since 1965, she has seen lots of ups and downs – along with some changes.
When her husband’s job afforded them the opportunity to more to Farmington and Avon at one point, her daughter told her that she did not want to move as a high school student.
“She had been invited to go to a couple of age group kinds of things and she came back to East Hartford. And what she said to us was there’s more reality in life here. I want to live here. You know, that, that’s a back in the face with parents who think they’re doing a very good job. But I have to agree with her,” she said.
When it came to challenges to diversifying boards and commissions, the panelists said civic engagement and communication are the primary issues that must be addressed, and East Hartford residents are looking for opportunities to get involved and connect with neighbors.
“Being in the mayor’s office, it just seems like it doesn’t matter how much communication we put out there, we’re always missing someone or we’re missing some demographic group or some age group. Like this event, I saw it shared on
Facebook maybe 100 times, I shared it myself, (Harris) had shared it, the library had shared it, a couple of people here shared it, but that’s only one platform to reach residents that’s only going to reach a certain demographic of residents,” Martin said.
“So we’ve had to think about in the year of 2023, how do we reach residents who don’t have an email, we don’t have social media, we don’t watch television as much, you know, like, how do we get to them? I don’t know what’s going on in life today … but everyone seems so busy these days. You know, everyone is so preoccupied with their own home life, their own family. No one seems to have time anymore for volunteering,” he said.
Yamamoto said that being originally from the West Coast, one of the hardest things for her is that individuals from New England do not reach out very easily in her experience — which makes recruitment to boards and commissions difficult.
Panelists also shared idea for overcoming barriers that may hinder residents from joining muncipal boards and commissions.
Morgan said overall scheduling and structure of meetings to meet the needs of residents interested in joining should be looked at.
“The idea of adding something else feels overwhelming. So, in the absence of the 25th hour of the day, maybe it is scheduling or length of meetings or hybrid format or some structural change that addresses the reality in town where most people are stressed for time,” she said.
Harris said that another idea could be including childcare at meetings to increase participation.
“Re-imagining how we conduct our meetings. If it’s hybrid, if it’s zoom, if it’s Microsoft Teams, whatever it is, where we got to get to the people and have them engage us in that conversation. Here’s the solution we have, maybe you do the meetings in the afternoon, maybe you provide child care or you provide a meal or whatever the solution is,” he said.
Martin also encouraged residents that may be interested in joining a board or commission to consider that civil participation is a way to bring collective power.