Today I learned that we have an alderman of Inclusivity in my municipality
(Well technically I learned this a few days ago and forgot to post it)
Anyway they're organizing a... thing for residents to show up to and discuss how local inclusivity can be improved, which I'll be going to this evening, so I guess we'll learn more about how serious they are about this 🙂
Verdict: I think the municipality is serious about it, but the format this time didn't really work that well. Overwhelmingly cishet white folks it seemed, and definitely some people overwhelming the roundtable 'group' conversation. Not much room for going into any real depth, a lot of repetition.
I'll cut them some slack since it was their first attempt, though! They intend to adjust the format based on feedback, and do these regularly, apparently.
I did get the impression that the person taking notes on behalf of the municipality was doing a good job and genuinely understanding the points. I think 1:1 conversations would've worked better here, there really wasn't enough time or preparation for the 'group' aspect to add that much.
