Bringing Racial Equity Action Initiatives to the Forefront

Black business clearly matters to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The department is committed to providing business opportunities to disadvantaged, minority, and women-owned businesses in our community. This rings even more true for LADWP, as it has recently embarked on racial equity Initiatives that will benefit not only our workforce, but the community, especially the disadvantaged small businesses community.

Unfortunately, institutional racism has plagued America since our nation was founded, but it was thrust to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness after the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020. As a result, governmental agencies at all levels were confronted with the question – what were they prepared to do to eliminate racism in the workplace and create equity for historically underrepresented communities?  To that end, in July 2020, Mayor Eric Garcetti issued Executive Directive #27, which called upon all city departments to create a Racial Equity Action Plan to promote equity within the City of Los Angeles.  

LADWP was not interested in simply checking the box and conducting politically correct exercises, it sought to make a difference with meaningful change. So, LADWP embarked on a journey to foster a diverse and inclusive organization by taking a deeper dive into the challenges facing the department in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In this effort, LADWP continued to display its commitment to black business by hiring three minority firms, two of which were black-owned businesses to help enact meaningful change at the department.  

As a result of the help of those black-owned businesses, LADWP produced a comprehensive Racial Equity Action Plan that addressed DEI in the workforce, contracting, and economic development.  In particular, the plan delivered thoughtful recommendations to improve supplier diversity and economic development initiatives for disadvantaged businesses at the department. This effort was successful because of a joint effort between the LADWP Board of Commissioners and general manager to assure stakeholders that DEI are core values for the department.

The findings of the Racial Equity Action Plan were extremely consequential because voices that had been previously silenced were heard. The findings indicated that a culture shift in hiring, recruitment, promotion, contracting, supplier diversity, economic development, and deeper community engagement with historically disadvantaged communities are sorely needed.

LADWP’s new Racial Equity Action Initiatives are moving the department closer to transformative change. In addition to development of the Racial Equity Action Plan, LADWP is expanding workforce development to create new jobs, executing the LA100 Equity Strategy to expand to 100% renewable energy, and creating the first-ever Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This office will be led by the new chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, Monique Ford Earl, an African American Woman. Under Earl’s leadership, LADWP will further display that black businesses matter by ensuring that African American owned businesses have every opportunity to fully participate in supplier diversity and economic development opportunities at LADWP.

Information for this article was provided by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Learn more at LADWP.com. 

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