The City of Carbondale recently provided cultural competence training to all city employees.
City Manager Gary Williams says that basically means they went through diversity training.
He says this has been in the works for about six months as part of a larger training program. Williams says it is not in response to diversity issues going on across the nation and at SIU-Carbondale.
He says there is a push nationwide to make public sector employees more aware of these issues to better serve their constituents.
"We are a university community. Because we do have a somewhat diverse community, especially in the context of the greater southern Illinois region, we want to make sure that our employees develop a better understanding of cultural differences that exist between races and ethnicities so we can provide better service and also to help develop an appreciation of our differences."
After being hesitant at first, Williams says the employees seemed to find the training valuable and long overdue. He says the goal is to make this an annual event.
Randy Burnside of the SIU-C Public Administration Department led the training. Williams says having a local resident lead the training made it more impactful.
"Just from his life experience, his own personal training, but also having lived in the community for 12 years, I think he brings a unique perspective to it. But, I also think he can offer examples and anecdotes to employees here that are just more tangible and more easily relatable."
Some of the key points during the training involved acknowledging and overcoming biases, stepping out of your comfort zone and community connection.
