 Good morning. You are with the Vermont House Government Operations Committee. We are meeting this morning to hear a bit about H-196, which is an act relating to supporting the work of the Executive Director of Racial Equity. And so we have with us this morning, Susanna Davis, who is the Executive Director of Racial Equity. And we are seeing if we can pull the bill's sponsor out of his committee meeting this morning to see if he would like to come and speak to this as well. But Susanna, since we have you with us this morning, I would like to invite you to help us understand what H-196 calls for and what that would mean for the work of your office. Yes. Thank you. Buenos dias. I am Susanna Davis, Racial Equity Director for the state. And H-196, effectively based on my last read of it, would create two full-time positions to support the work of the Racial Equity Office. I have heard a lot of people refer to the Racial Equity Office over the last year and a half since I've been here. The office is just me. It's just this guy in a room. So it would effectively create something of an office by adding two staff. So this is something that does appear in the governor's proposed budget as a line item for $250,000 of FY22 money. And I suppose one of the questions that I often get asked is what is this going to do? And what is it going to mean? And there is, I suppose, a simple answer that I could give. This is money or rather the money that this would be, sorry, this funding allocation would lead to staffing that is a huge assist for pretty much everyone around the state. And I remember telling other cabinet members that this proposal is exciting for me, but it's more exciting for them. Because what it does is increase the capacity for their work to be more equity informed and to receive additional assistance that is sometimes difficult for one person to provide. So there are a lot of different aspects of this work and the enabling statute, which is Act 9 of 2018 outlines a number of duties for the Racial Equity Director, including but not limited to overseeing the statewide collection of race data, and developing performance targets and metrics for racial equity, developing and conducting trainings for state agencies, overseeing the state. Sorry, I said that one already. Doing a top to bottom overview of all three branches of state government to identify systemic racism, develop model policies and mitigation practices, etc. Additionally, over the last roughly a year and a half since I've been in the role, a long list of items have been added to that charge by various statutes in order. The person in this role sits on nine committees formally. And also I interact with about I think 17 total, and I serve as liaison between two for the enabling statute. So, you know, it was a little bit more difficult. And the before time before everything went virtual because of course if there was a one o'clock in Burlington, and the three o'clock in Bennington you couldn't do both you have to choose. These days because everything is virtual, I think you all would agree we all find ourselves bouncing from one meeting to the next. And it's actually created an additional workload because it's been so much more permissive of people being in more places at the same time. And that's an opportunity that I greatly appreciate because it permits this, it permits our work to have broader reach around the state, which became especially important in the summer of 2012. After another person in the United States was murdered on camera by the government. And the nation this time really felt it felt it very deeply. And it caused an incredible ground swell of renewed energy around equity, not just in criminal justice but in all sectors of American life. And so what that meant for my work and I imagine for the work of equity practitioners around the state is that we were absolutely flooded with more inquiries and requests and offers. And please for help. And it became something that was both exhilarating and overwhelming. I say exhilarating, because in some places, the hardest part of every work is convincing people that it matters, and that they should give it down. In Vermont that has not been the case in Vermont I have rarely had to convince anybody that this work was necessary or meaningful, because what I what I really appreciate about the state is that folks get it. And if they don't get it they want to get it. So it's never been about convincing people that it mattered but rather last year what we really saw was so many more people who were willing not just to acknowledge that it mattered but we're willing to actually do something and who reached out to the state for that assistance. So that means added things like training and lecturers and appearances and deep dive policies reviews I've been contacted by numerous municipalities around the state looking for assistance with creating things like foods of conduct or model policies on equity. Locality is looking to hold events or create funding streams who are looking to do equity based reforms people who want to do more recruitment and hiring people who are looking for training opportunities. People who are forming new committees or new advisory boards and wants guidance or membership. And so, so, so it's really been very positive and it's been, I mean it's disappointing that the circumstances were what they were that led to that. But, but it's absolutely a good thing that more and more people are on board and see the urgency of this work. Now that's the exhilarating part of it. The overwhelming part of it comes about because there are only so many of us who are who are doing this work formally. And I do always tell people when they say well you have such a big job I say no we have a big job because it can't be one person or a handful of people's job so in effect it really is everyone's work. But having the role formally and having this carved out in statute and the admin means that there's a certain level of oversight a certain level of eyes and ears that that we want to be able to have around the state and so it brings me back to H196 and to the Governor's proposed budget item which would permit all of that work and more to happen and not just to continue happening but to expand. So I'm going to give three examples of those work streams that would be improved through funding but before I do I am going to pause I know that the bill sponsor has joined and I want to stop in case there's any questions so far. I'm not not seeing any hands raised. All right, continuing the monologue. So one of the main work streams is committee work I already mentioned I interact with about 17 committees I formally sit online and I liaise between to and the cabinet. So having additional staff is going to permit this office to be in all of those places as required by law or as required by good practice or common sense. It allows us to be able to have a presence in spaces like hearings and community meetings. I have to make this a point with my great disappointment that I have to sometimes pick and choose which legislative hearings to attend, because racial equity has a role in every topic. And sometimes it's difficult to decide. Should I go talk about brown people dying across the state or brown people getting arrested across the state. It's a very difficult decision when when hearings are happening simultaneously. So having additional staff means that we can be in more places, provide that real time guidance to flow, attend all of the community meetings, whether they're happening evenings, weekends, early mornings or during the day. Another work stream is training. That is something that is mandated by the enabling statute. It's also one of my favorite parts of the job actually. Being able to develop and conduct training for agencies is technically the only bit that is actually required of this role. But state agencies of course aren't the only ones who really, really need to understand the underlying issue grapple with them and work equity into their work. This is a job for individuals, communities, select boards, school, faculty, administrators, corporations, not for profit, you name it. And so really the training while only mandated for agencies are really morally necessary for everyone. I've been conducting training for all of those kinds of organizations that I just listed. And again, it really is just about how many different places can you be at once. How many different topics can you lecture or present on how many different ways and places can you deliver this important and sometimes life-saving information to people. So additional staff is also going to permit this office to provide those trainings. And another important piece of this is that I think a lot of times people assume that you're just going to do the round with all the agencies. Everyone's been trained on equity and that's it. But we've got decades of data that show us that learning is not one and done. It needs to be refreshed. It needs to be re-up. And it happens most effectively when we receive information in smaller bits over a consistent period of time rather than just doing a half-day session for four hours and then saying, you know everything and we're going to retain all the information forever. So the training really is an ongoing piece. Of course, there's also data that show that training alone is not going to solve systemic racism. So we acknowledge that training is one piece of the pie, but it is an incredibly important piece of the pie. And so having additional staff also permits us to be able to do that to reach effectively people in education institutions at all grade levels, to reach professionals in all sectors, and to make sure that we're delivering a consistent message across the state. One that is not sort of piecemeal or patchwork, but rather that we are unified in our messaging and that people are being consistently shown where the state's values are and what the state's plan is. The third work stream that I'll talk about is data analysis. I am by no means a statistician, a mathematician, or anything of the sort, but data are so incredibly important when we're talking about equity work. And I don't just mean racial equity, any sort of equity, whether we're talking about disparities for the LGBTQIA plus community, people living with disabilities, seniors, young people, you name it. If we're talking about equity, then metrics matter and math matters. So having been in this role for about a year and a half, I have come to rely very heavily on state specific data, national data and highly localized data where it's available. But in order to really do any kind of analysis, I've often had to rely on data scientists and analysts from other agencies who's been willing to lend their time to do that analysis, or on organizations who have found the capacity to do certain analysis. A number of great reports and surveys and other findings have been conducted by community groups in Vermont, often uncompensated, but those data have proven tremendously valuable to us and to our work. So, again, additional staff will allow us to be able to not only receive the volume of data that is increasingly being collected in Vermont, but also to do the deep dive analysis that are necessary so that we can really surface those disparities. And more importantly, do something about them. So, I think I've gone on long enough. I'm going to stop there. And again, thank you for the invitation to be here. I'm happy to take any questions or speak for them. Thank you. Hal Colston. Good morning, Susanna. And I want to thank you for your, your service and your leadership and I do believe your office is making an impact. My question is, if these two positions are put in place, how will legislators benefit from this move. Well, that's the best part. You all are big winners in this. The, the additional position. So I have to say, this role is situated in the administration, but it is a statewide role and therefore requires collaboration and access to all three branches of state government. I have been extremely pleased and grateful with the level of interest and collaboration and commitment from the legislature and the, and the, oh my goodness. Oh my gosh. Why am I doing this judiciary. And, and so one of the, one of the inquiries that I've gotten most from legislators is review of policy responses to policy. How does this impact people of color in Vermont or rather, how can we make it impact people of color in Vermont. It's a big benefit to legislators with the traditional staff is having people who have that policy that dedicated focus on policy and data who can do deep dives with you all on how policy can be impacted with people of color. For example, in the executive agencies, we are required to do equity impact assessment for all budget and policy proposals that come out of the executive agency. But right now there's no such requirement for legislative proposals. And so we're kind of back filling that on our own by doing these analyses. Sometimes that can be overwhelming for agency folks, but additional staff in the racial equity office means that we can have people dedicated to doing those equity based analysis for a much broader swath of legislation. Additionally, I find that a lot of legislators who want to bring this work into their district and into their communities, often reach out for things like panel, seeking other kinds of speaking engagement or presentation, specific community work. And again, it can be a little bit different to be spread out across the state that way. But again, having additional staff here permit us to be able to work with legislators on more district specific measures that could move the needle on equity. Thank you. Mark Higley. Thank you madam chair. Thank you for being here today. You had mentioned the equity impact assessment tool. And it sounds like that's going to be rolled out over the next year. Is that correct. The one that we're using is already in effect. It has been since late last year. We've been conducting the equity impact assessment on proposals coming out of the admin and policy analysts in the various agencies have also been instructed to use them when they're doing bill reviews that come from legislature as well. We do understand that members of the social equity caucus are also in the process of creating an equity lens tool that's going to have a similar function. And we are really looking forward to that effort being completed in the legislature as well. I don't know the timeline on that one, but I can say that for the executive side, we are, we've already rolled that out. And I guess maybe the other question I've got is and I mentioned this and committee one day as far as, you know, we already have our results based accountability process and I'm wondering if you thought that maybe some of this, and you would talk about equity caucus also looking at another tool. Some of this couldn't be rolled into that as well because, as you had mentioned as well. It might be a little overwhelming for some of these departments but just just your thoughts on that. Yeah, that's an excellent point and one of the things that one of the people I'm most grateful to have is the chief performance officer. I'm really steep and well versed in this and she's somebody with whom I also have worked closely on a number of these items. I do agree that unfilowing this work is important. And as much as we can leverage RBA and some of the lean work that we've been doing. It's only going to make it's only going to make us stronger because it will ensure uniformity and consistency across our system. And I suppose the short answer is yes, I do see opportunities to blend these streams and I appreciate the comment because it's important. Thank you. Tonya Behovsky. Thank you Madam chair, the magnitude of the left that you're describing I think is probably bigger than than even three people can manage so I'm wondering what your priorities are with new staff people and where you would sort of deploy them first. But, you know, I think that if we're talking about to FTE then the vision that the vision that seems to make sense is to have one person dedicated to more policy and data analysis, and another person dedicated more to education and outreach. You could cut this work up in a million different ways but I see those as two major buckets that could probably be dedicated focus each. And now, of course, you could you could assign an army of people to this work and there would always be enough to do. But another important piece of of equity work is that it not be concentrated in a small team, but rather that it be spread across state government and done across agency so I think that this is a proposal that helps us to find a good balance between having folks who are dedicated to the equity piece, and ensuring that it's not only loaded into that unit but rather still being spread out across government. So, you know, it's, it's a modest team, but I think that that's for now I think that that's going to still bring us a lot more power behind the work that we've been doing. Thank you as a follow up to that given that you're really pointing to the need to spread out across state government do you think being housed under the administration is the best place for this work. I think that there are a lot of options that have been discussed, even during the formation of the initial amnesia statute, and I am going to respectfully dodge the question, because I think that I think that if states, if members of state government across the branches are sincere about equity work, then they're going to do this regardless of the formal structure. You know, if you're on board, you're going to do it whether the law makes you or not whether this is here or there or somewhere else or not and and so I care very much about the structure of it. The conversation maybe that quarter should be had. But I also think that regardless of the structure of it. That shouldn't stop our colleagues around state government from being part of this work, whether or not something is situated in a different place or whether or not they're formally required to. Thank you so much and sorry if I put you in a strange position I just thinking about all of this conversation we're having about independence and the importance of that kind of brought that to mind as you were talking so I apologize. Thank you. So, I'm going to invite the bill with us and please share with us your thoughts on on the bill that you've presented. Well thank you very much, Madam chair and my colleagues and especially Susanna. What can you say on top of what she said. This work that we're working on together. I've mentioned this a number of times. This is a marathon. It is not a sprint. And anybody that's trained or helped someone train for a marathon knows very well that there's pitfalls. There's rigor. And there's the need for commitment. So that kind of answers all of those questions that were asked along the way. Is Vermont committed. I think we are. I've been doing this work long enough to watch it grow over time. Is it growing fast enough. No. But it is growing. And that's positive. Just in our own body. I've only been here for 10 years. But what I've seen over that 10 year period is people change. Their hearts and minds. From where they thought they were to where they are now. And being an educator. And just another human being, you can tell when people are changing. And we are as a legislature. And that's why it's so important right now for us to recommit to this work. And I think what Susanna put it very well. I can't really add to the detail. And I would choose not to. Being one of the sponsors of the original legislation and having it vetoed, you know, and going through all of those phases that we went through. I understand change. But at the same time, it's working. And if we can give her more tools. Along this journey. We're going to get to where we want to be. And this isn't, this is just the beginning. And remember, it started with that position of the executive director and her advisory council. And as we continue to support the effort. We will get to that goal of making Vermont as inclusive as we want it to be. And I apologize for being a little late but that's, I had two other calls, one with the Chamber of Combers, and one with Vermont League of Cities and towns on this same discussion. So everything that Susanna talked about, that's what we do. You know, those of us that are doing the direct work do get called on, you know, a lot for support, but that's part of the work. You know, another analogy because being a teacher I like analogies, telling students that you brush your teeth every day. Every few days or once a year or something like that. And that equates to the metaphor that Susanna was referring to about training. I like to call it professional development and enrichment, because that's truly what we're trying to do versus training trainings. Yeah, I did it. Got it done. No, no, we're talking about enriching and changing the hearts and minds of Vermonters. And that's what this work, you know, is really about. And we're up to the task. And it's very evident, because if we look at all of those bills in the last two years, since the inception of the position. We've said that department needs to be there. So we're saying that the emphasis is there. So we're at a point where we can support it. And I think that with Susanna's leadership in that area, we'll be able to achieve our goal. So I am in full support of whatever we can do from the policy side within our branch to support her efforts and the efforts of her department. Thank you so much for being with us this morning. We do have a couple witnesses waiting for our next committee segment but I want to call on how and also let you know that we will be coming back to this after the joint assembly this morning. So Susanna, I know I'm quite sure that you have a packed morning and may not be able to come back at approximately 11 or 1115 but we welcome you to come back if you can and and coach as well. So, Hal Colston go ahead. Thank you Madam chair. Susanna, given that this office continues to grow and develop. What might our state government look like in five to 10 years with regards to racial equity. What are your thoughts. Really good. So, in five to 10 years. I know I say this a lot apologies for repetition but in 10 years. It would be really great if you just didn't need me anymore to need this role anymore I should say, because we will have baked equity into everything that we do. And it will be so fundamental to our work that it doesn't necessarily need to be looked out for. But it's a long road to get to that place. And so, in the meantime, during that five to 10 years. It means that state government is going to have more opportunity to learn the practices that need to become second nature. For example, we've rolled out the equity impact assessment tool that I mentioned earlier. And right now, we're, we're getting accustomed to it for some folks it's a little easier others are sumbling through it because it's a new practice for them. Over these next few budget cycles legislative cycles we're going to get increasingly adept at using the form at recognizing its utility and at using it to be able to spot any potential unintended outcomes and anticipate more policies to make policies better. So it's definitely a journey. I don't pretend that any of this is going to put the switch over night, but that's one way that we're going to get to a place where equity becomes second nature. Another thing that I can envision is a lot of changes in numbers. A lot of numbers are going to go up that we want up and a lot of numbers are going to go down that we want down. For example, maybe in the next year or two we might implement a policy related to policing or criminal justice. We might, we may not see those impacts right away, but over time, we hope to see numbers trending in the right direction. And when they do that opens up more possibilities for us to make other changes. For example, Vermont in previous years was able to have its prison population incarcerated population. That allowed us to make a lot more discretionary calls, because we weren't incarcerating people for lower level offensive we weren't holding people unjustly. And because of that we have less need for things like that. We have lower needs for supervision than we would have had had we kept our population. I see a lot of opportunities for us to move the needle in the way we want. That's going to yield not only cost savings, but it's also going to make government just generally more efficient. And it's going to make Vermont it's going to continue, it's going to help Vermont continue to be a place that people want to go. And that's important because our population is dwindling and it is aging. And so being able to not only attract but also retain people to the state means we've got to be able to create an environment that is not just habitable, but that is genuinely desirable for folks and increasingly the demographic shift around is that people are becoming more racially diverse. And so it would be very concerning for Vermont to remain an unusual pocket that deviates from that otherwise generally universal. I don't know if I've actually answered the question but I suppose the vision for five to 10 years from now is, we're great now and we're going to be greater than and it's going to be the result of consistency, which is really steep. Thank you. So thank you. Oh yes, go ahead. I'm sorry I know that you said that we're going to cut it off but I just had one more thing that I wanted to say. Yeah, that that I don't, I say it often in in closed door situations but I think it's important to say it here, which is, I've been extremely grateful to have this opportunity to do this work. You wouldn't necessarily know it but I am kind of a private person I actually don't really like a lot of eyes. So, it's been it's been unusual for me this last year and a half to be very visible but one thing. So when you have a face to a role, especially a new role that no one else has had it's very easy to personalize decisions that get made about that role. And I just want to remind the group that when we make decisions about racial equity or make decisions about the role specifically. We're making them for Susanna. We're making them for the work and for the role and I think that that's really important right I've sometimes heard people referring to, well we'll just put Susanna on the committee or we'll just give Susanna some money or some staff and, and I just want to remind this isn't for me. It's for the continuation of the work. If I am running behind the ice cream truck and suffer a fatal injury doing so, which is very likely to happen because it's who I am as a person but if that happens and I'm not here with you anymore the work's got to continue and at that point I don't have a new racial equity director so I just want to make sure that I recognize that as grateful as I am to have made these relationships, relationships with everyone in government that I want to make sure that folks see this as serving a bigger goal and not just interacting with a person who you know. Thank you. I appreciate you reminding us of that and we, we have a tremendous amount of respect for, for the hard work you've done in standing up the, the office as we say, even though the office is one. We'll continue this conversation around each 196 and the support positions that are needed in order to continue this work and, and cover more of the projects that we know Vermonters are eagerly awaiting. Thank you for being with us. And thank you, Kevin Christie you're welcome to come back at after the joint assembly if you'd like to hear the next round of testimony on this will be the same link.