{"id":2407,"date":"2021-11-01T21:16:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T21:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=2407"},"modified":"2021-11-01T21:16:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T21:16:32","slug":"earl-aims-to-transform-lives-in-l-a-by-tackling-racism-in-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=2407","title":{"rendered":"Earl Aims to Transform Lives in L.A. by Tackling Racism in Government"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Cora Jackson-Fossett, Staff Writer<\/div>\n
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Published October 28, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As LADWP Senior Asst. General Manager of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, Monique Earl targets dismantling biased practices and increasing partnerships with marginalized groups<\/h4>\n

Monique Earl revealed an ambitious goal \u2013 save lives in the city by changing the L.A. city government.<\/p>\n

Some may consider her aspiration far-fetched, but Earl is serious about this objective and she has the skills, experience, and capability to achieve it. Also, her current job positions her to reach that mark.<\/p>\n

As senior assistant general manager and chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Earl can begin to realize her vision of\u00a0 \u201cunraveling institutional racism and discrimination where it lives and breathes in our government institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earl connects the dismantling of biased practices with fulfilling the city\u2019s main mission. As she explained, \u201cThe City\u2019s primary focus should be saving lives. Saving lives means making sure all people have adequate housing, transportation, jobs, health care, education, etc.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that a government that is working effectively on behalf of the people that need it most can transform lives. That is all that matters to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this philosophy in mind, Earl has committed to giving her best effort in carrying out her responsibilities, which include developing internal policies that influence recruitment, hiring, and training as well as producing external guidelines that impact economic development, supplier diversity, and aspects of community engagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vision of my office is to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion becomes part of the culture and central to policy-making decisions at LADWP,\u201d said Earl, who added that various audiences, both within and outside the agency, are affected by the actions of her office.<\/p>\n

For those who are already employed by LADWP, Earl wants to make certain that workforce initiatives contain provisions for career ladders and upward mobility.\u00a0 This is a critical issue considering that of 11,000 staff, 70% are people of color, but they are concentrated in the entry and lower levels of the agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn comparison to overall employment distribution, African-American and Latino employees\u2019 highest percentages are in the lower ranks of job classifications. LADWP wants to ensure that our workforce, across job classifications, is representative of the communities we serve. This also supports our commitment to using dignity-infused community engagement as a guiding principle in interactions with our community partners,\u201d said the L.A. native.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am also working to help LADWP increase equity in our supply chain by removing barriers for M\/WBE (minority or women-owned business enterprise), DBE (disadvantaged business enterprise), and small business contracting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her decisions will also touch people desiring to work for LADWP in the future. With thousands of employees eligible to retire soon combined with the department\u2019s infrastructure mandates and investments, the executive noted, \u201cLADWP expects to fill more than 3,000 positions over the next five years. My office has an opportunity to reimagine how hiring can be implemented and streamlined to maximize opportunities across a wide spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earl\u2019s strategy ranges from designing systems to identify and train potential employees to create procedures for apprenticeship programs to establishing partnerships with community-based organizations.\u00a0 The alliances encompass groups such as educational institutions, trade unions, military and veterans\u2019 organizations, and minority-focused associations.<\/p>\n

In addition, LADWP recently joined with Advancing Minorities Interest in Engineering (A.M.I.E.) in a drive to increase the number of African American engineers in the department.<\/p>\n

LADWP contracted with A.M.I.E., which represents Schools of Engineering at 15 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to directly fund research at various HBCUs that can support the agency\u2019s operations, programs, and initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur MOA (memorandum of agreement) with A.M.I.E would emulate the same MOA contract LADWP currently has with UCLA, while also providing equity for our engagement with HBCUs as compared with the level of engagement we have with other academic institutions,\u201d the senior A\/GM said.<\/p>\n

Engaging and aiding others comes easy to Earl, especially in light of her background. The daughter of city employees, she grew up witnessing public service in action. Her father, who was hired as an LADWP custodian and promoted to the storekeeper, retired after 25 years and operated a successful business in the San Fernando Valley. Her mother was a valued deputy in the first administration of Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas and later with the office of Councilmember Bernard Parks.<\/p>\n

After earning a Bachelor\u2019s degree in political science at CSU-Northridge and a Master\u2019s degree in public administration at American University in Washington, D.C., Earl joined the city in 2003 as a deputy to Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski. She applied the experience she gained to her next position as budget deputy for Parks, then-chair of the City Council Budget and Finance Committee. Her tenure, recalled Earl, included withstanding one of the most demanding periods in her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest challenge, but also the most memorable experience, I faced was during the 2008 financial crisis. The councilman, using his astute knowledge of the city\u2019s budget, made some tough but necessary decisions to continue delivering services while at the same time avoiding bankruptcy,\u201d remembered the Leimert Park resident.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my job to work with the city\u2019s budget staff, union leadership, and other elected [officials\u2019] staff members, including the mayor\u2019s office, to turn these decisions into budget policy while avoiding some pretty hefty political landmines. After many late-night collaborations, long weekends, and marathon budget meetings, we successfully avoided bankruptcy and saved thousands of city jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earl went on to hold executive positions in the Office of the Mayor and Office of the Controller before serving as executive officer and assistant general manager at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. As second-in-command at LADOT, she directed financial strategy, managed infrastructure maintenance, and project implementation, and oversaw the agency\u2019s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.<\/p>\n

Rising to peak jobs wasn\u2019t easy, but Earl conceded that it would have been a lot harder without treasured mentors, who helped her maneuver the intricacies of city government. \u201cI\u2019ve been blessed to have a number of advocates that have taken a personal interest in my career,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of those, if I had to put together my personal board of directors I would include, Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, Councilman Bernard Parks, executive director at the LA 84 Foundation and business leader Renata Simril, former Public Works Commission President Valerie Lynne Shaw, LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds, and L.A. City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo,\u201d said Earl.<\/p>\n

Yet, being LADWP\u2019s highest-level African American executive will not dissuade Earl from remembering her journey to the top.\u00a0 In fact, she said the mantra that guides her career \u00a0\u2013 \u201cLeave the\u00a0window open and the ladder down\u201d \u2013 is a phrase she borrowed from her \u201cdear friends and mentors,\u201d Bernard and Shirley Kinsey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that I have a responsibility to ensure that other minorities are provided the same access and opportunities that I have been given,\u201d said Earl. \u00a0\u201cI am intentional in ensuring that I meet with, mentor, and advocate for women and minorities at every turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Image and News Source: Los Angeles Sentinel<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cora Jackson-Fossett, Staff Writer Published October 28, 2021 As LADWP Senior Asst. General Manager of Diversity, Inclusion,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions\/2409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}