At the City of Goleta, we value building and maintaining a culture of belonging, respect, and connection by actively inviting the contribution and participation of all people.   We value the identification and elimination of interpersonal and systemic bias in the provision of all City services.

The citywide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative was approved by the City Council in October 2020. Under this initiative, an inter-departmental team of employees, assisted by an ad hoc committee of elected officials, will examine our policies, programs and practices to ensure that all City of Goleta employees, residents, and visitors can participate in and benefit from City programs, activities, and services.  We will examine data and best practices and develop a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan with specific steps to refine and improve our efforts in these regard.  We are committed to creating a policy framework, culture of learning and awareness, and an entire workforce mobilized toward achieving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion goals.

Areas of focus for our City Diversity, Equity and Inclusions efforts are:

• Employment
• Communications, Outreach, Language
• Government participation (voting, public comment, holding elected or appointed office, etc.),
• Public contracting/leases,
• Public safety and emergency planning,
• Equitable development,
• Direct services (e.g., Library programming, customer interfaces),
• Access to public facilities
• Other areas that may be identified

We also support the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and the Santa Barbara County Fire Department in their own efforts to ensure equitable law enforcement and fire protection services within our City. 

For Current DEI Work Efforts, please see Strategic Initiative #9 in the City’s Strategic Plan. 

For questions about the status of the City’s DEI initiative, contact Rebecca Eggeman, DEI Officer, at (805) 562-0363 or reggeman@cityofgoleta.org.

Resources:

• Demographics of Goleta from the U.S. Census Bureau
• Demographics of Boards & Commissions - coming soon
• City of Goleta Calendar of Culturally Significant Dates

Links:

• October 6, 2020, City Council Meeting video and staff report