Redwood City equity officer getting to work

As the city’s equity and inclusion officer, Evans will play a major role in the council’s efforts to make equity a guiding principle in city policy. Specifically, she’ll be involved in updating the city’s Strategic Plan, a document which currently centers housing, transportation and children and youth as city priorities. Evans will also help in crafting an Equity Workplan, which will seek to elevate equity in public safety, city services and the community as a whole. 

The focus on equity within city documents and the creation of Evans’ position are partly in response to local demonstrations admonishing the police killings of Black individuals including Minneapolis resident George Floyd and Louisville medical worker Breonna Taylor. Following the protests, residents would routinely take to City Council meetings to air their own frustrations regarding local policing and community resources.  

Reflecting on the remote listening sessions the city hosted in response and various webinars on race and inequality city officials attended since, Mayor Diane Howard said the city has room to improve and shared optimism for Evans and her new position.  

“We learned that when we felt we were doing a good job we should probably look at our practices and learn where we can do a better job,” said Howard. “It came from that really, the awareness that maybe we weren’t doing things equally and fair.”  

Evans will also function as the city liaison to two new committees which were a product of the community discussion. An Equity and Social Justice Committee will be formed, to which three councilmembers will be appointed by Howard during Monday’s City Council meeting. And on Jan. 25, the council will confirm the duties and recruiting process for a Police Advisory Committee, creating a line of communication between law enforcement and the community.

Redwood City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz in an email said she had come to know Evans when she participated in the recruitment process of another agency last year. Stevenson Diaz and Assistant City Manager Michelle Poche Flaherty, to whom Evans will report, ultimately offered Evans the role after meeting in the fall. 

“I was impressed with her skills related to community building, her experience supporting equity initiatives and her thoughtful and collaborative leadership style,” said Stevenson Diaz. “[She and Flaherty] determined she would be the perfect fit for advancing our internal and external diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.” 

The 29-year-old Seattle native has called the Peninsula home for 10 years, having traveled to the Bay Area to study at Stanford University. After earning a bachelor’s degree in medical anthropology, Evans returned to the institution to obtain a master’s degree in social and cultural anthropology.

Despite initial ambitions of pursuing medicine, early on in her undergraduate experience Evans said she gravitated toward public health, recognizing an individual’s well-being is directly linked to their local environment. 

After graduation, she began working with the San Mateo County Office of Diversity and Equity as a policy analyst and then a senior community health planner. Her most recent role was as an equity design strategist with Reflex Design Collective, a social equity consulting firm based in Oakland, until beginning her role with Redwood City Dec. 14. 

“My intention is to serve the community in the vision of the City Council,” she said. “The new council will be setting the vision and I make sure that implementation is appropriate and effective.” 

Looking ahead, Evans plans on engaging with trusted community messengers, the school district, religious institutions and other places where residents gather in hopes to better listen and temper dialogue with action. Evans’ opinion is less important to her than driving forward the goals of the council, she said, cautioning that one position and one person cannot solve all of a city’s problems. 

“When we think about the work folks were fighting for in the ‘60s in terms of civil rights, in some ways we’ve realized the dream of that time and some ways we haven’t,” said Evans, after announcing she was stepping on her soapbox. “Change happens in rushes and it happens in spurts and gradual inclines as well.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com 

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106

Note to readers: This story has been changed to reflect inaccurate information previously reported. The City Council will confirm the duties and recruitment process for a new Police Advisory Committee on Monday, Jan. 25.