Intentionality, Relationships and Adapting for Equity: Three Insights from NGIN’s Tacoma LEAP
Written By Mari Kate Mycek
NGIN’s Small and Midsized City Hub brought us across the country to Tacoma into the offices and neighborhoods of practitioners working tirelessly for positive change in their communities. In Tacoma, we had the pleasure of meeting with Mayor Victoria Woodards, practitioners working in many different municipal offices, grassroots community organizations, small businesses, non-profits, and economic development organizations.
NGIN gathered cross-sectoral city teams from across the US (Carson, CA; Cedar Rapids, IA; Roanoke, VA; Savannah, GA; and York, PA) for the Learn, Explore, Activate in Place (LEAP) experience in Spring 2023 in Tacoma to build stronger relationships with each other and explore what it means to activate inclusive economic growth in their communities. While we explored the city, we saw Mt. Rainier poking out from behind the clouds, which our local guide told us is a sign of a good day.
The Tacoma partners and our LEAP delegates shared openly with each other, including a deeper understanding of some of Tacoma’s amazing equity centered programs like the Equity Index and GRIT program. It was inspiring to see the thoughtful questions, openness, and team building in real time happening across the LEAP delegation teams.
A few key insights from the Tacoma LEAP below will hopefully help others identify pathways for inclusive growth in all communities, and especially Small and Midsized Cities (SMCs).
Key Insights from Tacoma LEAP
Policy, legislation, and institutional efforts that explicitly name equity as a priority supports inclusive growth.
At the Tacoma LEAP and throughout my career, I have often heard from practitioners doing equity work that it can be challenging convincing others to prioritize equity – especially racial equity. I’ve experienced this myself and was eager to hear from others how they address this challenge. What I found striking was how often Tacoma practitioners referenced a city resolution by name, Resolution 40622: “Resolution 40622 formally acknowledges that the City of Tacoma’s existing systems have not adequately served the needs of everyone in our community and, in particular, have not adequately served the needs of Black community members and other community members of color” (More here). Tacoma practitioners detailed how they reference this resolution as a way of not having to personally convince others to prioritize equity, because they are able to rely on the institutional language that clearly outlines that they must prioritize equity. Naming racial equity in policy and legislation is happening at the federal level, too, and influencing communities’ ability to access federal funding across the county. It’s not just Tacoma that is tackling institutional racism head on, other cities are tackling systemic issues through a variety of policy actions.
Tacoma practitioners also acknowledged that institutional language and policy alone cannot uphold principles of equity and inclusion; the people who have power to hold others accountable must do so. We can all likely call to mind situations in which priorities fall to the wayside because there isn’t organizational or public support, and no consequences for when it is not upheld. At the end of the day, it is people who create institutions, and people who will change them.
Partnerships are powerful. Relationships are key.
We saw powerful cross-sector partnerships in Tacoma through collaborative presentations, like those given by members of the Black Collective and the Tacoma Anchor Network and witnessed how they are able to drive meaningful change in their city. Building trust across institutions and organizations that represent different communities, identities, and sectors in a city is critical for inclusive growth. The relationships between Tacoma stakeholders allowed us to have candid conversations about building trust, transparency, and learning from failures. Wayne Williams, a member of the leadership team at the Black Collective, urged the LEAP delegates to find the people and the organizations in their own city who they can learn and grow with to create equitable change. No other city has an organization like the Black Collective, but every city has people who play a similar role in their community and who should be engaged in inclusive economic development.
Official partnerships between organizations are vital, and having trusting relationships with people who are going to be sitting beside you advocating for change is critically important. We heard from LEAP delegates that building stronger relationships with Tacoma practitioners, and within their own city teams, made their work feel less daunting. Strong relationships, whether inside an official partnership or not, help practitioners to feel supported in their work. This can build capacity for inclusive growth in a city. Social support is proven to help people be more resilient to stress. Having strong relationships with others who are working alongside you to help create positive social change, can build personal resilience through feelings of community and support, as well as organizational capacity by bringing in additional people to support implementation. A LEAP delegation team noted that because they built stronger connections in Tacoma, when a grant application with a quick deadline came up, they were able to connect quickly and apply together. Having relationships in this work is more than just about productivity, care for one another and ourselves is crucial to ensure we have the capacity to keep moving forward.
Always adapt, reflect, listen, and grow as a community together.
At NGIN, we understand there are some things that are necessary elements of equitable economic development, and there is a huge spectrum of ways that communities go about it in their own way. Every community is unique, and so taking something that works in one location may not work the same in another. What was clear through our trip to Tacoma and talking with LEAP delegates is that while cities will always have to adapt to what works for them, it can only happen equitably if you approach it collectively – sharing power and building from the ground up. Carol Mitchell, founder of Tacoma’s Institute for Black Justice, stressed that economic development needs to be a wholistic approach that not only includes the whole community, but the whole person. If a city really wants to invest in a community, you need to critically look at what you are doing and recognize that economic development might not look like what you think it might, and you must really listen to what people are saying and act on it. As a LEAP delegate wrote reflecting on the trip, “Overall, I think I gained the most knowledge about what it really means to be inclusive. There are many layers to being inclusive, and sometimes, when we think we are, we are actually nowhere near it.”
Mayor of Tacoma Victoria Woodard and NGIN VP, Insights and Innovation Swati Ghosh
Breaking down inequitable systems takes time. Adapting and changing as a community is necessary, and truly listening to those most affected by the problems you are trying to solve needs to be centered in the process – even if that means slowing down to build trust, bring in new organizations and community members, and starting from scratch.
We left Tacoma inspired with some clear insights: Change the rules. Support each other while you do it. Adapt and never stop asking how things can be more equitable, we all make mistakes but we can grow from them.