Subject
title
Adoption of the JEDI Strategic Plan
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Department
City Manager's Office (CMO)
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Mayor and Council adopt the JEDI Strategic Plan (Attachment 2), formally establishing the City's five-year direction for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) work.
Discussion
The Mayor and Council have recognized that inequities - particularly racial inequities - can be embedded in government policies and practices, creating disproportionate barriers for residents who have traditionally been disengaged from municipal decision-making. On July 12, 2021, the Mayor and Council adopted Resolution 10-21, committing the City to policies and practices that reduce implicit bias and advance fairness, inclusion, cultural competency, and equity across all areas of municipal government.
The Office of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) was established to provide administration, services, and programming designed to promote justice, ensure inclusion, and support belonging for all who live, work, and visit the City of Rockville. Since its inception, the Office of JEDI has led a number of foundational initiatives, including the Equity Champions workgroup with representatives from every department, the “Exploring the Culture of Us” workshop series, internal trainings, and participation in a Government Alliance for Racial Equity (GARE) cohort through the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG).
To build on this foundation, the city engaged The Executive Learning Lab (TELL) following a national solicitation to conduct a comprehensive assessment of JEDI needs and to develop a five-year strategic plan with accompanying accountability metrics. That assessment - combining policy review, data analysis, stakeholder interviews, and best-practices research with collaborative engagement through focus groups, community forums, employee surveys, and advisory committees - has now been completed and forms the basis of the JEDI Strategic Plan and One-Year Roadmap presented for adoption.
The City of Rockville is committed to building a government that works fairly and fully for everyone. The JEDI Strategic Plan and One-Year Roadmap translate that commitment into a shared direction for action, moving values into practice embedded across the organization. Organized through the Office of the City Manager, the plan reflects input from staff, residents, community partners, Equity Champions, and the Mayor and Council.
Rockville is not starting from scratch. The City already has equity-related policies, resolutions, programs, and tools in place, including the 3E's Impact Statement, the Budget Equity Toolkit, Resolution 10-21, Title VI commitments, and a range of housing, youth, accessibility, and community programs. This plan provides a structure for connecting those efforts, addressing areas needing growth, and helping departments move in a common direction.
The JEDI original mission is Equitable Outcomes for All. This does not mean guaranteeing identical outcomes; it means working to ensure that residents and employees have fair access to opportunities, services, participation, and respectful treatment.
What Rockville Heard
The plan was informed by multiple sources of quantitative and qualitative evidence: a citywide staff survey conducted March 16 through April 21, 2026 (completed by 210 employees across all 13 departments, a 38.3% response rate); 11 internal staff focus groups; 10 community listening sessions; five supplemental community sessions; monthly Equity Champions meetings; and feedback from the Mayor and Council.
The findings revealed meaningful strengths alongside areas requiring focused action:
• 81% of staff reported feeing valued and respected by colleagues regardless of identity
• 75% rated hiring and workforce diversity as the highest-performing JEDI program area
• 74% of staff believed city programs effectively serve diverse communities
• 36% of staff reported their department uses data to identify and address disparities
• 34% rated JEDI training positively
• 38% of staff believed residents are aware of the city’s JEDI efforts
• 25% of employees reported personally experiencing or witnessing discrimination, bias or harassment in the prior year
• 36% of employees reported experiencing or witnessing microaggressions
Community participants described similar gaps in access and visibility, raising concerns about outreach that primarily reaches residents who are already civically connected, as well as barriers related to language access, disability access, transportation, geographic equity, service navigation, trust, and representation.
Taken together, the findings point to a central challenge: Rockville has demonstrated a commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, but that commitment is not yet consistently visible, measurable, or accessible in everyday practice.
Seven Strategic Priorities
The plan responds to these findings through seven connected strategic priorities:
1. Build Shared Understanding and Practical JEDI Capacity - establish plain-language definitions, role-specific learning, and practical tools for staff.
2. Strengthen Inclusive Service Delivery and Language Access - standardize and ensure cross-organizational awareness of interpretation, translation, multilingual communication, and staff guidance.
3. Advance Accessibility, Disability Inclusion, and Inclusive Design - strengthen physical, digital, sensory, communication, and procedural access.
4. Deepen Community Engagement and Reach Underrepresented Voices - expand trusted messenger relationships, geographic inclusion, and continued outreach.
5. Embed Equity in Policies, Programs, Budgets, and Decisions - apply existing equity tools more consistently across departments.
6. Build Data, Accountability, and Governance for Implementation - establish clear goals, consistent measures, shared oversight, and public reporting.
7. Strengthen JEDI Infrastructure, Capacity, and Communication - formalize shared ownership, strengthen the Equity Champions structure, and improve internal and public communication.
These priorities are designed to work together: training supports better service delivery, community engagement improves program design, data strengthens accountability, and clear governance helps the city sustain progress across departments and over time.
Year 1 Action (August 2026 - June 2027)
Year 1 is not designed to complete this work; it is designed to lay the foundation for the rest of the five-year plan. Implementation moves through five phases: Preparation and Readiness (August 2026); Launch and Awareness (September 2026); Early Implementation and Pilots (October-December 2026); Expansion and Refinement (January-March 2027); and Progress Review and Year 2 Planning (April-June 2027).
Concrete Year 1 actions include developing a plain-language JEDI orientation for all staff, conducting a language access review and staff guide, reviewing City communications for accessibility, building a trusted messenger network to reach underrepresented residents, aligning existing equity tools such as the Budget Equity Toolkit, standing up a JEDI governance structure, and formalizing the Equity Champions role. Each action has a named lead office, key partners, and evidence of progress that the city can track and report.
How Progress Will Be Measured
Accountability under this plan is a public commitment, not an internal management exercise. The city will follow an annual cycle of plan, implement, track, report, listen, and adjust, using six types of indicators: whether the work was completed, who was reached, whether access improved, how people experienced it, whether gaps narrowed over time, and what the city learned and changed as a result.
Rockville will publish an annual public progress report each spring, written in plain language, available in accessible formats, and directly connected to the seven strategic priorities, with the first report released by June 2027. The city will also conduct periodic staff and community pulse checks at the end of Year 1, Year 3, and Year 5 to understand how implementation is actually being experienced, not just what was completed on paper. Residents, staff, and the Mayor and Council should always be able to answer three questions: What did the city commit to? What has been done? What is happening next?
This plan carries through 2030. Year 1 builds shared language, structure, and early tools. Years 2 and 3 deepen and expand that work across every department and into more communities. Years 4 and 5 sustain and institutionalize what has been built, so JEDI practice does not depend on any single office, leader, or budget cycle to survive. Each year closes with honest public reporting on what worked, what did not, and what the city is changing in response.
Impact Statements
Equity
The JEDI Strategic Plan responds to citywide staff and community input identifying gaps in language access, disability access, outreach equity, and data-driven decision-making. Year 1 actions establish the foundation for addressing those gaps through clear and specific steps with formal JEDI governance and with progress tracked annually across completion, reach, access, experience, disparity reduction, and learning, and reported publicly each spring beginning June 2027 to ensure transparency and accountability.
Environment
The JEDI Strategic Plan intersects with environmental justice through its geographic equity and transportation access priorities within Priority 4: Deepen Community Engagement and Reach Underrepresented Voices, which aim to ensure that residents in neighborhoods farthest from City services and outreach networks are included in city communication, engagement, and decision-making.
Economy
Consistent application of the Budget Equity Toolkit under Priority 5 will shape how City program and budget resources are allocated across departments and communities. Additionally, continued focus on workforce diversity within the priorities has direct implications for equitable access to City employment. The planned trusted messenger network under Priority 4 will involve partnerships with community-based organizations and might impact local funding relationships as that outreach infrastructure is developed.
Mayor and Council History
The JEDI Strategic Plan was presented to Mayor and Council on March 2, 2026, and on June 1, 2026, through work sessions.
Public Notification and Engagement
An extensive engagement process was completed that included a citywide staff survey, 11 staff focus groups, 10 community listening sessions and interviews with Mayor and Council. Public notification through the Engage Rockville: JEDI Strategic Plan site as well as through printed materials shared throughout the community in buildings and at public events.
Next Steps
Implementation of the JEDI Strategic Plan through actions outlined in the Year One Roadmap include initial steps including launch of the comprehensive communication plan to introduce the Strategic Plan publicly to staff, residents and community partners.