GREEN:
Things that sound like a step in the right direction
At the most recent Housing and Community Development meeting, Assistant City Manager Rachel Wood announced that the City had received a technical assistance grant from the Public Finance Initiative, which will support their efforts to collect and analyze racial data and better assess progress on equity-related initiatives.
We appreciate City leaders taking the initiative to pursue this support. In the meeting, Ms. Wood referenced the fact that the Cease the Harm Audit named inconsistent racial data collection and analysis as a “key harm,” a point we’ve also been making in our outreach to the County about this issue. We’re glad to see the City taking a tangible step toward remedying this harm.
Our Ask
We invited GAP Supporters to join us in reaching out to express appreciation to Assistant City Manager Rachel Wood, Office of Equity and Inclusion Director Sala Menaya-Merritt, and Strategic Services Manager Frank McGowan, all of whom collaborated on the grant, and to Mayor Esther Manheimer for bringing the opportunity to the staff’s attention.
REPORT BACK STATUS
Satisfactory
Report Back
No response yet from these folks, and we’re still suggesting you should write to them, if you haven’t already.
Check out our email template below expressing appreciation for the successful pursuit of this grant.
GAP Supporter Actions Taken: 3
Recipients and Responses:
Asheville City Staff and Mayor
- Assistant City Manager Rachel Wood – no response
- Office of Equity and Inclusion Director Sala Menaya-Merritt – no response
- Strategic Services Manager Frank McGowan – no response
- Mayor Esther Manheimer – no response
CITY EMAIL TEMPLATE
You can send an email to Assistant City Manager Rachel Wood, Office of Equity and Inclusion Director Sala Menaya-Merritt, Strategic Services Manager Frank McGowan, and Mayor Esther Manheimer. Our email tool will send an individually addressed email to the recipients, and enable us to track how many emails were sent overall in the campaign. If you prefer to write your own email, you can copy and paste (and adapt) our template text – we ask that you send us a copy (cc: or bcc:, your choice) at info@gapavl.org so we can better track how many emails were sent.
To: rwood@ashevillenc.gov, smenaya-merritt@ashevillenc.gov, fmcgowan@ashevillenc.gov, esthermanheimer@avlcouncil.com
CC: or BCC: info@gapavl.org
Subject: Appreciation for Getting Racial Equity Data Grant
Dear Ms. Wood, Ms. Menaya-Merritt, Mr. McGowan, and Mayor Manheimer,
I heard the good news that the City was awarded a technical assistance grant from the Public Finance Initiative on how to collect and analyze data to better assess progress on equity-related initiatives. As Ms. Wood acknowledged at the recent Housing and Community Development meeting, this will support the City in addressing its inconsistency around racial data processes, which was named as a “key harm” in the Cease the Harm audit. I appreciate the efforts of Ms. Wood, Ms. Menaya-Merritt, and Mr. McGowan in applying for the grant, and the Mayor’s role in alerting staff to this opportunity.
Thanks for your leadership,