When we look back on 2020—and all the challenges from the COVID-19 public health crisis, the horrific murder of George Floyd (just one of many African Americans to lose their lives at the hands of law enforcement), and the awakening of white Americans to the systemic racism operating in all of our institutions—there is no question that these events are difficult and dismaying. We cannot allow ourselves to be deterred by them. Instead we must recognize them as unique opportunities to make long-lasting, systemic changes, prioritizing the lives of those most impacted, which can ultimately result in a community where everyone thrives.

As I reflect on my more than 30-year career focused on social services and racial justice, I am emboldened with the progress we have made and struck with the realization that there is still much work to be done.

Talking about anti-racist transformation is met with obstacles, impediments, and challenges. Anti-racist transformation is also presented with opportunities to explode onto center stage in the national spotlight. The main challenge we face as leaders is being prepared to take full advantage of each and every single opportunity to create sustained and impactful change for our Communities of Color.

A significant opportunity for the city of Tacoma emerged in 2014, when the Tacoma city manager at the time, T.C. Broadnax, launched an effort to create the city’s Equity and Empowerment Framework. The framework commits the city to achieving equity in its service delivery, decision-making, community engagement, and hiring practices. To implement the strategies to achieve the goals of the framework, he appointed me as the director to lead a newly formed Office of Equity and Human Rights.

After decades of institutionally racist policies and procedures—many of which are documented in our video, “How We Got Here”—and disproportionate outcomes for Black and Brown people in our housing, education, health, economic, and criminal justice systems—we now have adequate quantitative and qualitative data to justify this effort to eliminate these socio-economic disparities and, perhaps for the first time, the political will.

On July 1, 2020, the Tacoma City Council adopted Resolution Number 40622. This resolution commits the mayor and city council to a comprehensive transformation process establishing new practices based on community and expert opinion, as well as past reform efforts, centering the voices of those most impacted by systemic racism. It also directs the city manager to keep anti-racism as a top priority in the budget development process and to prioritize anti-racism in the planning of an economic recovery strategy following COVID-19.

The mayor and city council have been explicit in stating that anti-racism is now our ultimate goal. This change in perspective is transforming how we conduct business across our organization and driving our biennial budget planning to center on anti-racist principles and outcomes.

One of our biggest challenges is the disproportionate outcomes in the criminal justice system for people of color. In a past community survey, a large majority of white community members expressed positive feelings of safety, while at the same time, a significant number of People of Color said that they did not feel safe. These numbers have improved in the most recent survey, but we still have much work to do.

The mistrust for police and the demands for greater safety for our Black community was affirmed in March 2020 when Manuel Ellis, a Black man, lost his life in a law enforcement altercation that was the result of asphyxiation. This incident, which was not publicly revealed until July, enraged community members of every demographic in Tacoma. The tragic and horrific murder of George Floyd exacerbated the hurt, anger, and overwhelming response from the community. They marched and demonstrated in large numbers in a peaceful manner.

As we await the outcome of the second investigation, there is ever-growing tension about whether the city will take significant action to address the systemic issues in law enforcement that have impacted People of Color for decades. Our city council recognizes the urgency to begin the transformation process with policing. We are implementing multiple strategies to achieve this goal, and a complete assessment of the Tacoma Police Department is currently being conducted.

While our internal processes are essential to transformation, the community is most important in leading the external effort. Mayor Victoria Woodards has centered the community voice in this transformation by implementing her “Heal the Heart of Tacoma” initiative, whose goal is to shape a community-led and community-wide multi-sector effort to transform Tacoma into an anti-racist community.

In affiliation with these efforts, the National Network for Safe Communities has selected the city of Tacoma as the next jurisdiction to engage in a reconciliation effort to build trust between Communities of Color and law enforcement. Our previous effort, Project PEACE, attempted to lay a foundation for this work, but we know we must first address the harms the community has endured in an authentic and transparent manner before we can holistically build sustainable relationships with Communities of Color and law enforcement. Ultimately, we want the community to define what safety means to them and how the city can help to implement their vision.

I am retiring in February 2021, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to shepherd this city that I love and admire through many roadblocks over the past six years as the chief equity officer. I am proud to have normalized conversations on race, partnered on developing more inclusive hiring practices and reducing transactional operational strategies, and worked to replace them with transformational efforts that actually help us to achieve a workforce that reflects the community.

We as leaders for anti-racist transformation must seek every opportunity to push forward efforts to apply a racial equity lens to the policies that impact and support our community members at all levels of our organizations. Our networks are our most valuable tool.

I would not have had success with these efforts without a dedicated and committed staff and the excellent leadership provided by City Manager T.C. Broadnax, City Manager Elizabeth Pauli, Tacoma Public Utility Director Jackie Flowers, and Mayor Victoria Woodards. I have also benefited from the support of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), PolicyLink, and the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. Each of these organizations is working to support this work in jurisdictions throughout the country.

Achieving anti-racist transformation will face adversity, something we know all too well, and we will often feel inadequate and imperfect. But we must remain committed. The very lives of our community depend on it.

DIANE POWERS is chief equity officer, Tacoma, Washington. She is currently a member of the ICMA’s Equity Officer Cohort.