Why this matters
The Office of Race and Equity aimed to “address all forms of disparities experienced by individuals in San Diego” by dismantling any unfair policies, procedures and budget decisions that perpetuate systemic racism, according to its mission statement.
Nearly five years after creating the Office of Race and Equity, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed budget includes eliminating the department and shifting its remaining positions elsewhere.
It’s a move that the mayor announced in February, when he fired the city’s chief operating officer and consolidated some departments.
Five race and equity positions would be transferred to the Human Resources Department, where staff said at a Budget Review Committee meeting last week that they would continue the office’s work.
The race and equity office had been without a director since August 2024, when Kim Desmond resigned to pursue another opportunity. Her position was never permanently filled and now it, along with a vacant program coordinator role, are set to be eliminated.
“This is actually streamlining those efforts so we don’t have to have so many departments at the table,” Alia Khouri, deputy chief operations officer of the city’s Operational Support Branch, said at the meeting.
The restructuring of the office, created in 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and a national demand for racial justice, is part of Gloria’s answer to the city’s quarter-billion dollar budget deficit.
City officials insist they’re not backing away from race and equity work. Instead, the work will be embedded in human resources, Khouri said. Rather than thinking of race and equity work as belonging to a team of a few employees, she said, now it will be among the dozens who make up the Human Resources Department.
Human resources also would face cuts: a reduction of 11 of its nearly 70 positions, including managers, coordinators and an analyst, according to a city Independent Budget Analyst report. Most of the positions set to be cut are vacant.
The move would have a “significant impact” on the department’s capacity to do its work, the report said. Khouri said the city’s race and equity work — such as hiring a well-trained and diverse workforce — would be “less” and “slower” with fewer employees focused on recruitment.
The budget would also cut employee recruitment tools, such as software and compensation analysis reports that compare the city’s salaries to other industries and agencies.
The race and equity office was tasked with dismantling what the city describes as unfair policies, procedures and budget decisions “that perpetuate inequity and systemic racism.” It already faced cuts last year after the city redirected about $3 million from the Community Equity Fund, which was meant to provide grants to local organizations working in under-resourced communities, to help residents recovering from the January 2024 floods.
Gloria’s most recent draft budget listed just under $90,000 for the fund — all of it earned interest, city spokesperson Nicole Darling said. The council would decide whether to allocate more money for the fund and how to spend the remaining revenue, she said.
The consolidation of multiple departments — including race and equity — will save the city over $5 million annually, Rachel Laing, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in an email.
Laing also said federal efforts to dismantle what the Trump administration perceives as diversity, equity and inclusion programs did not impact Gloria’s decision. City officials will continue to weigh “disparate impacts on communities” when making policy decisions, she said.
“The (city) administration is firmly committed to continuing this progress,” Laing said.
Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera criticized the consolidation.
“It just continuously feels like this isn’t as important as it’s being said it is, because I just don’t see it,” he said. “I don’t understand how this can be one of the first things that’s pulled, that’s cut.”
He disagreed that consolidating the two departments shows that the city is “prioritizing our race and equity work.”
“I feel like I’m being gaslit,” he said.
City officials published a news release last week saying that equity remains a focus for day-to-day operations and highlighted what equity-related programming remains under the mayor’s proposed budget: free internet access at some public facilities; translation and interpretation services; community-based violence prevention; housing stability programs; future trash fee subsidies for seniors and low-income residents; and more.
Other offices that are proposed to be restructured or consolidated include the Government Affairs, Boards and Commissions, Sustainability and Mobility, Cultural Affairs, Child and Youth Success, and the Chief Operating Officer.
Departments citywide face sweeping cuts to help balance a $258 million budget deficit. The committee, which is made up of all nine councilmembers, met for five days last week to discuss the mayor’s first draft of budget adjustments. The mayor will release a revised version of his proposed budget on Wednesday.
From the Documenters
The city of San Diego’s Budget Review Committee meeting was also covered by Simon Mayeski, a Documenter. The San Diego Documenters trains and pays community members to document what happens at public meetings. Read the note here.
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
