Hankerson asks about cultural and sensitivity training
Hankerson asks whether permit-office staff receive cultural training. Cerrone says all new Parks employees get two days of orientation including sensitivity and cultural training, and the citywide special events team will retrain after parade and marathon season.
I appreciate that.
Given the permit offices tend to be the front-facing division or unit within the Parks Department engaging with community members, various cultures, are they required to take any type of cultural training?
So every employee that starts with parks goes through an orientation for two days.
And part of that orientation involves sensitivity training and cultural training and wanting to make sure that we're always interacting with the public in the most positive way possible.
And I can tell you, Councilmember, that is a top priority for the commissioner.
I can also say that with regard to our citywide special events training, as soon as this, after the parade and the marathon, there's a little bit of a better time to do retraining.
And we're going to be retraining with our staff in the citywide event.
So it's not just when we start, but it's making sure that we're updating those trainings and refreshing them and doing that time and time again.
Our goal is to be the best that we can possibly be as public servants.
And that means when the public or when a council member interacts with us, that they feel good about that experience.
Are the trainings...
Led by outside organizations or are they conducted in-house?
They're conducted in-house.
We have a dedicated team that is the Parks Training Academy that does trainings on customer service and several other areas where we want to make sure that our staff is able to constantly get that kind of update.
And I can say they're very accomplished, and they take their job very seriously, and they continue to look at best practices for teaching agency personnel and updating them on how standards evolve.