EAST LANSING, Mich. — East Lansing City Manager George Lahanas announced today the selection of Elaine Hardy to serve as the City of East Lansing’s first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Administrator.
This new position was created to coordinate and guide efforts to define, understand, assess, foster and cultivate diversity, equity and inclusion for the City of East Lansing. Hardy, who has served almost 19 years as the East Lansing Hannah Community Center Coordinator and 17 years as the City of East Lansing’s liaison to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan (almost 12 years as the Commission’s chairperson), will step into her new role on Monday, June 22.
As the City’s first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Administrator, Hardy will develop and oversee programs, services, initiatives, trainings and organizational cultural realignment strategies designed to enhance the workplace culture and the quality of life in the City of East Lansing. She will also build relationships with diverse populations within the East Lansing community to promote diversity as an essential and core element of the mission of the City of East Lansing. Specific duties of Hardy’s new role will include, but not be limited to:
- Researching, developing, recommending and executing creative strategies to foster the organization’s diversity goals.
- Reviewing the City’s current practices and policies and assessing and analyzing the extent to which they support or hinder the organization’s diversity goals.
- Collecting and analyzing statistical data to evaluate the organization’s population in accordance with diversity standards and goals.
- Drafting and implementing recruiting and hiring strategies to attract employees from diverse backgrounds.
- Recommending training and development to aid diversity and retention initiatives.
- Serving as the organizational liaison with government agencies concerning equal employment opportunities.
- Serving as the liaison to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan.
- Maintaining knowledge of diversity-related issues, legislation and best practices.
- Providing and/or implementing training and policy updates to colleagues, ensuring legal compliance of management and Human Resources staff.
- Providing support to the East Lansing Human Relations Commission as needed.
- Serving as the facilitator of the City’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee.
- Performing outreach and relationship-building with community groups/organizations and stakeholders, specifically those in protected classes.
- Serving as professional staff support to various committees, as assigned, including the upcoming police oversight work.
- Assisting in creating, developing and implementing opportunities for community input events.
“Elaine is someone who has a great passion for making East Lansing and the region as a whole a more inclusive, equitable and welcoming place for all community members,” said Lahanas. “She also has had a leadership role in the region, serving as chairperson of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan for more than a decade. She is someone I trust to move this very important mission forward for the City of East Lansing.”