Saline To Host Implicit Bias Trainings

How do you know if you are harboring implicit biases against one group or another; and how do you deal with those biases if they exist? The City of Saline is going to be inviting people of all walks of life to join staff members at City Hall, September 13, for anti-bias training.

“We want to open this up to as many people as possible. We think this is super important to the community. We’re happy to open [this] up, if there’s room, after our staff has completed the training,” Sarah Massey, a PR Generalist at the City of Saline, said.

Recently, Saline has had to hold anti-bias trainings over Zoom because of the coronavirus pandemic. But the September 13 session will be held at the City Hall Council Chambers in person, in classes that have been capped at 30 to keep the sessions manageable. The first session will go from 9:00 a.m. to noon and the second session will go from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The city does plan to go to virtual again if needs be, but that is not the plan at the moment.

“One of the goals identified by our community through the strategic planning process includes ongoing training and education opportunities for our staff with an emphasis on cultural competency. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion trainings offered by the City of Saline provide staff an opportunity to examine and improve our on [and] off duty interactions with our diverse citizenry and a higher degree of understanding regarding those who have been historically marginalized,” Saline Police Chief Jerrod Hart said in a press release from the city.

The sessions will include group sessions talking about what “diversity,” “equity” and “inclusion really mean to the participating members, and group sessions where people can go more in depth on individual topics. This is a learning experience, and Saline PR Generalist Sarah Massey said that it is ok to be wrong. 

“Creating an environment where all feel safe and welcome is a key priority for city government,” Mayor Brian Marl said in the press release. “As such, we’re delighted to host another round of DEI staff training, and welcome other individuals and community groups to participate.”