By Meredith Reynolds
I have found that many local government employees began their journey either by happenstance or through a related field, rarely with the intention to work in local government. But I have always wanted to do this work; this was no accident. You see, I grew up in a local government household where community service was my family’s business. My dad was a City Manager and my mom worked in public health; this environment fostered a desire to help others and informed my perspective of local government.
“No other level of government affects one’s daily life more than local government
and no other level of government can be more directly impacted by the community.”
Photo of the author brushing up on current events
This connection between those that serve and their community is a critical dynamic and a key part of every Herocrat’s work - using superpowers of courage, connection, and creativity to build a world in which every person can live their best life. The importance of this connection was instilled in me early, as my dad modeled that staff and community relationships were important to one’s ability to get community priorities accomplished and to get the organization to follow your lead. Curating this connection has also been a foundational component of my career.
“We have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of our relationships.”
I consider myself a ‘big tent’ thinker, who sees the value of bringing people together. No one can do anything alone and we are better when we work together. This philosophy aligns well with local government, which functions most effectively with participatory processes and collaborative employees. Across the different roles I’ve had in my organization, many of them include convening colleagues and I have built a diverse network who support, show up, and go out of their way to help each other. I call this my ‘coalition of the willing.’ Together, our work has made our City more livable and more beautiful, has contributed to new open space and food resiliency, and has created a framework for a more just community. One of the unique things about my coalition is many of them happen to be women – strong, educated, emotionally intelligent, delightful women.
They identify and harness employee potential, create opportunity, and celebrate the accomplishments of others.
They find connections and build upon ideas, elevating joint concepts and making ideas better.
They are present, honest, and purposeful and they listen and empathize as important issues are fiercely discussed.
They challenge perspectives and can respectfully debate without judgment or hurt feelings because they don’t have to compete to be right.
They are strong and focused while still being sassy, witty and enjoyable.
They reach down and bring people up the ladder with them and
they show others how to assemble the next ladder.
In my career, helping my coalition up the ladder has manifested most prominently in salary negotiations. It is important for women to rally around the issue of pay equity in local government. Data continues to show women are paid less money for the same work, and in the U.S. today, women who work full time make 80 cents, on average, for every dollar that white men make. And to no surprise, this wage gap is larger for women of color. The wage gap has long-term compounding economic impacts over the life of a career: a typical woman who worked full time and year-round would lose out on roughly a half-million dollars over her lifetime, compared to her male counterpart.
As women in local government, we change these outcomes by fostering connections
with women colleagues, sharing information and celebrating great work.
In every case where I have helped fellow women negotiate salary and professional development benefits, I was able to share information that they were either not aware of or did not have access to. I am generally curious and am willing to ask what employment terms others have negotiated. I also don’t subscribe to the old adage that discussing money is taboo. Sharing this information is what makes women powerful, particularly at the bargaining table.
As women in local government, I encourage women to use their connections to learn about the process others went through to get their positions (hiring process, types of interview questions, preparation techniques) and I encourage women to discuss the outcomes of their negotiations (salary, benefits, professional development, title). I also encourage women to understand where salary and benefit information lives in City budgets and transparency websites. I also encourage women to be courageous, speak up and advocate for pay equity for employees, and engage in organizational work that implements meaningful steps toward equal pay for women and employees of color who face similar structural barriers:
Discontinue policies or practices that base a job offer on one’s previous salary.
Publish employee salaries, benefits, and performance payments, including local government management positions that for many years have been “confidential”.
Offer free negotiation training classes to City employees and require unconscious/implicit bias training and standard methods of negotiation to protect against cultural biases and stereotypes of masculinity and whiteness.
Intentionally advance women’s participation in career development programs to counteract that fact that men are more likely than women to ask (and be permitted) to attend professional development training or work in departments with healthier training budgets.
Offer paid leave to be more flexible and accommodating to new parents and change the cultural narrative that the responsibility of parenting is mostly with mothers.
Formally partner with affinity groups that support your organization’s women, and regularly and publicly celebrate unsung women heroes and essential workers.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
I am a huge music fan and love the song ‘What If’ by India Arie. The powerful lyrics praise civil rights pioneers who stood up to injustice and paved the way for communities of color. The song’s bridge boldly suggests “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, we can change the world.”
We ARE the ones - we as local government professionals possess the courage to lead, can harness the power of creativity, and can foster authentic connection to engage in meaningful work with and for our communities. Herocrats, it takes us to change us so let’s put our superpowers to good use.
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Meredith Reynolds serves as the Special Deputy City Manager for Recovery for the City of Long Beach.
Meredith brings 15 years of experience in community and staff engagement, user-centered design, relationship building and partnerships, strategic planning, grant writing and budgeting, land use planning, and project management in the fields of community services, parks and recreation, sustainability, and public sector management in some of California's most diverse, well run and award-winning cities. Meredith has a master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration with a minor in Organizational Communication from California State University, Chico, is an alumni of the Coro Fellowship Program in Public Affairs, and is a member of the City’s racial equity cohort, with training from the Government Alliance on Race & Equity.