Local NAACP President Dennis Powell and Mayor Linda Tyer speak on the city's commitment to affirmative in City Council Chambers on Wednesday.

The mayor with Board of Health member Michael Summers, left, Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski, Councilor Peter White, Personnel Director Michael Taylor, Councilor Jon Krol, Superintendent Jake McCandless, Police Chief Michael Wynn and Powell.

White, chairman of the Affirmative Action Committee, discusses his panel's role.

Pittsfield Public Schools caseworker Marie Richardson and Summers.

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Mayor Linda Tyer says her administration is committed to opening up opportunities for the city's minority populations.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A recent letter to the editor castigating the city's administration for failing to promote affirmative action prompted Mayor Linda Tyer to respond with a full court press.

James M. Boyle, currently of Cheshire, a former School Committee member and city councilor, was upset by a recent photo of the nine new firefighters hired through Civil Service and a $1.1 million grant. The white firefighters, he wrote to The Berkshire Eagle, showed a lack of commitment to diversity and he urged citizens to tell state and federal officials to cut off access to grants "until they show real progress in promoting affirmative action."

But Tyer, flanked by city officials, employees and local NAACP President Dennis Powell in City Council chambers, said Boyle had it all wrong.

"I understand and recognize that some in our community have not always felt included or represented by our local government," she said. "That is why I made such a strong commitment to this particular issue ...

"I'm here today to set the record straight but also to reassure the citizens of our city that we, and I, are committed to authentic change inside of city government."

It's still a challenge, said Powell, whose NAACP chapter pushed to reinvigorate the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee three years ago.

"Are we where we should be? No. Are we where we were? No. ...

"Progress, I'm happy to say, has been made but the process is a slow process and it's slow because it wasn't practiced in the past."

Since taking office last year, Tyer said her administration has worked to increase outreach to minority populations, provide greater access to employment and work with organizations such as the NAACP, and recruit a more diverse population on boards and commission. The process is transformative, she said, and takes time.

The mayor pointed to a recent recruitment expo hosted by the Police Department.

"The whole concept of the expo was to increase local interest and to demystify the Civil Service process," Tyer said. "The event was well attended and generated a lot of interest among a lot of young people in our community."

And as a way to eliminate financial barriers, the city is offering to pay tuition up front for student officers attending the police academy. Once hired, the new officers will pay that back through payroll deductions.

Director of Personnel Michael Taylor said the city is also working with BerkshireWorks to get potential candidates for city positions into programs that will allow them to earn certificates or the skills they need. The city also hosted an open house to introduce some of the possibilities for employment with the city.

It's all about having the qualifications for a post, he said. The city is circulating out job notices as many places it can, including through the NAACP, and ensuring that candidates understand what qualifications are required and where they can get them.

The city's demographics in 2015 was 85.1 percent white; 5.4 percent African-American; 5.4 percent Hispanic; 1.8 percent Asian and .2 percent American Indian.

Employment figures for 2016 show progress over the year before. African-American and Hispanic employees, at 3.3 percent each in 2015, are now both 5.4 percent; Asian and American Indian, both at .2 percent, haven't changed. White employees have dropped from 93.2 percent of the city workforce to 90 percent.

The city employees about 480 people; the School Department, about 1,200.

Taylor said reaching the point where the workforce better reflects or exceeds the city's demographics is the goal.  

"It's really important to understand that affirmative action is more than numbers, it goes above and beyond the numbers," he said. "The numbers can certainly be an indicator toward success in the affirmative steps we're taking here in terms of our employment practices, but it's really just the beginning ...

"True diversity is achieved not just by ensuring candidates from various backgrounds are hired, it's ensuring a culture that once they're here, we're going to make sure that they thrive and that they feel like they're equally contributing and are accepted members of this organization."

Marie Richardson, a caseworker in the Pittsfield Public Schools, has been facilitating cultural diversity trainings, including one held last week with Shirley Edgerton for senior leaders at City Hall.

"We've been in every single one of our Pittsfield Schools and we've had these conversations and these trainings. and they're hard and they're heavy but I will tell you, when I have gone to trainings outside of Berkshire county and I share what we do people are so impressed," she said. "It's so above and beyond ...  I'm really excited to start working with the city."

Councilor Peter White, chairman of the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee, said his panel meets quarterly and provides some oversight "to get the city on track on increasing our diversity numbers and letting the public know we are working on this."

Powell said Tyer and Superintendent of Schools Jason "Jake" McCandless have been good to work with, and he ticked off a list of people of color who have been appointed to boards or positions.

"We hold the mayor accountable," he said. "She assured us that the makeup of City Hall was going to change and I see her on that right path and I'm willing to give her that credit."

But while the city is trying to be more inclusive and more reflective of the people it serves, Civil Service has become a sometimes frustrating obstacle.

Firefighters, police officers and several other positions are appointed according to the Civil Service list.

"Civil Service becomes a barrier," said Powell. "Institutional racism has made it impossible for young men of color to participate."

The "school to prison pipeline" -- the tendency for young black men to be more harshly punished the justice system -- often disqualifies them immediately from taking the test.

The price of the tests, upwards of $250, the tests being held in Springfield or farther east, and the need to take them every two years, can cause insurmountable obstacles for some.

"It is flawed in a lot of ways," Tyer said. "It makes it really difficult for us to have a process that is flexible and I think it's really important that we, as elected officials, work with our state agencies and state representatives to find a solution to that flawed system."

As to why she would respond with a press conference to a letter to the editor, Tyer said it was important to correct the record.

"A letter to the editor has meaning and impact in the community and has the potential to misinform the public," she said, thanking the writer for providing the opportunity. "This is a community that's committed to diversity ... even in this environment of uncertainty at the national level, that there is real work happening right here in our city, that we can be the change we hope to see in our commonwealth and in the country overall."

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