Bend affirms equity and inclusion efforts amid federal backlash to DEI initiatives

Earlier this month, the city of Bend announced it is seeking applicants to fill three vacancies on its Human Rights and Equity Commission. Its goals include advocating for historically marginalized or underrepresented groups, evaluating city policies or regulations for potential barriers they may create and recommending how to remove them. 

The commission is one of two community advisory groups convened by Bend’s Accessibility and Equity Department, which also provides linguistic services to non-native English speakers, and an array of other programs and training on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Meanwhile, Deschutes County commissioners recently voted to end the county’s DEIA committee. Andrés Portela, Bend’s equity and inclusion director, joins us to talk about his efforts amid the Trump administration’s backlash against DEI initiatives in government agencies, institutions and workplaces