Our Vision

The City of Little Rock's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) creates space for historically excluded communities to advocate for themselves by valuing and supporting diverse cultures, ensuring access to leaders and information, facilitating collaboration, and leveraging relationships. Housed in Executive Administration, the ODEI supports City team members and residents alike, focusing on talent management, community engagement, and economic opportunity.

We envision a Little Rock where people of all ages, abilities, identities, statuses, and colors collaborate to achieve an inclusive community where all residents can realize their full potential.

Equity means ensuring fair access to resources and opportunities for all without impartiality.

Equity differs from equality, as it requires treating people differently based on need and circumstance.

Equity:

• Promotes fairness by meeting people where they are.

• Requires intentional inclusion of historically excluded groups and deliberate actions to remove systemic, group, and individual barriers to opportunity.

• Is achieved by identifying and eliminating policies, practices, attitudes, stereotypes, and cultural messages that create and reinforce unfair outcomes.

Utilizing the Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Benchmarks, we work to:

• Ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) decisions are data-driven;

• Empower engagement through effective communication; and

• Educate all to achieve and utilize DEI competence and confidence.