The Finance Committee accepted a $10,000 award from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to support cultural-humility training for municipal staff.

Kelly Curran, head of personnel, told the committee the grant was awarded previously and the city used it for equity work; the program will again pay for cultural-humility training facilitated by the Women of Color Health Equity Collective. Curran said the course is about six hours, covers topics including implicit bias, affinity bias, and the practice of cultural humility, and the collective will offer in-person sessions for departments that cannot participate online — notably the police, fire and DPW. Curran said the city used prior funding for books, food at department meetings and T-shirts, and that staff had offered positive feedback when department heads participated first to vet the material.

Councilor Israel Rivera urged inclusion of historical context about how policy and systems have affected different communities, saying such context helps staff provide services that meet community needs. Councilor Sullivan asked for a copy of the curriculum; Curran agreed to provide it to the committee administrative assistant for distribution ahead of the full council meeting.

The committee approved acceptance of the grant by voice vote.