Plan Adopted!

The Belonging in Bozeman Equity & Inclusion Plan has been unanimously adopted by City Commission! Now we’ve got a plan that sets forth a path for collaboration across organizations, capacity building, deeper engagement, and better service delivery to those who need it most. We are so proud of what we’ve created together and implementation of several recommendations has already begun!

So what’s next? Now, it’s up to City departments and lead organizations to review the implementation workbook (Appendix B) and integrate the recommendations they’re leading into their work over the next three to five years. For the City of Bozeman, recommendations will be incorporated into departmental work plans, budget requests, and staffing plan requests.

Reporting progress: Over 1/3^rd of the recommendations (38/98 total) are already “In-progress” and will be ongoing efforts or are on their way to being “Complete!”

• Each year, the City will reach out to partner organizations to gather any progress updates and metrics on recommendations for an annual update that we’ll deliver to the public via presentations at Economic Vitality Board and City Commission meetings. This annual update process will be orchestrated by a new staff member at the City of Bozeman that we’re currently calling the “Belonging in Bozeman Coordinator.” We hope to post this position and bring them on in early FY25 (Summer of 2024).
• In 5 years, we’ll take a comprehensive look at the plan and see to what extent it needs to be re-written to fit changing community contexts and progress made.

Since the community engagement phase of the plan development has wrapped up, updates regarding implementation can be found at www.bozeman.net/equityandinclusion.

Thank you for your contributions to the plan!