Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson came to the Florida Gulf Coast University campus last fall to meet with students in a class on diversity taught by Dr. Peter Ndiang’ui.
The mayor and Dr. Ndiang’ui have known each other for about a decade, and he would sometimes come to his classes to spend some time chatting with students to get their perspectives on issues of the day. It was during that class last fall that a student asked if the mayor had anyone specifically advising him on issues surrounding diversity and inclusion. Mayor Henderson said he did not, but he liked the idea, and now with the help of Dr. Ndiang’ui it has become a reality.
The new 18 member Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee will help the mayor evaluate the city’s diversity and inclusion policies. It’s basically an attempt to ensure he doesn’t have any blind spots when it comes to creating a more diverse and inclusive community.
The committee is pursuing data-driven research and analysis to measure things like efforts to recruit and retain minority companies for city services, engage employees from all backgrounds to work in the city, and include other diversity-related organizations that could assist in these efforts. We're joined by Mayor Henderson, and Dr. Ndiang'ui to learn more.
