Decatur City Hall

The creation of a plan to address concerns about decreasing diversity in the city of Decatur is expected to cost upwards of $100,000.

Part of that would be funded by a $25,000 grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. The rest of the funding is in the city’s current budget, according to a memo from City Manager Peggy Merriss to the city commission.

During its July 20 meeting, commissioners will consider awarding a $109,000 contract to The Art of Community for the creation of a Community Action Plan. The creation of the plan came about after a group of citizens, led by former School Board member Don Denard, raised concerns about alleged racial profiling by city Police Officers. That turned into a wider discussion about diversity in Decatur and led to a $25,000 contract being awarded to the Art of Community for facilitating the discussion.

Merriss’ memo says, “Work on developing a process to create the Community Action Plan began in 2014 with the work of the Leadership Circle, a group of City of Decatur residents and city officials representing a diverse cross section of the community.  The purpose of the Leadership Circle was to meet over a period of time to work together to assess, define and be part of a recommendation to incorporate the broader community into a process that would result in an actionable plan.”

For a full break down of the contract, click here.

For more information on Decatur’s ongoing diversity discussion, click here.

The July 20 City Commission meeting begins with a work session about the plan at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at City Hall, located at 509 North McDonough Street. All meetings are open to the public.