New county equity officer outlines department assessments, internal projects and Facing Race funding challenges

Leon, Tompkins County’s recently appointed chief equity and diversity officer, used the committee’s April 27 meeting to outline how he is approaching the county’s equity work and professional-development needs.

Leon said he has completed six weeks in his new role and has begun confidential assessments with department heads using Holland-code personality categorization and a SCOTT analysis (strengths, concerns, opportunities, threats) to extract themes without singling out individuals. "Those assessments take, like, an hour and a half to 2 hours," he said, and the results will be summarized in a spreadsheet that protects anonymity.

He described "Operation OHR Overhaul," in which a workforce-development intern (Stella Phelps) is preparing the Office of Human Rights for new staff and upgrades. Leon said the office will add a monitor and cameras to a conference room to increase virtual meeting capability and that staff have approved purchase orders for that work.

Leon also described an internal video series, "Chilling with the Chief," produced with Chris Chichester. He said the series was intended for internal audiences but acknowledged links may circulate outside the county and the team is working on release controls.

On professional development, Leon raised budget constraints for sending staff to the Facing Race conference in Raleigh, noting rising registration costs and limited county training budgets. He said membership discounts and partnerships with individual legislators (Commissioner Pulliam and Allmendinger) reduced out-of-pocket costs for several attendees but that constrained budgets make it difficult to offer broad professional-development opportunities.

Committee members encouraged Leon’s outreach and suggested the committee use survey data and attendance opportunities to inform future budget requests. Leon also noted he is serving as the county’s fair-housing coordinator and will meet with David West this week to clarify duties and next steps.

"I have been delivering the message, my spiel of validating feelings, giving everyone grace and a generous assumption," Leon said, describing his approach to department work and equity outreach.