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To lead the office, they
have appointed Crystal Harris Darnell, who has, for the past
eight years, been the director of the YMCA Achievers,
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Harris Darnell, a graduate
of Spring Arbor University, has been a trainer with “Bridges
out of Poverty” and “Getting Ahead in a Getting By World;”
an organizer of community workshops to assist individuals
living in poverty with information to build resources to
transition out of their situation; a facilitator with Dialog
For Change” focus groups that deal with issues on racism.
Prior to her diversity and
inclusion tasks with the YMCA, she served a s a youth
specialist with the Y and, before that, as a HIV youth
coordinator with the American Red Cross.
“There is no question that
the incidents of racism and brutality [brought to light] by
the George Floyd incident and the awareness of that racism
led to this,” said Lucas County Commissioners President Tina
Skeldon Wozniak during a conversation with The Truth.
“We have always felt we
were working hard to have a just county government, but we
never formalized it,” Skeldon Wozniak said. “If you really
mean it, you have to formalize it, and by formalizing it,
you are going to have to think about it every day --- every
day.”
“This was our way of
making sure we match what we believe because maybe we hadn’t
done it with a daily focus.”
For Harris Darnell, who
started her new position on February 22, this is a
continuation of a lifetime devoted to her passion of
“bringing people to one table” and examining the issue of
“how do we get to the point to treat each other with mutual
respect,” she said.
Now, entering her county
job, she mentioned three critical tasks before her.
First, “how do I find out
what has been done … what has worked and what has not worked
and then how to build a framework.
Second, she needs to have
meeting with community partners – and with staff and
stakeholders, in order to discover what their goals are.
Third, she feels it is
necessary to develop a strategic plan that will lay out
procedures to improve service delivery, tackle training and
settle on a common language. An advisory group will probably
be an important element of such a plan, she said. “I won’t
do it all by myself.”
Her very early impression
of the job before her is that there is a lot of work to be
done. “For the County to create such a position speaks
volumes – that states that we have challenges that cannot be
swept under the rug.”
And it’s a big challenge
to be sure. Harris Darnell will be reporting to the Lucas
County Commissioners but will also have to interface with a
number of County offices which are not under the supervision
of the commissioners – a different set of challenges perhaps
with each department.
“There is a strong value
in getting people to collaborate and work together,” said
Skeldon Wozniak of those challenges. “[Harris Darnell] can
help us learn ways to build collaboration and to bring
change; she can help us learn strategies and help us to
improve.”
As Skeldon Wozniak
explained, Harris Darnell’s responsibilities will include
not only working with those County departments outside of
the commissioners’ supervision but also communicating with
diversity and inclusion colleagues at a range of other
institutions – corporations, agencies, non-profits –
throughout the area. That can influence how the County does
business, said Skeldon Wozniak.
“The County is committed
to figuring this out,” said Harris Darnell. “And I want to
make a difference. How do we help everyone and make them
feel they are part of our success?”
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