COPA’s internal committees are employee resource groups that promote and empower employees belonging to various backgrounds, identities, or experiences. Committees’ goals are to empower diverse team members and encourage more inclusive behavior across the agency. These committees are a strategy for increasing employee participation and collaborative coordination to enhance organizational culture, promote inclusivity, healthy workspaces and employee engagement.
Committees hold regular meetings of members and leaders to socialize, network and make decisions about the journey of the resource groups and the agency that ultimately make COPA an inclusive and diversified workplace that accepts and empowers one and all. The committee’s principles include voluntary participation, listening to member opinions and suggestions, and professional development opportunities. Committees are a pillar of inclusion that create employee connections based on shared characteristics, affinity, values, heritage and life experiences. Focused areas include community outreach, cultural enrichment, wellness and social opportunities. Events are spread across the city and in-house while planning meetings may be hybrid to encourage participation. COPA’s committees are Cultural, Service, Events and Wellness.
Read our committee’s mission statements below:
Cultural Committee: Inclusion, Diversity, Teamwork, and Respect. Cultural enrichment as the facilitation, understanding, promotion, and acceptance of persons with diverse abilities, cultures, gender identities and ethnicities within COPA and the greater community through support, education and enrichment. Specifically at work, more inclusion of different perspectives and ideas when making decisions helps foster a more diverse and equitable work environment from interpersonal skills to better decision making. Highlighting the urgency in understanding other cultures to ensure recognition of everyone’s humanity.
Service Committee: To put COPA’s values and principles into practice through the actions of having meaningful community engagement, building bridges between communities throughout the City of Chicago, including those most impacted by police misconduct and disparities, and encouraging empathy and connection through service to build trust in city government.
Events Committee: To foster a culture of fun and unity by bringing coworkers together one event at a time.
Wellness Committee: Promote a positive work culture that facilitates healthy lifestyle choices and supports mental and physical well- being delivered in a safe space with empathy, care, and thoughtfulness.
Past Committee events include:
- Listen and Learn Cultural Presentations
- Clean & Green: Gardens and Vacant Lots
- Clothing and Fund Drives
- Evening Sports Games
- Ice Cream Social
- Fall Floral Arrangement Class
- Themed Discussions
- Yoga and Breathing Classes
- Movement Challenges