Diversity, equity and inclusion a priority for Downers Grove Village Council candidates

DOWNERS GROVE – A variety of topics were covered last week during a forum for candidates vying for seats on the Downers Grove Village Council.

Candidates addressed diversity, equity and inclusion; historic preservation; enhancing the business district; and allowing more opportunities for artistic expression during the March 19 event at First United Methodist Church in Downers Grove.

Five of the six candidates participated in the forum, which was sponsored by DG Candidate Conversations. Questions were submitted by community organizations, including EQDG Pride, the Pierce Downer Heritage Alliance, Friends of the Edward House and The Art Department.

The candidates vying for three seats on the council are incumbents Greg Hose and Marge Earl and challengers Andrew Pelloso, Chris Gilmartin, Danny Glover and Tammi Karam. Earl did not participate in the forum or any of the candidate events leading up to the April 6 election.

The forum can be viewed at www.youtube.com/channel/UCfU4r4aU4al8XFcEvhEn2ew.

All of the candidates agreed that diversity, equity and inclusion is a key initiative for the village moving forward, and the village council needs to take the lead.

Karam offered a straightforward philosophy on the topic.

“Everybody is included, and making sure there’s a place at the table for everybody,” the 42-year-old Karam said. “That’s where I see a role as a councilwoman – to make sure there’s a place at the table for everybody.”

Karam’s husband is of Lebanese descent, and joining his family helped Karam gain a new perspective on diversity, she said. Specifically, she views diversity as something that joins rather than separates people.

Glover agreed that the village should make diversity, equity and inclusion a priority and recounted what he’s learned about the issue via a friendship with a member of the LGBTQ community.

“I think everybody at some point in their life has been a little ignorant to the fact that certain people don’t feel as accepted within their communities or organizations as others,” the 33-year-old Glover said.

Hose pointed out that the village already has taken important steps to be both diverse and inclusive.

“I see the role of commissioners with regard to diversity, equity and inclusion as twofold,” the 39-year-old Hose said. “First off, it’s how do you act as a village when you are hiring, when you are promoting, when you are paying your employees? What we have to do first is make sure we’re advertising open positions in all the right places, recruiting in all the right places to get diverse candidates that reflect our values.”

He added that it’s important for the village to reach out to the community and “celebrate the diversity among us.” That goal can be achieved, he said, by partnering with the library and community organizations.

“I believe very strongly that this a welcoming community,” said Hose, a member of the council since 2013.

Gilmartin said his approach to diversity and inclusion if elected to the council would be rooted in learning about the experiences of others.

“I view and will view my role on the council as twofold,” he said. “One, as a student. That is, to learn, to hear the experiences. To understand the impact of exclusionary practices. To understand those experiences that I may not have had myself but hear through the stories of others.”

The 48-year-old Gilmartin, a member of the village’s human services commission, would use the information garnered from those stories to be the voice for others “who aren’t heard on a regular basis.”

Pelloso echoed other commissioner hopefuls, saying diversity, equity and inclusion would be a top priority if elected.

“As a commissioner, I view diversity, equity, equality and inclusion as a major, major undertaking,” the 52-year-old Pelloso said.

He added that members of the council can’t “just check a box” when it comes to addressing equity, diversity and inclusion. Instead, a long-term commitment is required to create policy and a community that focuses on inclusion, he said.

“There needs to be an honest, earnest and forthright commitment on the part of anyone who’s a commissioner, anyone who sits on the council, to model what is good for the community,” Pelloso said.

An important step in that undertaking, he said, would be to take a hard look at the village to see what’s being done institutionally “that could be impeding our ability to have a diverse population, to have people feel welcome in our village regardless of their race, their religion, their sexual orientation.”

“Inclusion is seeing people for who they are and making the institutional changes necessary to make that community better for everyone,” Pelloso said.

Early voting is underway. Visit www.dupageco.org/earlyvoting/ for early voting locations.

Editor’s note: Other issues discussed at the forum will be covered in a subsequent story. Visit www.shawlocal.com/my-suburban-life/ for that story and more election coverage.