It took longer than expected, but Concord’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Belonging Committee finally has hired a consultant to facilitate its first steps as a committee.

The Texas-based Racial Equity Group beat out three other applicants for the job. The organization, which has worked with a number of municipalities in Massachusetts, will shepherd the committee through its first phase, culminating in the creation of an action plan in the late winter or early spring, Mayor Byron Champlin said at a meeting Tuesday.

“We felt that they were well-qualified to facilitate the process that we were engaged in,” said Champlin, who participated in the selection process along with City Councilors Ali Sekou and Jennifer Kretovic.

The city has allocated up to $40,000 to cover the Racial Equity Group’s initial costs. 

The consulting firm focuses on providing “advisory services to public and private sector organizations on racial equity, diversity, and inclusion strategies,” according to its website. It has been contracted by the city of Newton and the town of Wellesley in Massachusetts, and the town of Windsor in Vermont, among other locales in New England.

Securing a contract with the Racial Equity Group was the first major action take by a committee that has moved haltingly since its creation last year. After initial meetings last spring and summer, the committee went dormant until March. Since then, 12 members were appointed and the committee sought bids from facilitators. 

An initial round of applications failed to yield a New Hampshire-based firm and so Champlin elected t0 re-open the application window. Though a New Hampshire organization did apply in the second round, Champlin, Sekou, and Kretovic ultimately decided to go out of state.

Bird Guess, the president of the Racial Equity Group, joined the committee remotely on Tuesday to outline his team’s approach.

“I’m excited to be able to start this work with the city,” Guess said. “I’m looking at you all being an accountability structure for the City of Concord and really doing this work.”

The committee has been tasked, at least initially, with implementing DEIJB practices on the city council and the city’s boards and committees.

The city has 54 different committees, according to City Manager Tom Aspell, and there is currently no standardized DEIJB-related training process for committee members.

“What type of lens do they look through? What type of training do those folks have?” Aspell said.

Guess outlined a five-part process that his firm will lead the committee through. It will include listening sessions and focus groups with members of the community, a focus group report, the establishment of the committee’s mission, and an evaluation of the optimal structure for the committee.

By March or April, the Racial Equity Group will also put together a first draft of an action plan for the committee.

“After the consultants leave, we want to make sure that the committee knows what the city should be doing,” Guess said.

Champlin emphasized that this is the beginning of a longer process that could ultimately go in a number of directions.

“What we intend to do is to build on what we learned during the first phase to look at action steps and put together a proposal for that,” Champlin said.

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.