After the city disbanded its DEI Commission, the community stepped up with DEi project
KAMILA VARGAS-GONZALEZ | Dallas Voice Intern
editor@dallasvoice.com
It’s crunch time: Amidst Rowlett City Council’s decision late in May to disband its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission, activists in the suburb east of Dallas quickly moved to create the DEI Community Project nonprofit to resume the DEI Commission work of funding and organizing Rowlett’s annual Pride Month festivities.
The city council’s 4-3 vote motioned the disbanding on May 7, days after, DEI advocates Kellie McKee, Susan Urrutia, and Missy Tidwell stood at the forefront of creating the DEI Community Project nonprofit that has already organized events for the nonprofit’s first official event, the Sweet Taste of Pride. The event is free to the public and will be held from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. on Friday, June 28, in Downtown Rowlett. It will include free food and drinks, live performances, giveaways and social activities.
“We want to take over and fill the void that was gonna be left by the commission,” said Kellie McKee, president of the DEI Community Project. “We want to take over all of those things and all of those areas that the commission was doing.”
The event celebrating the LGTBQ community was held last year by Rowlett’s DEI Commission and had been scheduled to happen again this year; however, the council’s move to disband the commission caused the DEI Community Project to form and pick up the Pride event.
McKee said, this year, everything has been done and paid for with funds raised by the DEI Community Project, separate from city funds. “Everything that was available to the city for free, we had to pay for. It was a big difference.”
The vice president of the DEI Community Project, Susan Urrutia, recalled the success of last year’s Pride event. “We were so amazed whenever 300 people showed up, and it was just beyond anything we ever thought,” Urrutia said.
However, DEI’s success in bringing the community together was not enough to keep the council from disbanding the commission. Urrutia said she wants to show the city council how much the community needs and supports DEI.
“I hope [the city’s council] take away the reality that they represent everyone and not only the people they agree with,” Urrutia said.
Although Mayor Pro Tem Debra Shinder made the motion to remove the DEI Commission from the city’s handbook, she plans to attend the DEI Community Project’s Sweet Taste of Pride. Shinder told Dallas Voice by email that she looks forward to seeing whether and how [the Sweet Taste of Pride] differs from the city-sponsored and city-controlled events of the past few years.
“I hope the organization will reach out to all members of our community, regardless of race, religion, lifestyle or ideology, and strive to make our diverse city one of mutual respect,” Shinder said.
The city council’s decision to disband the DEI Commission is permanent, the nonprofit’s directors carry on its initiatives. Urrutia said the DEI Community Project plans to have parenting workshops for parents of LGBTQ kids as their next initiative.
“We want to keep supporting and promoting and making sure that nothing that was previously done by the DEI Commission drops,” Urrutia said.
For more information on DEI Community Project and The Sweet Taste of Pride, visit DEICommunityPproject.org