West Cook News

Female and black new hires by the Village of River Forest might be demoralized by the suggestion they be “productive,” so the word should be removed from an employee onboarding packet.

That’s one of the recommendations included in a seven-page report by Chicago-based consultancy Nova Collective, hired by the Village of River Forest last fall to provide advice on how to hire fewer white men who aren’t homosexual. 

The report, which has not been released to the public, but was obtained by West Cook News, cost River Forest taxpayers $50,000.

“Many times, ‘productivity’ is coded with the expectation that an employee must ‘exceed expectations' in order to be in good standing,” the Nova Collective report said. “The focus should be on the well being of the employee, making sure they feel valued so they can be accountable for what is expected of them.”

In the village personnel manual, the use of the phrase "disciplinary action" to describe actions disciplining an employee, and 'probationary period' to refer to an employee's probationary period in a position, should be "reframed" if the village wants to retain non-white employees, Nova advised.

"Disciplinary action' is common HR language that comes across as punitive when in reality this can be an opportunity to create behavioral change with an equity lens," the report said. "Ultimately, the goal of "discipline' at work is to correct unwanted behaviors or to normalize desired behaviors, and not to punish. And yet that is the tone throughout the (personnel manual)."

Probation is an "outdated" concept in the workplace, Nova argued.

"Nova highly recommends removing the term 'probation' from all Village processes and procedures and focus on something more positive, like "Introductory or Learning Period," the report said.

Tracking "microaggressions and "solidarity" with "Maywood, Black Lives Matter and neighboring black communities.”

Nova said the village needs to start tracking "incidents of bias" by white employees to non-white ones.

"Bias and microaggressions.. tend to fly under the radar since they are not perceived as “serious” as sexual harassment but can be equally as damaging/harmful," the report said.

"Microaggressions" is a term used to described imaginary perceived slights, or "acts of racism that are invisible to the naked eye."

Nova suggested River Forest mandate "bias training" for all village hiring managers and to implement an NFL-like "Rooney Rule," which would require it to interview non-white heterosexual male candidates for every open position.

Nova criticized the village for its references to biological sex in materials, advising it remove pronouns like "he" and "her" and replace them with "they." Words like "mother" and "father" should be replaced by "parent," the report said.

The village's employment application doesn’t sufficiently “promote (hiring non-white heterosexual men)" as a priority of River Forest, Nova said.

 “Use this as an opportunity to create a statement that shares what the Village of River Forest believes in (and) how women, people of color and LGBTQ people are encouraged to apply,” the Nova report said.

Nova also recommends that River Forest eliminate Columbus Day and that it replace it with “Indigenous People’s Day” and that it add “Juneteenth as a paid holiday” to “build stronger solidarity (with) Maywood, Black Lives Matter and neighboring black communities.”

In 2021, River Forest Village Trustee Erika Bachner began reciting a statement before board meetings, apologizing to “indigenous” Indian tribes Bachner claims lived on River Forest village land before her constituents' predecessors stole it from them.

Village of River Forest Administrator Matt Walsh presented the results of Nova Collective’s study during the DEI committee’s meeting on May 15.

He said it included a survey of 62 village employees.

Nova Collective LLC touts itself as “woman-owned” and led by non-whites, “devoted to transforming organizational cultures no matter where they are on the DEI journey.”

The company’s founders have Oak Park ties.

Accounts manager and co-founder Tiffany Hudson describes herself as a “black lesbian” raised in Oak Park before moving to Naperville. She played basketball at Illinois State University in Normal.

Operations manager and co-founder is Brynne Hovde of Oak Park, who developed a program for  “deconstructing whiteness.” She’s also the “organizing founder of Represent Oak Park,“a coalition committed to supporting Black candidates for local elected office. She’s a native of Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.

In Oct. 2022, the River Forest Village Board voted unanimously to pay Nova Collective $50,000 to “assess village practices, policies and structures” over a “two phase,” 25 week assessment.

Founded in 2021, River Forest’s “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group” is led by village trustees Ken Johnson and Erika Bachner and includes citizen members Guillermo Arauz, Stacey Austin, David Bonner, Mindy Credi, Renee Duba-Clancy, Anja Hermann, Kirk Johnson, Chris Johnston, Jenny Kelly, Megan Keskitalo, Farzad Khaledan, Kent Kirk, Sharon Oates, Mary Jane Oliver, Dionna Plywacz, Abigail Rogers, Cindy Shea, Liz Simon, Whitney Simon and Dorota Szerszenowicz-Olweny.

Its first action as a committee was declaring it would not start scheduled meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance. Then-member Roshni Ricchetti objected to the Pledge's reference to God, saying its reference to a higher power is "introducing magic into the equation."