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Dearborn's Hiring Practices Under Scrutiny
A coalition of Arab-American organizations is examining the city’s hiring practices to see why more Arabs aren’t on the municipal workforce.
The Congress of Arab American Organizations — an umbrella outfit that comprises more than 20 civic, business and social groups — has begun collecting testimony from Arab Dearborn residents who have applied for city jobs, but were not hired.
Imad Hamad, whose American Arab Anti-Arab Discrimination Committee is a CAAO member, said the issue has been a topic of discussion in the Arab community for years.
“Before, people talked about it, but nobody felt compelled to bring action to address it,” Hamad said. “Lately, it became an issue and that’s what pushed us to move forward with this inquiry.”
The fact-finding mission was in part spurred by a federal grant awarded to the city in June to hire more police officers, Hamad said. The CAAO then sent a letter to the Mayor Jack O’Reilly and Police Chief Ronald Haddad.
“We feel that it’s vital that our city government employees, fire and police forces reflect the diverse populations they serve,” according to an excerpt of the letter printed by the Arab American News. “By hiring officers from the community in which they serve, this will allow the police department and the City of Dearborn to better understand and assist residents from various backgrounds and will help to further community relations while building a stronger and more viable coalition between city government and residents.”
From there the issue snowballed. The CAAO has begun speaking with city of Dearborn job applicants and Hamad said they are looking for more.
“We are not sure how long this will take. There are public records that we need to obtain and understand. We need to talk to as many people as we can and that includes people who applied for jobs and also the city administration,” Hamad said.
Following a Dearborn Patch story on the CAAO initiative, city officials sent out a press release Thursday touting the hire of three new firefighters who started with the department through an intern program that targets local youth. The release said the program and other outreach programs like it have been successful in getting young resident to eventually join the city workforce. The release also refuted the insinuation of discriminatory hiring practices, saying the city has never received any complaints
“While Mayor O’Reilly is willing to meet with representatives from CAAO and ADC to discuss any specific concerns, he cautions against the practice of making highly-charged allegations then seeking evidence afterwards to support them,” according to the press release.
A message seeking further comment from the city was not returned as of press time.
J. Patrick Pepper
Press & Guide