by T. Burgess
The Coast Guard Office of Civil Rights has a new newsletter that has popped up on their site, “Civil Rights Space.” The last new addition to Ms. Dickerson’s was the one time published “Our Space.” The need for two newsletters from one office is not clear, but I’m sure Coast Guard employees welcome the transparency it presents.
From the 14 January 09 edition the newsletter says,
Last week, the Director was invited and accepted the opportunity to re-visit Elizabeth City Commands. She — along with others representing human resources, civil rights, and command leadership — discussed and took for action items relevant to the equal opportunity and overall climate.
Re-visit? No one in Elizabeth City can remember Ms. Dickerson ever visiting Elizabeth City on Civil Rights business since she became the Director. The newsletter insinuates she’s been there on a similar visit before. Dickerson did not meet with troops or employees during this closed door visit with O-6 and above. Ms. Dickerson did accept an invitation to visit Elizabeth City, but not ones offered by local commanders. The invitation she accepted was one made by Rear Admiral Thomas P. Ostebo according to his office. Two of the units visited by Ms. Dickerson waited over two years for thier copies of the EO Reviews conducted by her office. Timing is everything.
The October issue discusses the new statistical data available in the revamped Equal Opportunity Review reports provided to commands following an assessment. Ms. Dickerson discussed on the Commandant’s Blog iCommandant that it took over two and half years to develop this new report. During that period to time, none of the more than 50 Coast Guard commands who underwent a review received a written report as discussed by Dickerson in her Blog post.
Dickerson’s office recently underwent their own EO Review in the form a Functional Review ordered by the Vice Commandant and carried out by contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Dickerson has promised the release of that review early this year.
Ms. Dickerson did not respond to our request for comment.
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