At a Gainesville City Council meeting last month, political organizer Jerry Gonzalez ran down the racial demographics of local government personnel, comparing those figures with census numbers. While about 57 percent of the city’s population is Latino or African-American, these two minority groups only account for about 11 percent of city workers. “Within city government, (Gainesville’s) diversity is not reflected,” said Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials.
Gainesville, Hall look for delicate balance in minority hiring
Governments seek to match workforce with population but quantity of applicants varies
