San Antonio (Texas)

Local governments, especially in the State of Texas, are essential to promote, fulfill, and respect Human Rights because – beyond serving as the institution closest to people’s lives – there has been a movement to tangle and conflate such rights within subjective and politically partisan interpretations. Respect for Human Rights is essential to ensuring that our core City services are delivered to San Antonio’s residents and visitors in a truly equitable and expedient manner. Our City recognizes that each individual has the ability to promote inclusiveness, celebrate diversity, support all fellow community members, prevent the spread of misinformation, and reject hate and bias in all forms. Our history has shown times of great fear, uncertainty and unrest can lead to the demonization, blaming, and scapegoating of groups as the "other". Compassion is a purpose, principle, and unifying value that guides and compels people of all backgrounds, perspectives, creeds, and cultures to treat all human beings with justice, equity, and respect. 

The City and Municipality have long championed policies and priorities aimed at lifting up all, to include provision of employee benefits to same-sex couples, passage of the non-discrimination ordinance so that employment rights, City services, and public accommodations may be enjoyed by all; creation of a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Department to provide an even more efficient means of creating a sense of belonging for all; allocation of positions such as a Civil Rights Manager and a Language Access Projects team to that ensure even more San Antonians enjoy a sense of belonging. We recognize equity in the workforce as fundamental to ensuring employers and employees maximize their potential and that the actions of local government contribute to the health and well-being of everyone in the City of San Antonio. 

Be it the largest municipally-run COVID-19 emergency housing assistance program in the United States, workforce development and Pre-K endeavors that employ an equity matrix in the application process to ensure we’re serving the families most in-need, establishing a migrant resource center to aid our neighbors seeking asylum, or adopting a climate action and adaptation plan that is centered around environmental justice—the City of San Antonio is, and has been, committed to honoring and strengthening the inalienable rights of our people.