Over the past decade, the city has been addressing inclusivity through ongoing operational practices across the organization. As the city council considers proposed inclusivity initiatives spanning six areas—immigration enforcement, municipal identification, economic development, language access, legal defense and civic engagement—staff began conducting review and analysis of current operations to assess how existing practices align with proposed initiatives. 

This document summarizes the results of that review and provides an overview of how inclusive practices are currently implemented across city services. It is intended to establish a clear baseline of existing conditions to inform future policy discussions. 

A core principle guides the delivery of city services: those services belong to everyone who lives here, regardless of immigration status, national origin or language. Staff has been reviewing current operations across departments to confirm how this principle is being applied in practice.

City applications, registrations, work orders and service requests do not require documentation of citizenship or immigration status. Contracts with third-party service providers do not include provisions that limit access based on lawful status. A comprehensive privacy policy for the city’s mobile app and web portal, currently under legal review, will further confirm that this information is not being shared with third parties.

Language access is one of the areas where existing city practice is most developed. Given that more than half of Elgin’s residents identify as Hispanic, English Spanish bilingual capacity has been built into operations across departments over time—not as a standalone program, but as part of how services are delivered.

Language access isn’t centralized in one place—it’s embedded in the city's departments.

Across the organization, bilingual capacity in English and Spanish is widespread. City departments all have bilingual staff at or near their front desks and incorporated throughout the workforce. The human resources department has bilingual employees in both recruiting and payroll. The 311 contact center maintains a dedicated Spanish callback queue, with four of eight citizen advocates fluent in Spanish. The lobby desk in city hall is always staffed by a bilingual employee. The finance department’s five of eight customer service staff are bilingual.

The parks and recreation department has bilingual employees at nearly every level of its operations, including the administration, The Edward Schock Centre of Elgin’s front-line services, the lifeguards and attendants at all the city’s pools, fitness staff and even banquet coordinators. The parks and recreation department also extends this commitment into its programming by offering Spanish enrichment within its preschool and summer camp options.

Public-facing materials reflect the same commitment across departments. The engineering and water departments prepare all public notices in both English and Spanish and accept comments in either language. A Spanish-language interpreter is typically provided at public information meetings to ensure complete understanding of the capital projects being planned for affected residents and businesses.

The finance department translates its quarterly Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water bill notices and leak adjustment pamphlets, while the fire department prints all public education handouts—including materials distributed in public schools—in both languages. The department of cultural arts and special events mirrors all letters and marketing materials in Spanish and provides Spanish subtitles for its outdoor movie programs. Parking and traffic committee letters are issued in both English and Spanish, and the city newsletter, co-published with the Gail Borden Public Library, is also bilingual.

On the digital side, the city’s website allows full translation of all pages. PDFs are displayed as browser-viewable “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA”-compliant documents that can be translated into more than 200 languages, while also providing access to those with disabilities. The city’s portal and app are available in Spanish and Phasa Lao, with additional languages available to be added as needed. The city council and committee of the whole meetings are livestreamed with Spanish subtitles. And immediate, on-screen or audio translations are also available using a QR code. The police department further extends language access through instant translation capabilities available on officers’ department-issued mobile devices, with real-time translation via body-worn cameras anticipated by 2027.

This is just a snapshot of daily operations, illustrating how bilingual access is already engrained in the city’s services and programs.

The communications division ensures that all print and digital immigration-related information is produced in both English and Spanish. Staff maintain content on the city’s “Immigration Enforcement, Your Rights and Resources” webpage and support the police department in promoting resources through its online “Transparency Hub.” The hub includes a dedicated immigration resource page that compiles local, state, federal and third-party resources; outlines the department’s policies regarding immigration enforcement; and features a video in both English and Spanish explaining how to identify an Elgin police officer.

The 311 system already provides immigration resource information to callers. All knowledge base content has been reviewed and confirmed as being current as part of this baseline assessment.

All video content produced by the communications division includes open captions in English and Spanish. Closed captions are also provided, allowing platform translation tools to display captions in a viewer’s preferred language. Plain language principles are applied to all written materials, with attention to fonts, colors, and layout for residents with visual or cognitive differences.

The city does not participate in civil immigration enforcement, and its existing policies fully align with the Illinois Trust Act and Voices of Immigrant Communities Empowering Survivors (VOICES) Act. The city has initiated additional measures in furtherance of those acts’ principals, adopting a resolution prohibiting the use of city-owned property for civil immigration enforcement, installing signage to that effect at all city facilities, including parks and parking facilities. Standardized signage has also been created and is available free of charge to both the public and private entities online and for pickup at city hall.

The police department has built inclusive practices into its daily operations through a sustained commitment to community trust, language access and transparency. The department does not inquire about immigration status or participate in civil immigration enforcement, consistent with the Illinois Trust Act. Beyond language access, the department hosts a robust calendar of community engagement events with particular attention to Elgin’s Hispanic community, including Taco About It, Fiesta Mexicana, Champurrado y Conchas and Churros y Chocolate, all of which are promoted in both English and Spanish.

The department’s recruiting efforts reflect this same commitment to diversity — with nearly 30 percent of sworn personnel identifying as Hispanic or Latino — supported by an active Police Explorer program that introduces young residents, predominantly Hispanic and Latino youth, to careers in law enforcement.

The police department has long been engaged in meaningful community outreach with the immigrant community. In 2017, the most recent year when the city experienced a surge in federal civil immigration enforcement before present, the police department conducted a Spanish language community meeting at the Iglesia Carismatica Puerta De Sion church. The standing room only gathering proceeded for hours while police officers answered the community’s concerns with a dignity, respect and level of transparency that no other local government enforcement agency was practicing at the time. The legitimacy of the Elgin’s police department’s longstanding community policing initiatives was evident that evening with hundreds of community residents leaving their homes to obtain knowledge from a law enforcement agency for which they held great trust.

Police department protocols for responding to immigration enforcement activity are in place, along with established reporting procedures. (The 311 contact center uses the “Immigration Enforcement, Your Rights and Resources” webpage to respond to inquiries.)

The city’s chief of police, working in collaboration with the Kane County state’s attorney, are advocating amendments to the TRUST Act (5 ILCS 805/15) that will enable local police to remain on scene during instances of federal immigration enforcement to provide perimeter traffic control; crowd control; intervening to stop physical violence against any party, destruction of property, criminal trespass onto private property, or other criminal activity that poses a threat to the safety of others; issue crowd dispersal orders for public safety reasons; and, allow local police to post through social media or other means that an immigration operation is occurring and whether that operation is civil or criminal. If a federal immigration officer requests local police department for assistance consistent with the proposed amendments, the immigration authority and the local police agency shall identify respective points of contact. Local police departments may ask any federal immigration officer to provide his or her name, badge number and government agency affiliation as is relates to the federal agency’s investigation. Any local police department action occurring under the proposed amendments is governed by the Officer-Worn Body Camera Act (50 ILCS 707/10-1), meaning the local police officers’ actions will be recorded by their body-worn cameras. This initiative addresses community concerns about the police department not being able to remain present for the duration of any federal civil immigration enforcement activity occurring within the city.

The city provided information to the Illinois Accountability Commission on federal immigration enforcement activity occurring in Elgin that has been included in the commission’s final report. The city is also cooperating with the Illinois Attorney General’s office as part of the state’s pending litigation against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for those agencies’ actions in the state. The city will be providing a declaration regarding the impacts or harms that the city has experienced as a result of federal immigration enforcement actions in Elgin.

Elgin’s commitment to inclusion extends to its procurement practices. The procurement division has established processes that promote equity in contracting and expand access to city opportunities for Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs).

All bidders are required to complete an employee utilization form detailing the racial composition of their workforce by job category, along with a written equal employment opportunity commitment. Contracts funded through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), such as lead service line replacement projects, must also comply with Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation requirements. These requirements encourage the use of MWBE and DBE subcontractors and include documented outreach to minority- and women-owned businesses.

The procurement manager also presents annually at U.S. Minority Contractors Association events, providing guidance on how local businesses can engage with city contracting opportunities.

Staff has initiated a comprehensive review of the city’s procurement process to identify alignment with best practices in inclusive procurement. This includes evaluating new processes to better track vendor ownership demographics, expanding outreach to minority-, women- and disadvantaged-owned businesses, and developing clear, accessible materials to explain the city's bidding process. Staff are also analyzing longer-term considerations, such as enhanced data collection and a potential future disparity study to assess participation and outcomes.

A review of departmental practices indicates a consistent pattern: many proposed inclusivity initiatives are already integrated into daily operations. These efforts are reflected in established procedures, staffing approaches and service delivery, and they are all collectively reinforced through routine interactions between staff and the community.

Staff will be returning to the city council in June to provide an update on the status of its research on the proposed initiatives.

In the interim, departments will continue advancing this work by refining bilingual materials, evaluating translation technologies, expanding digital accessibility and strengthening civic engagement practices for all of its residents.