Alachua County Equity & Community Outreach Manager Deidre Houchen resigns
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Alachua County Equity and Community Outreach Director Deidre Houchen informed County Commissioners on Friday that she is resigning, effective July 26. In the letter, she apologized for resigning “as the Commission begins its break,” adding that she “would have preferred to do so prior to your departure.” The letter did not provide a reason for her resignation.
In the letter, she wrote, “I hope you will continue the charge toward equity and that you will ensure that those staff members most closely associated with this critical work have the resources, support, communication, and vision they need to carry out the Board’s goals and priorities.”
Houchen worked at the UF College of Education before she was hired by Alachua County in March 2021.
Not a position that should be required or refilled.
Federal laws already exist that prohibit discriminatory policies in hiring. Add to that the locally predominant equity and equality feelings within the community and there’s no reason for preferential treatment.
Unless of course those who make up the Democrat majority are hypocrites.
That’s definitely a worthless position to hold and one can’t understandable feel enriched to hold it. Other than the fact of mooching off the system for self gain and laughing all the way to the bank. But then again that’s what those folks do. Suck off the system!
Suing or prosecuting over discriminatory hiring is an expensive, scattershot, and ineffective counter to selective hiring, while DEI offices can foster pro-active and aware administration. It is human nature to higher friends, relatives of friends, or those who look or remind one of themselves or family. Remember that most people work for small businesses which are exempt from laws on affirmative action or discrimination in hiring.
All of the people bringing lawsuits and throwing fits are the exact same people who were hired because they ‘checked boxes.’ Are you too dense to see that, Jazzman? Evidently you are still stuck in the past and believe that quotas and affirmative action hiring practices remain in place.
You mean checked boxes like “white guy”, “reminds me of my son”, “in my fraternity”, etc? Or you think administrators never do this?
You have to look at teams. If I had a team of a few people with many things in common (let’s say they were all basic straight white males from South Florida), I probably wouldn’t hire the trans woman with blue hair from Boston as the fourth member of the team. As far as the city and county, they probably need to hire more straight white males, looking at the obvious.
Jazz: discrimination goes both ways!
This position is unneeded.
You & others perpetuate inequality with your drivel.
We are all equal right? The US constitution!
Chris Rock: “Not one of you white guys would trade places with me, and I’M RICH!”
He was referring to the bad reputation of his particular group, talking about how some of them are always messing stuff up, how the actions of some make it hard for the whole group, etc. Watch some recent Chris Rock specials, Jazzman… that would be really good for you.
No, in your dreams Peabody. He was referring to how much harder it is to be black in America than white and that is obvious to anyone with a brain.
Watch this and tell me he isn’t talking about white privilege. NSFW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJmvfbDdhFg
PS You’ll think it’s very funny even if you don’t like the message.
It is not hard to be black in America or anywhere else; you are born black and you don’t have to do anything at all to remain black. But, of course, I know what you mean. Arguably, the biggest reason why many black people struggle in America is because (some) black men do not take care of, or take responsibility for, their offspring (refer to Sowell and many others), which means they are not involved with their children and do not contribute financially. That is giving the child a big disadvantage. The families (by race) that are doing the best financially in America seem to be the ones that maintain the two parent family system (so, it is neither the blacks nor the whites); they are the Asian Americans with roots in China, Japan, Korea, etc. and India. Nigerian Americans, too? (Financially, on average, they do quite well; I’m not sure about the marriage part).
Mr. Pink: apparently you went to public skool and did not learned history very much. TJ wrote “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence. It is NOT in the Constitution. The Constitution supersedes ALL previous documents, including the Articles and the Declaration and the Deeds which said England owned this land stolen from the Native Americans. The Declaration is nice historical writing but is not enforceable law in the United States. If it was, you could sue the government for not providing you “happiness.” Try it if you want. . .
No dudette, say it isn’t so.
Not in Gainesville, that goes against everything most of the liberal majority stand for.
Thanks for confirming your, and their hypocrisy.
Bye. Close the position and save some money.
You can “as the Commission begin its break”
More useless positions on wasted tax money.
Alachua County, here is your chance to practice what you preach. In the name of equity and diversity among county employees, for your replacement Equity Manager please hire a straight white middle aged American born male of European ancestry. Sure, liberal heads all over the county will explode, but have the courage to be the first in the nation to do a hire like this. You have plenty of leftover Federal covid money that can be used to clean up all those ‘sploded liburl heads.
The County should eliminate
this woke position. It is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayers money.
Equity????? Hardy Har Har. Was she actually paid???
Equity & Community Outreach ? Why? If we needed this position, she would be a good choice. I was surprised to see that her salary was less than 6 figures and that she actually has a PhD. This is a bargain compared to the city’s hires.
Biden probably paid off her phd loan debt. So now she can “retire” and do something more fun, like have a family maybe?
Another costly fad down the drain.
Why is the county so against equal opportunity that they need hidden quotas and overpayment for lesser work.
Now I know who she is! On Facebook she was backing up the nonsense the school board wants to put in place: the lowest grade possible a child can get is a 50% 🙄 No wonder the equity person backs up this outrageous policy. Teaching kids that they don’t have to do anything and still get a 50% is part of the DEI wokeism!
Oh no! There goes the neighborhood.
She was hired by Alachua County in March, 2021…sometime after that, she apparently quit paying her bills and quit paying her mortgage, as evidenced by the circuit court actions against her in 2023 and 2024 regarding those matters. Can’t we find someone who is responsible citizen to fill local government positions? Unbelievable….and, good riddance!
Dangle straight lying! Do a county search, zero records.
Shows up exactly as dangle says. Maybe you should try spelling the name correctly? Or using the actual clerk of court search? Or maybe actually look instead of just lying online to accuse others of lying?
What’s wrong with hiring the best person for the job?
🤣🤣🤣 That’s subjective.
Using discriminatory practices in the hiring process that eliminates prospective employees based purely on age, race, religion, sex, or national origin are supposed to be against the law, those are objective.
I’m thinking some people find the specificity of categorizing themselves to a certain race or gender objectionable.
Story idea I wish you would report..
Diedre Houchen’s July 25 ALACHUA COUNTY BoCC EMPLOYEE OFFBOARDING SURVEY is available from the county as a public record. Worth a follow up article. It is very informative reading. No kind words for the county manager.