Racial Equity Toolkit
An Opportunity to Operationalize Equity
TOOLKIT
RACIALEQUITYALLIANCE.ORG
AUTHORS
Julie Nelson, Director, Government Alliance on Race and Equity
Lisa Brooks, University of Washington School of Social Work
COPYEDITING
Ebonye Gussine Wilkins, Haas Institute
LAYOUT/PRODUCTION
Ebonye Gussine Wilkins and Rachelle Galloway-Popotas,
Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society
CONTACT INFO
Julie Nelson
[email protected]
206-816-5104
This toolkit is published by the
Government Alliance on Race and Equity,
a national network of government working to
achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all.
GARE IS A JOINT PROJECT OF
RACIALEQUITYALLIANCE.ORG
UPDATED DEC 2016
Government
Alliance on
Race and Equity
TOOLKIT
Racial Equity
Toolkit: An
Opportunity to
Operationalize
Equity
The Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) is a national network of government
working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all. Across the country,
governmental jurisdictions are:
making a commitment to achieving racial equity;
focusing on the power and influence of their own institutions; and,
working in partnership with others.
When this occurs, significant leverage and expansion opportunities emerge, setting the stage
for the achievement of racial equity in our communities.
GARE provides a multi-layered approach for maximum impact by:
supporting jurisdictions that are at the forefront of work to achieve racial equity. A few
jurisdictions have already done substantive work and are poised to be a model for others.
Supporting and providing best practices, tools and resources is helping to build and sustain
current efforts and build a national movement for racial equity;
developing a “pathway for entry” into racial equity work for new jurisdictions from across
the country. Many jurisdictions lack the leadership and/or infrastructure to address issues
of racial inequity. Using the learnings and resources from jurisdictions at the forefront will
create pathways for the increased engagement of more jurisdictions; and,
supporting and building local and regional collaborations that are broadly inclusive and
focused on achieving racial equity. To eliminate racial inequities in our communities, devel­
oping a “collective impact” approach firmly grounded in inclusion and equity is necessary.
Government can play a key role in collaborations for achieving racial equity, centering
community, and leveraging institutional partnerships.
To find out more about GARE, visit www.racialequityalliance.org.
ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT
ALLIANCE ON RACE & EQUITY
Government
Alliance on
Race and Equity
TOOLKIT
Racial Equity
Toolkit: An
Opportunity to
Operationalize
Equity
I. What is a Racial Equity Tool?
Racial equity tools are designed to integrate explicit consideration of racial equity in decisions,
including policies, practices, programs, and budgets. It is both a product and a process. Use of
a racial equity tool can help to develop strategies and actions that reduce racial inequities and
improve success for all groups.
Too often, policies and programs are developed and implemented without thoughtful con­
sideration of racial equity. When racial equity is not explicitly brought into operations and
decision-making, racial inequities are likely to be perpetuated. Racial equity tools provide a
structure for institutionalizing the consideration of racial equity.
A racial equity tool:
proactively seeks to eliminate racial inequities and advance equity;
identifies clear goals, objectives and measurable outcomes;
engages community in decision-making processes;
identifies who will benefit or be burdened by a given decision, examines potential unin­
tended consequences of a decision, and develops strategies to advance racial equity and
mitigate unintended negative consequences; and,
develops mechanisms for successful implementation and evaluation of impact.
Use of a racial equity tool is an important step to operationalizing equity. However, it is not
sufficient by itself. We must have a much broader vision of the transformation of government
in order to advance racial equity. To transform government, we must normalize conversations
about race, operationalize new behaviors and policies, and organize to achieve racial equity.
For more information on the work of government to advance racial equity, check out GARE’s
“Advancing Racial Equity and Transforming Government: A Resource Guide for Putting Ideas
into Action” on our website. The Resource Guide provides a comprehensive and holistic ap­
proach to advancing racial equity within government. In addition, an overview of key racial
equity definitions is contained in Appendix A.
II. Why should government use this Racial Equity Tool?
From the inception of our country, government at the local, regional, state, and federal
level has played a role in creating and maintaining racial inequity. A wide range of laws and
policies were passed, including everything from who could vote, who could be a citizen,
who could own property, who was property, where one could live, whose land was whose
and more. With the Civil Rights movement, laws and policies were passed that helped to
create positive changes, including making acts of discrimination illegal. However, despite
progress in addressing explicit discrimination, racial inequities continue to be deep,
pervasive, and persistent across the country. Racial inequities exist across all indicators for
success, including in education, criminal justice, jobs, housing, public infrastructure, and
health, regardless of region.
Many current inequities are sustained by historical legacies and structures and systems that
repeat patterns of exclusion. Institutions and structures have continued to create and per­
petuate inequities, despite the lack of explicit intention. Without intentional intervention,
institutions and structures will continue to perpetuate racial inequities. Government has the
ability to implement policy change at multiple levels and across multiple sectors to drive larger
systemic change. Routine use of a racial equity tool explicitly integrates racial equity into gov­
ernmental operations.
Local and regional governmental jurisdictions that are a part of the GARE are using a racial eq­
uity tool. Some, such as the city of Seattle in Washington, Multnomah County in Oregon, and
Government
Alliance on
Race and Equity
TOOLKIT
Racial Equity
Toolkit: An
Opportunity to
Operationalize
Equity
the city of Madison in Wisconsin have been doing so for many years:
The Seattle Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) is a citywide effort to end institution­
alized racism and race-based disparities in City government. The Initiative was launched
in 2004. RSJI includes training to all City employees, annual work plans, and change teams
in every city department. RSJI first started using its Racial Equity Tool during the budget
process in 2007. The following year, in recognition of the fact that the budget process was
just the “tip of the ice berg,” use of the tool was expanded to be used in policy and pro­
gram decisions. In 2009, Seattle City Council included the use of the Racial Equity Tool in
budget, program and policy decisions, including review of existing programs and policies,
in a resolution (Resolution 31164) affirming the City’s Race and Social Justice Initiative. In
2015, newly elected Mayor Ed Murray issued an Executive Order directing expanded use of
the Racial Equity Tool, and requiring measurable outcomes and greater accountability.
See Appendix B for examples of how Seattle has used its Racial Equity Tool, including legisla­
tion that offers protections for women who are breastfeeding and use of criminal background
checks in employment decisions.
Multnomah County’s Equity and Empowerment Lens is used to improve planning, deci­
sion-making, and resource allocation leading to more racially equitable policies and programs.
At its core, it is a set of principles, reflective questions, and processes that focuses at the indi­
vidual, institutional, and systemic levels by:
deconstructing what is not working around racial equity;
reconstructing and supporting what is working;
shifting the way we make decisions and think about this work; and,
healing and transforming our structures, our environments, and ourselves.
Numerous Multnomah County departments have made commitments to utilizing the Lens,
including a health department administrative policy and within strategic plans of specific de­
partments. Tools within the Lens are used both to provide analysis and to train employers and
partners on how Multnomah County conducts equity analysis.
Madison, Wisconsin is implementing a racial equity tool, including both a short version and a
more in-depth analysis. See Appendix D for a list of the types of projects on which the city of
Madison has used their racial equity tool.
For jurisdictions that are considering implementation of a racial equity tool, these jurisdictions
examples are powerful. Other great examples of racial equity tools are from the Annie E. Casey
Foundation and Race Forward.
In recognition of the similar ways in which institutional and structural racism have evolved
across the country, GARE has developed this Toolkit that captures the field of practice and
commonalities across tools. We encourage jurisdictions to begin using our Racial Equity
Tool. Based on experience, customization can take place if needed to ensure that it is most
relevant to local conditions. Otherwise, there is too great of a likelihood that there will be a
significant investment of time, and potentially money, in a lengthy process of customization
without experience. It is through the implementation and the experience of learning that
leaders and staff will gain experience with use of a tool. After a pilot project trying out this
tool, jurisdictions will have a better understanding of how and why it might make sense to
customize a tool.
For examples of completed racial equity analyses, check out Appendix B and Appendix D,
which includes two examples from the city of Seattle, as well as a list of the topics on which
the city of Madison has used their racial equity tool.
Please note: In this
Resource Guide, we
include some data
from reports that fo­
cused on whites and
African Americans,
but otherwise, pro­
vide data for all ra­
cial groups analyzed
in the research.
For consistency,
we refer to African
Americans and
Latinos, although in
some of the original
research, these
groups were referred
to as Blacks and
Hispanics.
Government
Alliance on
Race and Equity
TOOLKIT
Racial Equity
Toolkit: An
Opportunity to
Operationalize
Equity
III. Who should use a racial equity tool?
A racial equity tool can be used at multiple levels, and in fact, doing so, will increase
effectiveness.
Government staff: The routine use of a racial equity tool by staff
provides the opportunity to integrate racial equity across the breadth,
meaning all governmental functions, and depth, meaning across hier­
archy. For example, policy analysts integrating racial equity into policy
development and implementation, and budget analysts integrating racial
equity into budget proposals at the earliest possible phase, increases the
likelihood of impact. Employees are the ones who know their jobs best
and will be best equipped to integrate racial equity into practice and
routine operations.
Elected officials: Elected officials have the opportunity to use a racial
equity tool to set broad priorities, bringing consistency between values
and practice. When our elected officials are integrating racial equity
into their jobs, it will be reflected in the priorities of the jurisdiction, in
direction provided to department directors, and in the questions asked
of staff. By asking simple racial equity tool questions, such as “How does
this decision help or hinder racial equity?” or “Who benefits from or is
burdened by this decision?” on a routine basis, elected officials have the
ability to put theory into action.
Community based organizations: Community based organizations can
ask questions of government about use of racial equity tool to ensure
accountability. Elected officials and government staff should be easily
able to describe the results of their use of a racial equity tool, and should
make that information readily available to community members. In addi­
tion, community based organizations can use a similar or aligned racial
equity tool within their own organizations to also advance racial equity.
IV. When should you use a racial equity tool?
The earlier you use a racial equity tool, the better. When racial equity is left off the table and not
addressed until the last minute, the use of a racial equity tool is less likely to be fruitful. Using a
racial equity tool early means that individual decisions can be aligned with organizational racial
equity goals and desired outcomes. Using a racial equity tool more than once means that equity
is incorporated throughout all phases, from development to implementation and evaluation.
V. The Racial Equity Tool
The Racial Equity Tool is a simple set of questions:
Proposal: What is the policy, program, practice or budget decision under consideration?
What are the desired results and outcomes?
Data: What’s the data? What does the data tell us?
Community engagement: How have communities been engaged? Are there opportunities
to expand engagement?
Analysis and strategies: Who will benefit from or be burdened by your proposal? What
are your strategies for advancing racial equity or mitigating unintended consequences?
Implementation: What is your plan for implementation?
Government
Alliance on
Race and Equity
TOOLKIT
Racial Equity
Toolkit: An
Opportunity to
Operationalize
Equity
Accountability and communication: How will you ensure accountability, communicate,
and evaluate results?
The following sections provide a description of the overall questions. Once you are ready to
jump into action, please check out the worksheet that can be found in Appendix C.
STEP #1
What is your proposal and the desired results and outcomes?
While it might sound obvious, having a clear description of the policy, program, practice, or
budget decision (for the sake of brevity, we refer to this as a “proposal” in the remainder of
these steps) at hand is critical.
We should also be vigilant in our focus on impact.
The terminology for results and outcomes is informed by our relationship with Results Based
Accountability™. This approach to measurement clearly delineates between community con­
ditions / population accountability and performance accountability / outcomes. These levels
share a common systematic approach to measurement. This approach emphasizes the impor­
tance of beginning with a focus on the desired “end” condition.
Results are at the community level are the end conditions we are aiming to impact. Com­
munity indicators are the means by which we can measure impact in the…