Agenda - 10-08-20; 3 - Government Alliance on Racial and Equity (GARE) Progress Report - Advancing Racial Equity and Transforming Government Progress Report

Browse Search

5 Government efforts, instead of focusing on symptoms of racial inequity, should focus on the policies and institutional strategies that are driving the production of inequities. WHY RACE? Race is a social construct and not biological, as people often think. Defining racial categories has changed over the years. Issues involving race are often "the elephant in the room" but rarely discussed with a shared understanding. To advance racial equity, it is imperative we talk about race. In the United States, while race, income, and wealth are closely connected, racial inequity is not just about income. Even when income is the controlling factor, there still exist many inequities across multiple indicators of success, including education, jobs, housing, health and incarceration. It is important to talk about race to advance racial equity. To advance racial equity, we must normalize the conversation about race and operationalize strategizes for advancing racial equity. In advancing racial equity, we will also be building systems that allow us to address income and wealth inequity and recognize the bias that exists based on gender, sexual orientation, ability, age, and religion. Focusing on race allows us to develop a framework, tools, and resources that apply to other areas of marginalization, recognizing that different strategies will be necessary to achieve equity in other areas. ADVANCING RACIAL EQUITY IMPROVES OUR COLLECTIVE SUCCESS Focusing on racial equity is critical in helping us achieve different outcomes for our communities. The goal is not just to eliminate the inequities between whites and people of color, but to increase and enhance the success of all groups. To eliminate disparities, we must strategize based on the experiences of communities being underserved by existing institutions, systems, and structures. To understand the experience of those communities, they must be included and engaged. In this process, we move past looking at disparities and find racialized systems that are costly and, depress outcomes, and life chances for all groups. Systems that are failing communities of color failing are us all by depressing life chances and outcomes. RACIAL EQUITY IS STRATEGY FOR CHANGE Over the last several decades, we have seen the introduction of many policy and programmatic efforts to advance racial equity. These individual efforts are essential but are not enough. A comprehensive strategy is necessary to achieve racial equity. Over the next several months, we will work with the GARE teams of Carrboro and Chapel Hill to develop a Countywide Racial Equity Plan. The Countywide Racial Equity Plan will focus on undoing racism both within our own individual jurisdiction and across our institutions that combine to create a system that negatively impact communities of color. We will invite not only Hillsborough,who is not in the GARE cohort but is a member of GARS, but also other regional partners to participate. 2