Community Science is proud to present one of our latest reports – lessons learned from a national initiative to help city governments get ready for racial equity work.
The Racial Equity Here (REH) initiative engaged and supported a cohort of five U.S. cities committed to improving racial equity in their jurisdictions by transforming policies and practices to address the inequities within their systems of government. Living Cities recruited the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), a joint project of Race Forward and the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, to provide training and technical assistance to these cities over a two-year period. During that time, the cities’ racial equity teams developed and implemented a capacity-building plan to dismantle institutional and structural racism and improve outcomes for all residents and, in particular, residents of color.
The final report is based on the evaluation of the initiative that was carried out by Community Science and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. Community Science used the evaluation findings to report on lessons learned and offer recommendations to other cities interested in engaging in racial equity work. This report (1) identifies the key drivers of GARE’s capacity-building strategy for local governments, (2) describes Community Science’s approach to evaluating the REH initiative, and (3) synthesizes our insights and recommendations to help these city governments prepare to adopt a racial equity lens. The recommendations are organized according to GARE’s identified stages of normalizing, organizing, and operationalizing—the different stages of development and capacities that city governments achieve along their path to achieving racial equity. To download a copy of the report, please click here.
