Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initiative - One Year Update City Council Meeting – February 1, 2022
• Implementation of the Racial Equity and
Reconciliation Initiative
• Implementation Structure
• One Year Updates
• Reconciliation Investments
• Implementation Promising Practices and
Challenges
• Next Steps: Year 2 Priorities
Overview
Framework for Reconciliation
1. Acknowledging
2. Listening
3. Convening
4. Catalyzing
Council Direction
Goal 1: End systemic racism in Long Beach, in all local government and partner agencies, through internal
transformation
Goal 2: Design and invest in community safety and
violence prevention.
Goal 3: Redesign police approach to community safety
Goal 4: Improve health and wellness in the City by
eliminating social and economic disparities in the
communities most impacted by racism
Catalyzing
Goals of Initial Report
Implementation of the
Racial Equity & Reconciliation
Initiative
Racial Equity Leadership Team
Co-Leads from each Workgroup
Racial Equity
Executive Team
Department Directors
Racial Equity
Community Advisory
Group
City of Long Beach
Office of Equity
Racial Equity Implementation Team
Workgroup members including Racial Equity Champions
Internal
Transformation
Workgroup
Data and
Performance
Metrics
Workgroup
Policy Workgroup
Communications
Workgroup
Community
Engagement
Workgroup
Special Projects
Workgroup
Racial Equity & Reconciliation Initiative Implementation Structure • Created racial equity-centered Results-Based Accountability (RBA) benchmarks for the Office of Equity and Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initiative • Developing Equity Profile Snapshots that compare citywide population-level indicators across Council Districts
• Researching best practices around the governance of facial recognition technology in partnership with the Technology & Innovation Department and the Technology & Innovation Commission
• Supported development of the Equitable Data Collection Toolkit Data and Performance Metrics
Workgroup Updates
• Consists of Department Champions
who conduct Racial Equity 101
trainings and use the Results-Based
Accountability framework to develop
Departmental Racial Equity (RE) Action
Plans
o 41 City employees serving as Racial
Equity Champions
o Completed 32 hours of RE Champion
Capacity Building
o Trained nearly 1,000 employees in
Racial Equity 101
o Fully trained 6 City Departments
Internal Transformation
Workgroup Updates
• Workgroup Members: City Manager, City Prosecutor, Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications (Dispatch), Fire, Health & Human Services, Library Services, Police, Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab, and Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations
• Developing recommendations: a model for a non-police, civilian crisis response team to respond to non-violent, non-medical, non-criminal calls for service related to mental health crises
• Pilot program: will include diversion of appropriate calls for service, creation of trauma-informed mobile crisis response teams, and effective linkages to relevant behavioral and physical health services
• Workgroup will conduct service provider and community engagement in late Feb.- March
Special Projects: Alternative Crisis Response
Workgroup Updates
Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initiative One
Year Updates
Focuses on the implementation of the immediate and short-term potential actions outlined within the Initial Report
GOAL 1: End systemic racism in Long Beach, in all local government and partner agencies, through internal transformation.
Strategy
2. Create transparent measurement tools to
understand the scale and depth of racism
within the City governmental structure
(including internal and external impacts), to
inform institutional change, along with
appropriate metrics to evaluate effectiveness
of such change.
Potential Action
B. Create public access to data that are
appropriately disaggregated by race and have
personal information removed for
confidentiality.
Department/Workgroup
TECHNOLOGY &
INNOVATION
DATA & PERFORMANCE
METRICS WORKGROUP
Year One Update:
IN PROGRESS: The Technology & Innovation Commission and Departmental staff have researched and developed an equitable data collection toolkit which will provide guidelines in resources for City staff to develop, promote, and analyze more equitable and inclusive surveys. The final draft is pending review by the Office of Equity and subsequent review with community-based organizations.
About the One Year Update
Goal 1: End systemic racism in Long Beach, in all
local government and partner agencies, through
internal transformation
Goal 1 Updates
Accomplishments
✓ Equity Champions appointed in all departments
✓ Racial Equity 101 Train-the-Trainer for City staff
✓ Equitable Data Collection Toolkit
✓ Equity and Human Relations Commission
In Progress and Ongoing Activities
• Workforce Equity
• Procurement Process
• Data Tools & Performance Measures
• Racial Equity Action Plan Development
• The Training provides staff with a
foundational understanding of racial
equity, using data to contextualize
systemic racism in Long Beach and
historical policies and practices to
explain the government’s role in
creating and maintaining inequities.
Racial Equity 101 Trainings
• A data-driven decision-making process
to help communities and organizations
get beyond talking about problems to
taking action to solve problems.
• RBA starts with the ends and works
backward toward the means.
Capacity Building
Results-Based Accountability
(RBA)
Goal 2: Design and invest in
community safety and violence
prevention
Accomplishments
✓Growing capacity to focus on community
safety and youth development
✓Strategic Plan for Youth & Emerging Adults
✓Investments in upstream violence
prevention strategies
In Progress and Ongoing Activities
• Long Beach Activating Safe Communities
• Long Beach Re-Entry Network
• Civilianization Efforts
Goal 2 Updates
Goal 3: Redesign police approach to
community safety
Goal 3 Updates
Accomplishments
✓REACH Team
✓LBRA funding to support Alternative
Crisis Response Pilot Program
✓Office of Constitutional Policing
In Progress and Ongoing Activities
• Alternative Crisis Response
• CPCC Evaluation
• Modifications to Police Academy Training
• Evaluation of the City’s use of Facial
Recognition Technology
Goal 4: Improve health and wellness in the City
by eliminating social and economic disparities in
the communities most impacted by racism
Goal 4
Accomplishments and In Progress
✓Structural funding for Reconciliation
✓Parks, Recreation and Marine Strategic Plan
✓Youth and Emerging Adults Strategic Plan
In Progress and Ongoing Activities
• LBRA Funding for Economic Equity, Digital
Inclusion, Food Security, Youth Programming,
expanded early childhood education
• Health Equity
• Cannabis Equity
• Youth Climate Corps
During the Fiscal Year 2021 budget process, $1.5 million in structural funding was allocated to support implementation of the Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initiative.
Reconciliation Investments
FY 21 Programs FY 21 Allocation
Health Department Staff, including Office of Youth Development, Black Health Equity, and the Long Beach Advancing Peace Initiative $244,838 Computers, Equipment, and Suppliesfor Office of Youth Development, Long Beach Advancing Peace, and Health Equity efforts $157,262 Consultants, Training, Technical Assistancefor Office of Youth Development, Trauma-Informed Initiative, Mi Vida Cuenta, Racial Healing Support for Staff, and planning for Racial Equity in Recovery programming $254,999 Community Grants and Contracts for Black Health Equity, capacity building training for grassroots community organizations, youth social capital, Long Beach Advancing Peace, and re-entry services $842,901
Total $1,500,000
The Long Beach Recovery Act outlined a series of programs for an equitable and just recovery from the impacts of COVID-19
• Programs focus on an economic and public health recovery for all, particularly communities of color that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. • Food security, youth programming, digital inclusion, early childhood education, business support, housing, etc.
• City staff are using the City's Equity Toolkit to prioritize community engagement, language access, evidence-based practices, equitable data collection, and prevent unintended consequences with these programs.
Integrating Equity into Recovery Programs
Long Beach Recovery Act
Implementation Promising Practices,
Challenges, and Next Steps
• Consisting of 11 members, FM Equity Advocates provide representation for all bureaus within the department.
• The team's primary role is to develop and support the implementation of a departmental Racial Equity Action Plan and organize other racial equity activities within the Department.
• Engage in discussions and planning efforts regarding programming to build an inclusive departmental culture and Inter-Departmental Communication and Coordination.
Financial Management Equity Advocates
Promising Practice
• Performance audit of Library Services incorporated a strong equity lens in its process and recommendations.
• The audit process used strategies to promote equitable community participation as the Office engaged community members and organizations representative of the city’s diversity.
• Audit recommendations included improving access to Library services and programs, through increased multilingual resources, adjusting open hours based on community need, and expanding adaptive technology for people with disabilities.
• The audit also recommended eliminating overdue fines that havea disproportionate burden on low-income families and communities of color so that more community members can benefit from Library services and programming.
City Auditor’s Library Services Performance Audit
Promising Practice
• Hired a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) consultant to partner with Department leadership and key project leads to help shape and execute internal actions regarding Reconciliation
• Consultant provided facilitation support, covering topics like Identity Development, DEIB strategy Development, and Achieving Outcomes
Harbor Department - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and
Belonging
Promising Practice
Each department approaches racial equity with
unique organizational cultures, varying capacities,
resources, and priorities; all of which can affect the
pace of implementation and further impact staff’s
engagement in equity-related work.
Looking Ahead: To address the challenges of
leadership engagement, the Office of Equity is
convening ongoing racial equity sessions with the
City Executive Leadership Team, ensuring they are
fully connected to the process.
Leadership Support and the
Prioritization of Racial Equity
Implementation Challenge
Racial Equity Champions have invested hours
of time participating in discussions and training
led by the Office of Equity but have often
struggled to have the time and capacity to
implement racial equity activities within their
own departments.
Looking Ahead: Champions will recruit
members from their Department to serve as
part of an internal equity committee to provide
additional capacity for racial equity
implementation and evaluation.
Allocation of Resources and Staff Time
Implementation Challenge
As the City works to address the
community-facing impacts of the racial
equity work, there is also a concurrent
effort to create infrastructure that
acknowledges and resolves the inequities
within the organization.
Looking Ahead: The Office of Equity is in
the process of hiring a program specialist to
lead community engagement and is
working closely with the Public Affairs Team
to strengthen internal and external
communications.
Balancing Internal and
External Focus on Equity
Implementation Challenge
Racial equity efforts often focus on the symptoms of inequities that act more as bandages and do not address the underlying root causes. Programs and resources that serve or prioritize low-income households or BIPOC communities can have the potential to improve quality of life and wellbeing, but inequities will persist, and negatively impact the quality of life for all people without an explicit focus on antiracist policies and systems change.
Looking Ahead: Utilizing the RBA methodology will ensure that Department strategies and Racial Equity Action Plans are connected to root causes.
Race Neutrality and the Need to Dig Deeper
Implementation Challenge
All people in Long Beach are healthy, safe, and
thriving.
Indicators: Low-income, extreme rent
burden, life expectancy at birth
Root Cause Analysis
Programs, policies,
functions, whole
organization
Better off
measures
Population
Level
Performance
Level
We are here!
Looking Ahead: Results-Based Accountability
• Facilitate deeper engagement and capacity building with City Leadership and the City Council.
• Strengthen community engagement, and internal and external communications.
• Finalize Departmental Racial Equity Action Plans using the Results- Based Accountability process.
• Continue to seek out resources to support the capacity building and equity related work across the City.
Year 2 Implementation Priorities
Next Steps
Thank you
Teresa Chandler, MPH
Deputy City Manager
Alanah T. Grant
Equity Officer