City Council Meeting
February 1, 2022
Item 3.4
Definition of
Racial Equity
Presenter:
Zulma Maciel, Director
PROPOSED DEFINITION OF RACIAL EQUITY
November 2021 – City Administration proposed definition “When race no longer predicts life outcomes and when outcomes for all groups are improved.”
PROPOSED DEFINITION OF RACIAL EQUITY
November 2021 – City Councilmembers proposed definition “Racial equity is realized when race can no longer be used to predict life outcomes, and outcomes for all groups are improved.
Racial equity means we eliminate racial disproportionalities so that race can no longer be used to predict success, and we increase the success of all communities. We set goals and measures to track our progress, with the recognition that strategies must be targeted to close the gaps. Systems and structures that are failing communities of color are actually failing all of us, economically and psychologically. Advancing racial equity is to our collective benefit.”
REVISED DEFINITION OF RACIAL EQUITY
“Both a process and an outcome, racial equity is designed to center anti-racism, eliminate systemic racial inequities, and acknowledge the historical and existing practices that have led to discrimination and injustices to Black, Indigenous, Latino/a/x, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities.
The racial equity process explicitly prioritizes communities that have been economically deprived and underserved and establishes a practice for creating psychologically safe spaces for racial groups that have been most negatively impacted by the City’s policies and practices. It is action that prioritizes liberation and measurable change and focuses on lived experiences of all impacted racial groups.It requires the setting of goals and measures to track progress, with the recognition that strategies must be targeted to close the gaps.
As an outcome, racial equity is achieved when race can no longer be used to predict life outcomes, and everyone can prosper and thrive.”
January 2022– Revised definition based on City Council and stakeholder input
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
City Councilmembers
Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet
National Compadres Network
Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL) Coalition
Sacred Heart Community Services
San Jose State University
Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits
Veggielution
Vietnamese American Roundtable
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a resolution accepting the
proposed definition of racial equity for
the City of San José