Attachment D
City of Santa Monica
Racial Equity Assessment Tool
Why Use This Tool?
The City of Santa Monica is committed to improving the wellbeing of people who live, work, play and do business in Santa Monica. This commitment involves working in new ways to ensure equitable outcomes for everyone. Equity means recognizing that each person or group has different circumstances and providing the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Working to achieve equity acknowledges unequal starting places and the need to correct the imbalance. The purpose of this equity tool is to ensure that impacts to each person or group are rigorously and holistically considered and advanced in the design, implementation, selection, and monitoring of policies, projects, programs and services.
This tool is a manifestation of the City’s commitment to this work as exemplified by Council’s adoption of Racial Justice, Equity & Social Diversity as a priority at its March 11, 2023, workshop with this statement:
Racial Justice, Equity and Social Diversity
The City of Santa Monica acknowledges the effects of generational and institutional racism and discrimination, and its consequences that continue to impact our residents and businesses. These lessons of our history cannot be ignored. The City is committed to advancing racial equity and social diversity to improve the wellbeing of people who live, work, learn, play, and do business in our City and create a community where differences in life outcomes cannot be predicted by race, class, gender, disability or other identities.
Everyone in Santa Monica must have an opportunity to thrive.
Who will use this tool in the pilot year?
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team will use this tool to review current and future policies, programs, services, procedures and budget decisions for the City of Santa Monica. In the future, the tool should be expanded for use by city staff, boards and commissions, and consultants.
What will be analyzed?
The analysis process will include understanding the scope and project area of the project/program, population(s) and areas of quality of life that may be affected, strategies for community engagement, potential impacts from the policy/program, and potential mitigation approaches for any negative impacts identified through the analysis process. Full details are below.
Step 1: Scope
a: What are we thinking about doing and why?
1. Implementing a new policy, project, program, and/or service
2. Making a funding decision
3. Public outreach and engagement activity/event
Describe the project area and give a detailed description of methods and outcomes including intended equity outcomes.
b: Which of the following determinants of community wellbeing are affected?
1. Early Childhood Development
2. Education
3. Mental/Behavioral Health
4. Clinical Health Services
5. Chronic Disease
6. Substance Abuse
7. Long-Term Care
8. Social Health Services
9. Jobs and Job Training
10. Law and Justice
11. Food Systems
12. Parks and Natural Resources
13. Built & Natural Environment
14. Transportation
15. Community Economic Development
16. Neighborhoods
17. Housing
18. Community & Public Safety
19. Jobs and Job Training
Step 2: Population(s) affected.
a. Have you identified the racial/ethnic groups in your jurisdiction? b. Who could be affected and what do we already know about them? How will the proposed policy, practice or decision affect each group? c. Review the following considerations to inform your response in the table below. • Which groups are currently most advantaged and most disadvantaged by the issues this proposal seeks to address?
• How are they affected differently?
• What quantitative and qualitative evidence of inequality exists? • What evidence is missing or needed?
• How will this decision impact families that are not native English speakers? • How will this impact undocumented residents?
• How will this policy impact residents who are disproportionately represented or who are experiencing disparate outcomes?
• How will the proposed policy, practice or decision be perceived by each group? • Is the project team developing this policy or practice change in a way that is transparent and inclusive? How?
• How have you included families of color meaningfully in this process? • On what basis can you assess whether families of color will view this decision as one they should have been a part of making? Will families feel they have valuable ideas to contribute?
• How have you included tribal nations meaningfully in this process? • Does the policy, practice or decision worsen or ignore existing disparities? • Does this policy or practice change attempt to address existing disparities in community wellbeing? Are there ways that it could?
• Is there a meaningful investment of resources and staff to support this policy or program change?
• Have you developed a plan to track and adjust this policy or program? Is this process transparent and inclusive?
d. Review the following data sources for inclusion in the table below.
1. Zip Code level census data: https://data.census.gov
2. Census Quick Facts: https://www.census.gov/programssurveys/sis/resources/data-tools/quickfacts.html
3. Policylink Equity Atlas: www.nationalequityatlas.org
4. Mapping Inequality: https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=4/36.71/-
96.93&opacity=0.8
5. County Health Rankings: www.countyhealthrankings.org
6. Local Public Health data: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/statrpt.htm
7. Local Public School data: http://www.ed-data.org/district/Los-Angeles/SantaMonica--Malibu-Unified
8. City of Santa Monica Open Data Portal: https://data.smgov.net/
List
Population(s)
Affected
Based on
available
data, list
known
disparities
Populations
most
advantaged
Populations
least
advantaged
Data Source
Race/ethnicities
:
Tribes:
Income:
Geography:
Immigration
status:
Language
Gender identity
and sexuality:
Disability status:
Religion:
People
experiencing
homelessness /
unhoused.
Step 3: Potential impacts
1. Are all racial and ethnic groups that are affected by the policy, practice or decision at the table?
a. Is the project team engaging communities that have
been historically from involvement in our cities, as well as those continuing to face other barriers to civic
participation that will be impacted by this policy or
practice change, including but not limited to the BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and disability communities?
b. Is the project team considering the views of marginalized communities by engaging diverse representation from families of all structures, service providers, residents, businesses, students and people who work in Santa Monica?
2. Describe the process for engaging affected communities. If the community was not engaged, please provide the demographic details of the population that will be impacted by the project or policy and any analysis performed using that data.
3. Contact affected communities to learn community and social determinants context.
If community engagement is not a part of the process, please respond using any research that was done on the impacted communities.
Population
Affected (Transfer
from Step 2)
List Their Priorities
and Concerns
Positive and
negative impacts
on determinants
of community
wellbeing
(Reference Step
1b)
Is this proposed action in
alignment or divergence
with affected
populations’ priorities
and concerns?
Step 4: Equitable alternatives
Based on the above responses, what revisions are needed in the policy, practice or decision under discussion?
Potential Negative
Impact (Reference
Step 3)
Develop and Explain
Alternative Action(s)
(Include multiple
perspectives)
Evaluate Alternatives
1. Who will this benefit now and
in the future?
2. How will this improve or
worsen equity outcomes?
3. How will this align with
community priorities?
Step 5: Implementation
1. Connect back to affected populations to discuss actions and alternatives and partner to implement. Briefly explain partnership strategies (Who are included? Is everyone clear about roles/responsibilities in the implementation? Reference community engagement continuum.)
2. How is accountability being built into the process?
3. If unintended consequences occur during implementation, how will they be handled?
4. How will you ensure a communication loop back to all stakeholders in the process?
5. How will you align this work with work already being done in the affected communities?