Appendix C State of Oregon DEI Action Plan.pdf

State of Oregon Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Action Plan A Roadmap to Racial Equity and Belonging

AGENDA ITEM 2

SEPTEMBER 23-24, 2021-LCDC MEETING

ATTACHMENT A

LAND RECOGNITION

We would like to acknowledge the many tribes and bands who call Oregon their ancestral territory, including: Burns Paiute, Confederated

Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw, Confederated Tribes of Cow Creek Lower Band of Umpqua, Confederated Tribes of Grand

Ronde, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation, Coquille Tribe, and Klamath Tribes; and honor the ongoing relationship between the land, plants, animals, and people indigenous to this place we now call Oregon. We recognize the continued sovereignty of the nine federally recognized tribes who have ties to this place and thank them for continuing to teach us how we might all be here together.

Reflect on the intention and purpose of the use of land recognition or acknowledgements within your agency.

Legislative Commission on Indian Services, Oregon Department of Transportation, and partners are working to provide further guidance on land acknowledgement.

For additional information, visit OSU Land Acknowledgement and OSU DEI Land Acknowledgement.

https://diversity.oregonstate.edu/feature-story/land-acknowledgement https://outdoorschool.oregonstate.edu/equity-diversity-and-inclusion/land-acknowledgements/

A Message From Governor Kate Brown To all state employees, Thank you for your tireless commitment and dedicated service. I am proud of how we are responding to these challenging times when Oregonians are relying on us.

Every state employee has a higher calling to public service, and now is the exact time to reevaluate and reexamine how to serve everyone in the state to the very best of our abilities.

Over the past year, our most vital needs – health, safety, education, housing, and economic security – have been challenged to the core.

Because of systemic racism, racial disparities impact every part of our culture and economy, and the effects of our current struggles are more severe for communities of color and Tribal communities. As

Oregon continues to recover from the historic year of a global pandemic, worst-in-a-century wildfires, unprecedented ice storms, and racial reckoning across our nation, we must put racial equity at the forefront of all of our recovery efforts and strategies. Racism is insidious, and racist policies and practices have undergirded the nature of our economy. Getting at these deep roots requires specific attention to ensure we are being proactive to embed anti-racism in all that we do and to minimize the negative, disproportionate outcomes experienced by communities of color.

There is a wide spectrum of understanding about what anti-racism really is. We, as state employees, must do the work of unlearning our internal bias and actively changing the way institutions work. That means acknowledging the history, the root cause, learning, growing, and making a concerted effort to upset and uproot racism wherever it exists.

As state employees, counteracting racial injustice is our job. The fight for racial justice is a collective effort that will take more work than what we say or put on display. So, let’s continue to focus on concrete actions.

Oregon is evolving, out of necessity and out of hope. Our policies and practices are changing as we do more listening and decision-making with communities who have been most harmed.

There is much more that has happened, and much more coming up. We will continue to take meaningful steps to incorporate anti-racism into state government structures, policies, budget processes, and workforce recruitment and development.

You are a critical part of how anti-racism work will come to life in state government. Your skills and expertise are needed in the conversation in order to effectively change the status quo. This is your invitation to consider new approaches to the decisions and tasks for which you are responsible. This plan seeks to provide you with the racial equity roadmap and diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies to incorporate across all aspects of state government. Take a breath and reflect on what actions you can take to advance equity and racial justice to benefit the whole state. You are not alone in this effort — we are doing this together.

I value your perspectives very much and I know we can all do more to create the circumstances for racial justice as part of a safer, stronger, and more equitable Oregon.

Sincerely, Governor Kate Brown

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Authors Serena Stoudamire-Wesley, Chief Cultural Change Officer, Department of Administrative Services Sophorn Cheang, Director of Business Oregon, Former Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Office of Governor Kate Brown Chiao-Yun Anny Hsiao, .Economic and Business Equity Manager, Office of Governor Kate Brown

Former Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Coordinator Jennifer Kotting, Consultant, Jennifer Kotting LLC April Callen, Consultant

Contributors Office of Governor Kate Brown Dustin Buehler Kevin Gleim Natalie King Steve Lee Eloisa Miller Shannon Singleton And many other staff in the Governor’s office.

State of Oregon Equity Leaders Chelsea Bunch April Campbell Bryant Campbell Dacia Johnson Dr. Andre Lockett Veronica Murray Nikotris Perkins Teresa Rainey Rudyane Rivera-Lindstrom Ezell Watson

Department of Administrative Services Andrea Chiapella Kathryn Helms Raelynn Henson Carlee Justis Sherry Kudna

Community Partners and Leaders Marin Arreola III Sharon Gary-Smith Jan Mason Marcus Mundy Martha Pellegrino Josiel O. Peña Charles Rynerson Danny Santos Chanpone Sinlapasai

And a special thank you to many state agency partners and community leaders who have made this action plan possible to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Oregon.

State of Oregon Enterprise Leadership Team - DEI Subcommittee Katy Coba, Department of Administrative Services Terri Davie, Oregon State Police Cass McLeod-Skinner, Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners Barry Pack, Oregon Lottery Margaret Salazar, Oregon Housing and Community Services Alexis Taylor, Oregon Department of Agriculture Terrence Woods, Department of Administrative Services Madilyn Zike, Department of Administrative Services

.State of Oregon | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan 1

Contents Land Recognition.....................................................................................................................................................................................ii

A Message From Governor Kate Brown...............................................................................................................................iii

Acknowledgements...............................................................................................................................................................................iv

Introduction

Four Levels of Racism

What these terms mean

State of Oregon’s Definitions for Racial Equity, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Racial Equity Vision

Racial Equity Values

Racial Equity Goals

DEI Action Plan Objectives

Roadmap: The Path to Implementing the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan

Strategy 1 – Agency-Specific Racial Equity Plans

Strategy 2 – State Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Infrastructure

Strategy 3 – Inclusive Communications

Strategy 4 – Community Engagement

Strategy 5 – Disaggregated Data as a Lever for Change

Strategy 6 – Equitable Budget, Inclusive Budget Process, and Investing in Target Communities

Strategy 7 – Contract Equity and Improving State Procurement Processes

Strategy 8 – Diversifying the Workforce and Creating an Inclusive Workplace

Strategy 9 – No Tolerance for Racism, Hate, and Discrimination

Strategy 10 – Urgency, Transparency, and Accountability in All Operations

Four Examples of Current Work Happening in Oregon State Agencies

Racial Equity Actions in 2020 - 2021

Oregon’s History

Appendix I: Racial Equity Toolkit

Section 1. Racial Equity Budget Impact Statement Worksheet

Section 2. Guiding Questions to Operationalize Racial Equity

Appendix II: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Glossary of Concepts

Appendix III: Inclusive Language for Oregon’s Diverse Communities

Appendix IV: Resources

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Introduction

Changing Demographics in Oregon Over the past decade, Oregon has become increasingly diverse. In fact, one in three children under the age of 18 is a person of color.1 The 2019 Census estimates found that people of color make up just 10% of Oregonians 65 or older. But they are 37% of those under the age of 15. Oregon’s largest population of color is the 13.3% of people who describe themselves as Latino/a/x or Hispanic. When compared to the state’s total population, Oregon’s Native American population is ranked as 10th in the U.S. and tops the national average.2 Oregon’s Asian and Pacific Islander population is the fastest growing population and has grown significantly from 2.4% in 1990 to 7% in the 2019 Census estimates. The Black population rose from 1.6% in 1990 to 3% in the 2019 Census estimates. Oregon is also diverse in terms of gender, sexual orientation, and disability status.3

Population Growth by race and ethnicty, Oregon

Figure 1: Oregon’s State Health Assessment | Oregon’s Population, OHA, 2020 https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/ABOUT/Documents/sha/sha-oregons-population.pdf

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Population Percentages by Race/Ethnicity 2000-2019

HISPANIC OR LATINO AND RACE4 2000

Census Census

2019 ACS*

Estimate

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 8.0% 11.7% 13.4%

Not Hispanic or Latino 92.0% 88.3% 86.6%

White alone 83.5% 78.5% 74.9%

Black or African American alone 1.6% 1.7% 1.8%

American Indian and Alaska Native alone 1.2% 1.1% 1.0%

Asian alone 2.9% 3.6% 4.5%

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 0.2% 0.3% 0.3%

Some other race alone 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%

Two or more races 2.4% 2.9% 3.9%

*American Community Survey5

4 The Governor’s Office acknowledges that the lack of identification for Arab/Middle Eastern/North African people in the Census requires conversation.

5 Data Analysis by Portland State University Population Research Center. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 and 2010 Censuses, 2019 American Community Survey one-year estimates, Table DP05.

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For far too long, the longstanding systemic barriers built into government systems have left communities of color behind in accessing the programs and services that would offset the effects of history. Disparities in health, economics, education, and the criminal justice system are stark amongst communities of color compared to their white counterparts. Racial inequities exist across all community indicators of success.

These inequities have been generated by bias and discrimination embedded in policies and practices, which have, and continue to unfairly criminalize people of color and block them from accessing opportunities.

Across the U.S., there is an uneven focus between rural communities versus more urban areas. Narratives vary and the reality is of course more complex than any single narrative. Some believe that major city centers drain resources from other parts of the state, or that rural parts of the country represent the “real” or “true” identity of the U.S. Some say that urban areas are thriving and rural areas are not, and that people in each place have completely opposing views of the world. Each of these narratives not only furthers a rural-urban divide, but also has real and immediate consequences by obscuring possibilities that exist in policy and solutions that we can address in state government.6

6 https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/12/08/the-rural-urban-divide-furthers-myths-about-race-and-poverty-concealing-effective-policy-solutions/

Crucially, there is a racial subtext to these narratives, one that perpetuates stereotypes and misunderstandings about race, class, education, culture, and more. For example, as part of this narrative, there is a notion that rural only means white, when in fact, there are rural counties with highly diverse populations such as Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, and others. While there are very real differences when it comes to demographics, economics, access to services, and other parts of life throughout Oregon, we are one state. Our shared prosperity is determined by how well every community and every resident does. Dividing our state in a stark binary of rural versus urban precludes us from recognizing policy solutions that could benefit all of us, including rural Oregonians of color. It leaves affected people out of the conversation and lessens the depths of their experiences being acknowledged or accounted for. This can further racial tensions by perpetuating myths and stereotypes.

As Oregon’s demographics shift over time, governmental policies and practices have both a historic and current role in alleviating racial and other inequities. Examples of racist policies can be obvious (explicit) or less obvious (implicit) yet just as intentional and harmful, and we need to be aware and vigilant in order to adjust for both:

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Explicit Example: Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II The U.S. government issued executive order 9066 which established Japanese internment camps and incarcerated people of Japanese descent in isolated camps from 1942 to 1945. The policy came about as a reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and continued during World War II. Japanese Americans from Oregon were forced to give up everything and relocate to three internment camps in bordering states including Minidoka Camp in Idaho, Tule Lake Relocation Center in California, and Heart Mountain Facility in Wyoming.7 Since then, the Japanese internment camps have been recognized as a morally reprehensible and violent abuse of American civil rights. During this period, Oregon played an active role in rounding up Japanese descendants, forcibly relocating them to detention camps, and creating a curfew law imposed on Japanese Americans. The law was found to be unconstitutional under Minori Yasui VS. United States 320 U.S. 115 (1943.)

Implicit Example: Measure 11 Mandatory Sentencing Here in Oregon, voters passed Measure 11 in 1994 and reaffirmed it in 2000. Measure 11 is a suite of voter-approved mandatory-minimum sentences for crimes like robbery, rape, murder, and assault without possibilities of reduction for good behavior. It is responsible for more than half of the people who are in prison in Oregon.

According to a 2011 report by the Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ), “Measure 11 has had significant costs for all Oregonians, but it has different impacts on communities of color.”8 For example, Black youth are three times as likely as white youth to face a Measure 11 indictment, with Latino and Native American youth also disproportionately affected. More broadly, disproportionate policing of communities of color causes disproportionate rates of people of color to be convicted under Measure 11.

Sometimes well-intended policies, when put into practice, result in severe impacts against people who are thought of as different because of their race, sex, gender identity, nationality, disability, or other parts of their identity. It is well known that in our schools, youth of color are disciplined more often and with more extreme “zero tolerance” con-sequences than white students. However, disabil-ity is also a major factor in discipline rates. While suspension and expulsion rates for students with disabilities have dropped over the years, students with disabilities are still two times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their classmates.9

Government and policymakers have played a key role in perpetuating racial disparities, and so government and policy must be part of the solution — immediately. Advancing racial equity is a high priority that needs to be fully embedded into Oregon’s very governing structures so that the institutions cannot operate without it. It is the responsibility of the whole state government to examine innovative measures to create a more equitable Oregon for all.

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Racial Equity at the Forefront The United States has a long legacy of racial prejudice and animus; Oregon shares that reality. Oregon was granted statehood, making it the nation’s 33rd state, on February 14, 1859. And while an opposition to slavery was written in our state’s constitution, it was also written that:

“No free negro or mulatto, not residing in this State at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall ever come, reside, or be within this State, or hold any real estate, or make any contract, or maintain any suit therein; and the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal laws for the removal by public officers of all such free negroes and mulattoes, and for their effectual exclusion from the State, and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the State, or employ or harbor them therein.”

Oregon Constitution Section 35 of Article I, 1857

Oregon was the only “free” state admitted to the Union with a Black exclusion law within its constitution. That means Oregon was never a “free state” based on a rejection of slavery.

Oregon was a “free state” that wanted to prevent Black people from living in the state at all. There’s a big difference. While the clause was repealed in 1926, it set the tone for how non-white Oregonians were and are treated, under the law, in policy making, and within social constraints. This is what systemic racism looks like. The past cannot be rewritten, but we can and must do the work to create systemic changes for the future.

10 https://www.opportunityagenda.org/explore/resources-publications/lessons-talking-about-race-racism-and-racial-justice

In addition to race, other areas of identity-based inequities, such as class and gender, are inex-tricably linked. While intrinsically interrelated, both research and lived experiences show that racial inequity persists beyond socio-econom-ic factors.10 This plan focuses on race, not to deemphasize these connections, but as a start-ing point that needs urgent care and attention.

Silence and inaction create the circumstances for bigotry and hatred to gain ground. Our state cannot thrive without addressing past harm and this pressing issue.

As Oregon changes demographically, state agencies must formulate new approaches to ensure all residents can live and thrive in our state, across their identities. We intentionally place racial equity at the forefront in this plan to counterbalance racist policies and practices that should be dismantled. That’s why this plan:

• Urgently addresses the most persistent disparities while shifting to a more permanent framework to benefit all Oregonians.

• Recognizes that there are other types of marginalization by gender, sexuality, age, disability status, immigration status, among other identities.

• Emphasizes that targeted strategies are necessary to eliminate racial disparities and other identity-based disparities.

• Centers racial equity that distinguishes between individual, interpersonal, institutional, and structural racism.

• Focuses on the institutional level where racism occurs. It is critical to address all areas of marginalization, while creating an institutional approach across the board.

• Acknowledges the history and current realities of inequities and how a DEI action plan can be applied to address other types of disparities that exist.

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This DEI Action Plan defines our historically and currently underserved and under-resourced com-munities, including Oregonians who identify as:

• Native American, members of Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes, American Indian, Alaska Natives

• Black, African, African American

• Latina, Latino, Latinx, Hispanic

• Asian

• Pacific Islander (including Compact of Free Association Citizens)

• Immigrants, Refugees, Asylum-Seekers, Deferred Status Holders, Temporary Protected Status

• Undocumented, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), “Dreamers,” Non-Immigrant Visa Holders

• Linguistically diverse, English language learners (ELL)

• Economically Disadvantaged

• People with disabilities

• LGBTQIA2S+

• Farmworkers, Migrant Seasonal Workers

We recognize that individuals often identify with multiple communities and are impacted by compounding systems of oppression, also known as intersectionality.11 Identity and experience impacts racial, health, and economic equity and should be considered in applying Oregon’s DEI Action Plan to help us center racial equity.

11 Crenshaw, K. Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics, University of Chicago Legal Forum, Volume 1989, Issue I.

12 https://belonging.berkeley.edu/targeteduniversalism

Targeted Universalism Scholars and practitioners have been employing the phrase, “targeted universalism,” to successfully break through the binary of universal responses versus targeted solutions in these attempts to remedy the effects of inequity.

Universal responses and statements are a way of signaling the desire for a diverse and equitable society, but can strike people, especially people who have been oppressed for generations, as being too grand and ambitious without any direct way of helping those who are still being harmed. Targeted policies are more direct and localized, but they often seek to meet the needs of a particular group, so can be viewed from a zero-sum perspective, causing hostility and resentment. This plan, however, recommends applying the concept of “targeted universalism,” by “setting universal goals pursued by targeted processes to achieve those goals.” Specific solutions of all scales are built into a goal-oriented framework to equitably benefit all groups concerned.12 https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1052&context=uclf

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Four Levels of Racism To understand and operationalize the DEI Action Plan in state government, it is critical to develop a shared understanding and language of the different levels of racism rooted in our society. Many of us have been socialized to believe that we should not talk about race or acknowledge it, favoring a “color-blind” society instead. However, that is not the reality we live in and ignoring race and its effects inherently erases or invisibilizes people’s experiences and identities. As noted throughout this plan, our society is unfortunately structured by race. Our path towards healing and reconciliation requires that we talk about it. The added discomfort and anxiety individuals experience around discussing issues of race lies in the assumption that we are referring to individual or interpersonal racism, which can make people feel like they are being personally blamed. That is not the intention of this work. This is a systems-level issue which requires systems-level redress, and we all have a role in advancing this work.

To usher in change, we must acknowledge the deeper levels of institutional and structural racism that exist within the government system and move beyond the distress and anxiety of talking about race and progress toward productive discourse which will lead us to a racially just and equitable Oregon.

As public servants of Oregon state government, we have the moral obligation to dismantle institutional and structural racism. Though incredibly important to each of us and to the society we live in, the individual and interpersonal components of racism are not the focus of this plan. Instead, this plan focuses on institutional and structural racism that we can work on together.

13 Adopted from Race Forward Model:

https://www.raceforward.org/sites/default/files/Race%20Reporting%20Guide%20by%20Race%20Forward_V1.1.pdf

What these terms mean:13 Individual Racism: This type of racism, often unknowingly, rests within individuals and comprises our private beliefs and biases about race and racism. Such ideas are influenced and shaped by the larger culture that surrounds us all and can take many different forms including: prejudice towards others of a different race; internalized racism — the negative beliefs about oneself by people of color; or internalized privilege — beliefs about superiority or entitlement, often by white people, but can occur in any community.

Interpersonal Racism: This is the form of racism that people most often think of – a set of intentionally harmful, extremist actions, and behaviors executed by specific persons against other individual people.

This is the bias that occurs when individuals interact with others and their personal racial beliefs, myths, stereotypes, and assumptions affect their public interactions.

Institutional Racism: As the name suggests, this form of racism occurs within institutions and reinforces sys-tems of power. It is often more difficult to name or witness because it is more deeply embedded in practices and policies, often presenting as a norm. Institutional racism refers to the discriminatory policies and practices of particular institutions (government, schools, workplaces, etc.) that routinely cause racially inequitable out-comes for people of color and advantages for white people. Individuals within institutions take on the power of the institution when they reinforce racial inequities. Further, institutional racism causes severe racial trauma with mental and emotional impacts that often escape those who are not experiencing this trauma.

Structural Racism: Distinct but related to institutional racism, structural racism refers to how racial biases among institutions work together — intentionally or not — to disenfranchise people of color and create unequal outcomes. This involves the cumulative and compounding effects of an array of societal factors, including the history, culture, ideology, and interactions of institutions and policies that systematically privilege white people and disadvantage people of color. The effects of structural racism are hard to pinpoint because they are cumulative, subtle, and pervasive.

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State of Oregon’s Definitions for Racial Equity, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Racial Equity� means closing the gaps so that race can no longer predict any person’s success, which simultaneously improves outcomes for all. To achieve racial equity, we must transform our institutions and structures to create systems that provide the infrastructure for communities to thrive equally. This commitment requires a paradigm shift on our path to recovery through the intentional integration of racial equity in every decision.14

Diversity� means honoring and including people of different backgrounds, identities, and experiences collectively and as individuals. It emphasizes the need for sharing power and increasing representation of communities that are systemically underrepresented and under-resourced. These differences are strengths that maximize the state’s competitive advantage through innovation, effectiveness, and adaptability.

Equity� acknowledges that not all people, or all communities, are starting from the same place due to historic and current systems of oppression. Equity is the effort to provide different levels of support based on an individual’s or group’s needs in order to achieve fairness in outcomes. Equity actionably empowers communities most impacted by systemic oppression and requires the redistribution of resources, power, and opportunity to those communities.

Inclusion� is a state of belonging when persons of different backgrounds, experiences, and identities are valued, integrated, and welcomed equitably as decision-makers, collaborators, and colleagues. Ultimately, inclusion is the environment that organizations create to allow these differences to thrive.

14 https://www.raceforward.org/about/what-is-racial-equity

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Racial Equity Vision Within this context of historical harms, changing demographics, intersectional identities, and more;

our vision for the next five years and beyond is to:

• Dismantle institutional and structural racism in Oregon state government, and by doing so, have resounding impacts on the communities of our great state.

• Build a more equitable Oregon where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and everyone’s voice is heard.

• Ensure an inclusive and welcoming Oregon for all by celebrating our collective diversity of race, ethnicity, culture, color, disability, gender, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and immigration status.

Racial Equity Values

• Putting racial equity at the forefront while understanding intersectionality. We must be bold and put racial equity at the forefront as a primary and pervasive location of oppression that connects with and worsens other identity-based inequities.

• Prioritize equity, anti-racism, and racial justice actions. Commitment to prioritizing equity and eliminating racial disparities involves taking action in our policies, budgets, decision-making, and daily work.

• Foster internal and external partnerships. Across the state enterprise and other institutions, community-based organizations are crucial to achieving racial equity. True partnership means shared power, listening, resolving tensions by creating solutions together, and scaling up what already works well.

• Ensure collective responsibility and accountability. As public servants, we have a collective responsibility at every level of government to proactively reduce racial disparities and barriers. We must establish measurements of success so that we can ensure improvements are real and ongoing.

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Racial Equity Goals

1. Establish strong leadership to eradicate racial and other forms of disparities in all aspects of state government.

2. Center equity in budgeting, planning, procurement, and policymaking.

3. Strengthen public involvement through transformational community engagement, access to information, and decision-making opportunities.

4. Improve equitable access to services, programs, and resources including education, health, housing, human services, environmental justice, criminal justice, and economic opportunities.

5. Foster an inclusive workplace culture and promote equitable hiring, retention, and promotion practices.

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DEI Action Plan Objectives Oregon is one of the first states in the United States to create a statewide DEI Action Plan to explicitly work on dismantling institutional and structural racism in state government.

The Governor and agency leadership across state government have pledged their commitment to prioritize equity in their work. In 2020, the Governor’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) along with the Office of Cultural Change were charged to build a bold but executable DEI Action Plan with state agency partners. The plan is designed to guide the still early efforts of the state enterprise to dismantle racism and establish a shared understanding.

15 Modified from Government Alliance on Race & Equity (GARE) Theory of Change for the Jurisdiction:

https://www.racialequityalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GARE-Racial-Equity-Action-Plans.pdf

The objectives of the DEI Action Plan are as follows:15

• Normalize the concepts of racial justice in the state government enterprise – acknowledge history, prioritize and make urgent efforts to put racial equity at the forefront.

• Organize efforts and build organizational capacity across departments for connected, cohesive, and amplified impacts. Foster both internal and external partnerships.

• Operationalize and embed racial equity into every part of state government putting DEI strategies into practice.

• Guide and direct enterprise-level operationalizing of racial equity and DEI work.

• Inspire expansion of equity by sharing and collaborating to build on what is already happening.

Agency leaders across the state are already advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. However, currently there is no cohesive strategy to bring together the fragmented efforts across state government. The DEI Action plan does not prescribe racial equity outcomes of each agency as it will vary between programs, services, infrastructure, planning. Rather, the DEI Action Plan is intended to complement agencies’ existing equity initiatives and provide guidance to agencies just embarking on the journey, threading the collective equity initiatives across the state.

Utilize Disaggregated Data as a Lever for Change

Develop Agency-specific Racial Equity Plans

Build State Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Infrastructure

Foster Inclusive Communications

Strengthen Community Engagement 4 Create Equitable Budget & Inclusive Budget Process; Invest in Target Communities6 Advance Contract Equity and Improve State Procurement Processes 7 Build a More Diverse Workforce and Create an Inclusive Workplace

No Tolerance for Racism, Hate, and Discrimination 9 Operate with Urgency, Transparency, and Accountability 10

Establish Center Strengthen Improve Foster

Racial Equity Goals

Ten Strategies

Center equity in budgeting, planning, procurement, and policymaking.

Guide Guide and direct enterprise-level operationalizing of racial equity and

DEI work.

Strengthen public involvement through transformational community engagement, access to information, and decision-making opportunities.

Operationalize Operationalize and embed racial equity into every part of state government.

Improve equitable access to services, programs, and resources including education, health, housing, human services, environmental justice, criminal justice, and economic opportunities.

Organize Organize efforts and build organizational capacity across departments for connected, cohesive, and amplified impacts. Foster both internal and external partnerships.

Foster an inclusive workplace culture and promote equitable hiring, retention, and promotion practices.

Inspire Inspire expansion of equity by sharing and collaborating to build on what is already happening.

Establish strong leadership to eradicate racial and other forms of disparities in all aspects of state government.

Normalize Normalize the concepts of racial justice in the state government enterprise – acknowledge history, utilize a racial equity roadmap, familiarize by using concepts and tools that will support efforts to put racial equity at the forefront.

DEI Action Plan Objectives

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Roadmap: The Path to Implementing the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan

14 Office of the Governor

Know: Identify systemic and institutional barriers that hinder progress toward a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

Engage: Work within the agency, across the enterprise when applicable, and with communities to create meaningful, intentional, and inclusive processes for change to result.

Act: Develop and implement solutions to address barriers to improve policy, performance, and service delivery to all Oregonians.

Reflect: Share, connect, and collaborate to expand and scale up efforts.

1 2 3 4

Process and Approach:

State agencies will work collectively in ways that regularly include these process steps:16

1. Know: Identify systemic and institutional barriers that hinder progress toward a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

2. Engage: Work within the agency, across the enterprise when applicable, and with communities to create meaningful, intentional, and inclusive processes for change to result.

3. Act: Develop and implement solutions to ad-dress barriers to improve policy, performance, and service delivery to all Oregonians.

4. Reflect: Share, connect, and collaborate to expand and scale up efforts.

Putting equity values into practice requires chang-ing the way state government operates. In 2020, Governor Brown established the Office of Cultural Change within the Department of Administrative Services to guide state agencies and lead enter-prise-wide efforts to achieve racial equity and put the DEI Action Plan into practice. The Office of Cultural Change is designed to centralize and standardize equity practices enterprise-wide. This will help break down barriers to understanding each other’s work and create an inclusive working environment so all state employees can thrive and feel they truly belong.

16 Modified from: https://www.nationalequityproject.org/framework/leading-for-equity-framework

Also in 2020, Governor Brown established the Racial Justice Council, with a charge to change how we as state government listen to, engage with, respond to, and support Black, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Latino/a/x, Native American, and Tribal members in Oregon.

The Racial Justice Council aims to use policy and budget to dismantle the structures of racism that have created grave disparities in virtually all of our social systems and structures, including:

criminal justice, police accountability, housing and homelessness, human services, economic opportunity, health equity, environmental equity and education recovery.

With a commitment to racial justice, Governor Brown in early 2021 renamed the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the Office of Equity and Racial Justice.

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan There is no one-size fits all approach across our state agencies, nor can we anticipate a linear process. The 10 strategy DEI Action Plan is provided to guide agencies through a journey for operationalizing their DEI initiatives.

Some agencies have already implemented new strategies that are showing positive results, while others are just beginning to consider how they might initiate diversity, equity, and inclusion in their work. It makes sense that given different resources, histories, and compositions, each agency will be in a different phase. We will learn from those who have already explored initiatives, so inspiration and examples are offered later in this document. Keep in mind, some agencies may make hires before a plan is developed, and others may take on strategies concurrently. No matter where an agency is on the path, the goals below are designed to ground, jumpstart, and connect our work collectively.

Operationalizing the DEI Action Plan is a collaborative effort. Champions exist at both the enterprise and agency level and are required to work collectively toward advancing the strategies outlined below.

• Enterprise Champions - Provide the framework, context, and environment, and help to centralize the collective effort while holding agencies and agency champions accountable.

• Agency Champions - Agency directors and their executive leadership teams move agency racial equity plans, set goals and timelines, appoint necessary staff (given the reality that different agencies have different levels of resourcing to do this work), and are accountable to the enterprise level.

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Strategy 1 – Agency-Specific Racial Equity Plans Each agency is responsible for developing an agency-specific racial equity plan incorporating all the strategies of the DEI Action Plan in order to set goals and initial timelines. The process used to develop the plan often informs how successful its implementation will be, based on staff and community input and buy-in.

Actions:

• Affirm organizational commitment to racial equity, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Identify champions and early advocates within the agency who can help lead the planning.

• Assemble a team to lead the process, write, and distill, while we plan to engage with staff and communities served (also refer to Strategy 4, Community Engagement).

• Set a realistic timeline for completing the plan, creating milestones for meeting set outcome goals.

• Examine and apply the State of Oregon DEI Action Plan 10 strategies to the planning process.

• Create organizational-wide and data-informed 3- to 5-year racial equity plans and share with the Office of Cultural Change.

Strategy 2 – State Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Infrastructure State diversity, equity, and inclusion infrastructure is critical to the success of the implementation of DEI initiatives within the agency. The actions below can happen before, during, or after creating the racial equity plans in Strategy 1 depending on the agency’s needs.

Actions:

• Dedicate staff capacity and resources to operationalize DEI initiatives to support the agency and manage these necessary tasks including but not limited to:

�� Create agency-wide racial equity plans.

�� Conduct baseline data analysis on existing data and agency assessment.

�� Create equity outcomes and goals.

�� Innovate service and program delivery to reduce disparities.

�� Evaluate and measure success.

�� Provide internal support, technical assistance, and training.

�� Provide strategic advice.

• Include and empower racial equity and DEI staff as part of the agency executive/ leadership team to advise and influence budget, policies, and decisions.

• Build DEI organizational capacity (e.g. data, community engagement staff, agency DEI committees, affinity groups, employee resource groups).

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Strategy 3 – Inclusive Communications For maximum transparency and accountability, communicating our work needs to happen during major shifts and occurrences, and on a day-to-day basis. As we work towards equity, we will need to share the progress of our work in compelling, clear, accessible, and transparent ways.

Collaborative and coordinated messaging efforts are needed to create public narrative shifts around race, diversity, and equity. To bring people into the bigger vision, it can be helpful to paint a picture of the future that people can perceive themselves in. It is also worth thinking about how to diverge from what has been the dominant narrative, and how communications can reach people who have not been provided information sufficiently in the past.

Actions:

• Language access and literacy: Ensure multilingual Oregonians with limited English proficiency (LEP) and English language learners have access to translated material in appropriate languages. Translate important information and guidance in a timely way.

Information should be communicated clearly, in ways that are culturally and linguistically responsive to the intended community.

• Shift focus from written to spoken word and other ways of sharing information: Language access also means not always relying on the written word to convey meaning, so consider video and audio recordings for communities who cannot read or write.

• Accessibility: Ensure people with disabilities have access to information in appropriate formats (e.g. closed captioning, sign language interpretation, and/or other accommodations) that at a minimum comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

• Message in appropriate medium: Deliver information via culturally specific media outlets and culturally and linguistically responsive formats to reach all communities, including social media, video, and radio.

• Trusted messengers: Communicate with communities through trusted local stakeholders, community-based organizations, and leaders.

• Trauma-informed communications:

Recognize traumas people experience due to marginalization, inequity, violence, PTSD, and other structural factors. Avoid language and messages that exacerbate these inequities.

• Involve communities in the development of communications: Collaborate with community members to develop messages and communications products that resonate with and are accessible to intended communities.

• Align messaging with other agencies for mutually reinforcing vision and language about successes to set up the kind of repetition that is needed for people to feel the change happening and spread the word.

• Connect the dots: Most people think of racism as interpersonal rather than structural or institutional; we need to proactively illustrate how structural inequities, including structural racism, create inequitable contexts and outcomes.

• Language matters: We must be intentional in the words we use to identify, assist, and move the work.

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Strategy 4 – Community Engagement Oregonians are engaged when they are meaningfully included in discussions, decision-making, and implementation of the parts of government that affect their lives. In essence, community engagement means sharing power by proactively working with community stakeholders and building meaningful partnerships to inform decision-making. To some, community engagement feels like too slow of a process to be able to meet expectations in agency-level work. However, with this plan agency directors can set their own timeline to ensure that community engagement is a high priority. Community engagement ensures that their plans are relevant, needed, and build on existing solutions, ideas, and strengths that Oregon’s diverse communities have to offer. Time and again, government agencies have learned that no plans or strategies can fully succeed without engaging impacted communities. There are many resources available on this topic, and here is just one comprehensive guide to which agencies can refer.

Actions:

• Strengthen proactive community engagement efforts and initiatives to foster trust and partnerships.

• Engage and center diverse community stakeholders and local leaders across the state to be an essential part of the data-informed decision-making process.

• Build on and collaborate with the trusted network of community-based organizational partners to lead in policymaking and ensure that we proactively address policy gaps.

• Ensure policymaking bodies such as boards and commissions represent the voices of communities of color, Tribal communities, and communities representing people with disabilities.

• Engage and empower community partners and communities of color to inform policy, resource allocation and budget decisions.

• Take down procurement and contracting barriers that prevent community-based organizations from collaborating with the state.

• Participate in enterprise-wide efforts to build infrastructure for statewide community engagement work.

• Collaborate across agencies internally and/or with other agencies to make state government community engagement processes more efficient and less of a burden on underserved communities.

https://dilgpprd.blob.core.windows.net/general/community-engagement-toolkit.pdf

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Strategy 5 – Disaggregated Data as a Lever for Change As we leverage qualitative and quantitative data, both drive questions and strengthen our efforts to take action. The role of data is to help identify needs and optimal conditions for access to services and opportunities for improvement.

Data is an entry point into a larger picture and set of actions. Trust building often must precede our efforts to collect, communicate, and use data. That’s why it is so important to be in conversation with communities to interpret data, and not use data to interpret and define people, because data tells us about the systems we are working with. The system is the lever for change to create better opportunities by getting to the right interventions to create the optimal conditions for racial equity to occur.

The State of Oregon’s Enterprise Information Services has created Oregon’s Data Strategy, a comprehensive strategy establishing “a central vision to enable Oregon to better use, manage, and share its data to create information, knowledge, and insight.”

For the actions below, we also recommend reviewing “How States Use Data to Inform Decisions.”

Actions:

• Collect, analyze, and report granular data, with respect for the privacy and self-determination of Oregonians.

• Proactively engage community members in data collection and provide opportunities for feedback on new data initiatives.

• Recognize that administrative data are currently lacking in representation and visibility for all Oregonians and work to identify these limitations.

• Influence policy change to solve complex problems and improve service delivery.

• Apply policy to data use so that data collection and interpretation are done in trustworthy, effective, and inclusive ways.

• Use data to invite communities who may have different needs and priorities yet may be experiencing similar issues and/or strengths.

• Efficiently apply resources based on where data shows they are most needed and effective.

• Use administrative data to prepare annual reports to transparently show how funds are spent and their impact.17

• Use data to show compliance with performance measures set by the federal government, state Legislature, Governor, or an agency.18

• Use data for culturally and linguistically responsive communications, and to target resources for the most impacted communities across the state.

• Tap into different sources of data, including community narratives (meaning qualitative data), to provide context…