California Racial Equity Coalition

The stakeholders who advocated for Senate Bill 17 and helped establish the Racial Equity Commission are now focused on the implementation work of the Commission. This coalition represents a strong group of policy and government program advocates, researchers, organizers, capacity builders, and partners, dedicated to institutionalizing racial equity policy and programmatic work within state government. 

To streamline the coalition's efforts working groups have been created that focus on four specific areas:

• Advocacy & Relationship-Building with the Commission: Developing the advocacy strategy and leading the engagement with the Commission on behalf of the coalition. 
• Racial Equity Framework: Developing the coalition’s recommendations for the framework. 
• Department/Agency Accountability: Identifying and recommending which departments/agencies the coalition will prioritize to monitor and engage with their staff on racial equity efforts. 
• Community Engagement: Developing recommendations for how community engagement can be done by the Commission, especially in their process of developing the racial equity framework.

Background:

The global pandemic that recently plagued our nation affected every demographic grouping in the United States and helped to clearly expose the legacy of structural racism and systemic inequity in state government programs and policies.  Numerous research studies dramatically show the vast disproportional harms people of color experienced during the pandemic. The growing evidence of these glaring and widespread inequities sparked a national movement towards racial justice. 

In 2021, fellow equity advocates co-sponsored Senate Bill 17 (Pan), which contributed to the Newsom Administration’s decision to issue an Executive Order (EO) to establish a statewide Racial Equity Commission. The Commission is required to recommend strategies that advance racial equity across state agencies and address the systemic racism in government programs and policies that have resulted in poorer health, economic, and social outcomes in communities of color. Specifically, the Commission is required to create a Racial Equity Framework, provide technical assistance to departments and local governments, engage in community outreach, and publish an annual report on racial disparities with corresponding recommendations.