SR 07-18-2023 7A
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: July 18, 2023
Agenda Item: 7.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: David White, City Manager, City Manager's Office
Subject: Receive Update and Take Action to Advance Racial Justice, Equity, and
Social Diversity
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council review and commen t on the FY 2023-24 Equity
Plan for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team in the City Manager’s Office and
direct staff to proceed with the implementation of the plan.
Executive Summary
Santa Monica, a renowned global leader in the areas of susta inability and innovation,
has recognized the need to address equity gaps within its community. Years of
community engagement efforts and shared insights from community stakeholders have
shed light on the disparities faced by Black and Latino communities in the City,
revealing that unfortunately, despite its reputation as a progressive city with equity and
inclusion as some of its central values, communities of color have experienced division
and competition for limited resources. While the City has made significant efforts to
address these challenges through internally focused changes and periodic investments
into equity focused initiatives, to date there has been no cohesive, community facing
plan to treat equity in Santa Monica as a core function of the City. To move forward into
an inclusive, multi-faceted and coordinated approach to equity, the City has devised a
comprehensive plan that involves evaluating policies for unconscious bias, conducting
equity impact assessments for a selection of City projects, empowering residents
through grants, and fostering staff growth opportunities, along with a robust community
engagement effort that will culminate in the City’s first formalized Equity Plan.
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The City will kick off the process with a panel discussion featuring diverse
representation to explore the concept of strategic allyship. This will be followed by a
seven-month community engagement phase dedicated to collective issue identification,
focused on gathering information about residents’ equity priorities and challenges.
These engagement opportunities will include large City community listening sessions,
held both in person and virtually, as well as smaller, community led meetings. The City
will offer stipends to community groups to host these sessions, ensuring diverse voices
are heard and their insights can be incorporated into the DEI team’s analysis.
The DEI team will review community input, identify key issues, and collaborate with
relevant departments to collate existing programs and policies addressing these
challenges. We will then return to the community to co-generate solutions to key issues,
with the knowledge of the City’s existing programs as a foundation for the discussions.
Following the community engagement process, the DEI team will present priorities and
proposed solutions to the Council and ask the City Council to identify priority areas of
focus. An Equity Task Force will be established to manage progress towards Council’s
selected priority areas, comprising staff from relevant departments, and a regular
system of engagement with the community, the Community Equity Coalition, will be
created to foster collaboration among major city institutions, public and private sector
partners, community stakeholders, and staff. By implementing this co mprehensive plan,
Santa Monica aims to proactively address equity challenges, strengthen community
engagement, and build a more inclusive and equitable future for all residents. Through a
collective effort involving residents, City departments, and diverse stakeholders, Santa
Monica is committed to fostering lasting change and achieving multi-dimensional
progress that benefits the entire community.
Background
The City of Santa Monica has long been recognized as a leader in municipal
governance, from our AAA bond rating to our five-star rated library system, to our long
list of accomplishments in the realm of environmental sustainability. However, one area
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in which the City has yet to play a leading role is in racial equity, as evidenced by our
outcomes in this area. According to various sources including Race Counts and Healthy
City, Black, Latinx, and Native American Santa Monicans fare worse than white Santa
Monicans across nearly every quality-of-life indicator, and many of these inequities have
worsened since 2020. As many of us in the community recently learned from reading
“The Sum of Us” by Heather McGhee, these inequities not only impact People of Color
who feel their effects most directly, but the community as a whole suffers when they are
not addressed. A look at just one economic consequence of racial inequality—Gross
Domestic Product (GDP)—reveals that the LA regional GDP would be 58 percent higher
if racial gaps in income were eliminated, according to the National Equity Atlas. As an
economic engine for the region, the City has both a moral and economic obligation in
closing these and other racial disparities. Further, due to the pervasiveness and
entrenchment of existing inequalities, a strong and focused approach much like the
City’s efforts to address climate change will be required if we ever hope to be a truly
equitable community.
Throughout the nation, other municipalities have taken focused actions aimed
specifically at addressing institutional racism, starting with the City of Seattle’s Race and
Social Justice Initiative in 2004. Since then, dozens of cities have launched offices of
equity and other initiatives explicitly targeting institutiona l racism, leveraging the lessons
learned in Seattle. Unfortunately, Santa Monica has taken a slower and more diluted
approach in its efforts to combat racism to-date. Though some efforts at inclusion have
been made, particularly around affordable housing, the Pico Wellbeing Project and the
Black Agenda, the City has yet to take cohesive, citywide action aimed at moving the
needle on racial equity. As a result, despite being the 18th largest city in LA County with
the fourth largest budget, Santa Monica’s communities of color have at times expressed
concern over projects and approaches that favor specific groups over their own, seeing
the current equity efforts as “special projects” that have limited reach. This has had the
effect historically of turning groups that should be allies into adversaries, who believe
they must compete with each other for scarce resources.
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While the City organization has lacked robust structures to advance equity in the ways
that many other cities have, leaving progress in the hands of a few dedicated City staff,
Santa Monica has continued to make progress due to its best resource: its residents.
Santa Monica is rich in community organizations that have dedicated, in many cases,
decades of energy toward righting the wrongs of the past and closing equity
gaps. These groups include, but not necessarily limited to the Human Relations Council
(HRC), the Committee for Racial Justice (CRJ), Santa Monica Black Lives Association
(SMBLA), Familias Latinas Unidas (FLU), Parent Connection Group (PCG), Pico
Neighborhood Association (PNA), the Church in Ocean Park, the Human Services
Commission, Public Safety Reform and Oversight Commission, The People Concern,
Community Corporation of Santa Monica, Pico Youth and Family Center (PYFC), Black
Santa Monica Tours, Ethiopian Community in Santa Monica (ECOMISM), Santa Monica
College’s Public Policy Institute and its Division of Equity, Pathways, and Inclusion, the
Black Agenda, Virginia Avenue Park Advisory Board, Quinn Research Center,
Juneteenth Celebration Committee Inc, Santa Monica League Women Voters, Westside
NAACP, Westside MLK Day Coalition, Rent Control Board and Agency, and 18th Street
Arts Center along with many other willing allies who have created a strong foundation
for the advancement of equity in Santa Monica. It is now time for the City to step
forward as a leader in equity through ambitious goals and sustained actions as detailed
below.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
07/07/2023 (Attachment A) July 2023 Equity Update Information Item
09/08/2020 (Attachment B) Fall 2020 Equity Report
Best Practices from across the Country
Municipalities across the country have devised programs to repair the harm caused to
Communities of Color by structural racism. Each of the cities discussed below has
engaged in the development of a citywide equity plan or has created a citywide equity
toolkit that guides action and measures progress, and have used these tools to advance
transformational equity projects. These programs, examples of which are listed below,
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can serve as a model for possibilities the City could explore with input from residents,
staff, and the City Council. The City is already exploring potentially creating a cannabis
equity program in the future as detailed below.
City of Evanston Restorative Housing Program Funded by Cannabis and Real Estate
Property Transfer Taxes
In June 2019, the governor of Illinois signed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act into
law, which made the sale of recreational marijuana legal effective January 1, 2020. The
tax act allows municipalities to adopt ordinances to impose a local tax (up to 3 percent
of retail price) on the operation of recreational cannabis dispensaries. In November
2019, the Evanston City Council adopted a resolution to commit the first $10 million of
its cannabis tax revenues to fund reparations for housing assistance and relief initiatives
for African American residents, economic development programs and opportunities for
African American residents and entrepreneurs, and education initiatives for African
American residents. The first reparations initiative the City introduced is the Restorative
Housing Program, which addresses discriminatory housing policies and practices and
inaction by the City from 1919-1969. Program goals include increasing Black
homeownership and building generational wealth, improving the retention rate of Black
homeowners, revitalizing Black owner-occupied homes, and building intergenerational
equity among Black residents. Eligible residents can apply to receive $25,000 toward
one of the following areas: down payment/closing cost assistance, home improvement,
mortgage assistance and most recently a direct cash payment. With the rollout of its
housing initiative, Evanston became the first municipality in the country to fund a
reparations program. The City has since passed a real estate transfer tax on the sale of
real estate valued over $1.5 million to help boost its reparations fund. The City will
continue developing additional reparations initiatives in the future that align with the
recommendations listed in the City Council resolution.
City of Saint Paul Children’s Savings Account, Guaranteed Income Pilot and
CollegeBound Boost
The City of Saint Paul launched three related initiatives aimed at helping families meet
basic needs to pave the way for economic prosperity while also investing in savings for
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their children’s education. The People’s Prosperity Guaranteed Income Pilot ran
between October 2020 and April 2022. Funded by a mix of public and private dollars,
the pilot program provided 150 families with $500 per month in guaranteed income for
18 months to pay for essentials, including food and housing. The City opened the pilot
program to families enrolled in CollegeBound Saint Paul, a savings initiative launched
by the City to provide each child born to a resident on or after January 1, 2020, with a
college savings account, a $50 seed deposit and a $10 bonus deposit in their account
every month. Funded by a variety of sources (i.e., City funds and staffing, local
community foundations, corporate foundations and donors, and individual donors),
CollegeBound Saint Paul is part of the City’s broader efforts to address financial
insecurity and educational disparities, which deeply affect households/residents of color
in particular. The City’s latest initiative, CollegeBound Boost, builds upon the
guaranteed income and college savings initiatives by providing 333 low-income families
participating in CollegeBound Saint Paul with $500 in guaranteed monthly income
payments for two years and $1,000 deposits in each child’s CollegeBound Saint Paul
college savings account. CollegeBound Boost is funded by $4 million in American
Rescue Plan funds and $1 million in charitable funds. Income assistance programs of
these types are growing in popularity and can also be found in San Francisco, Oakland,
Birmingham, Alabama; Phoenix, Arizona; Gainesville, Florida; and Cook County, Illinois,
to name a few.
City of Durham DEAR Program for Residents with Suspended Drivers’ Licenses
After conducting an analysis that found that the licenses of one in five adults were
revoked or suspended because of failure to appear in traffic court or pay court costs, the
City of Durham launched the Durham Expunction and Restoration (DEAR) Program in
October 2018 to offer free legal assistance with license restoration and expunctions.
The analysis also showed that the suspensions disproportionately affected People of
Color, and most were as a result of minor offenses such as expired registration or
driving without a license. Individuals participating in the program were required to have
their driving privileges suspended for a minimum of two years. The City’s Innovation
Team collaborated with the Durham District Attorney’s Office, North Carolina Justice
Center, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Durham County Criminal Justice Resource Center,
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and a host of other agencies (i.e., law schools, philanthropies, social justice
organizations) over a two-year period to waive $2.7 million in fines and fees that kept
more than 11,000 individuals from having their drivers’ licenses reinstated. The City and
its partners continue to offer the DEAR Program to assist residents with expunctions
and license restoration.
City of Long Beach Cannabis Equity Program
Recognizing that the war on drugs has disproportionately affected Communities of
Color, the City of Long Beach established its Cannabis Equity Program to provide
equitable opportunities for individuals who have been negatively affected by the
criminalization of cannabis. The program aims to address the long-term, negative social
impacts to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and low-income
communities in Long Beach, including but not limited to loss of property, permanent
disqualification from employment opportunities and family and comm unity disintegration.
The program provides opportunities in following three areas:
• Business ownership: Equity applicants interested in opening a cannabis business
can receive the following assistance to guide them through the application
process: access to application workshops, fee waivers, direct grants, expedited
application and facility plan check review, cultivation tax deferrals and direct
technical assistance.
• Employment opportunities: Equity applicants interested in cannabis employment
opportunities have access to employment opportunities, job fairs and
orientations, and job search assistance. The City connects applicants to adult-
use cannabis businesses, which are required to hire equity employees for at
least 40 percent of the work hours performed at the business.
• Community reinvestment: Every adult-use cannabis business is required to
submit plans detailing how it will reinvest in communities affected by the war on
drugs and how the business will support one or more of the following community
priorities within eligible social equity program census tracts: child and youth
development, violence prevention, re-entry, and economic inclusion.
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Consideration of Adult-Use Cannabis in Santa Monica and Cannabis Equity Program
In November 2022, Santa Monica voters approved Measure HMP, which will allow the
City to impose a tax on all commercial cannabis activities. The City Council on June 13,
2023, held a study session on adult-use cannabis. The Council received a presentation
on key policy considerations for allowing adult-use cannabis businesses and other non-
retail cannabis business types within the City, discussed options for allowing adult -use
cannabis sales and associated regulatory restrictions, and provided direction to staff to
commence the necessary steps and analysis for creating an adult-use cannabis
program and ordinance. The Council expressed interest in establishing a variety of
adult-use cannabis uses in the City with clear rules that will provide options for both
retail and non-retail uses, protect sensitive uses in the community and advance social
equity. The Council’s direction to staff included commencing a cannabis equity study to
help inform future policy options for promoting opportunities so those negatively
impacted by federal and state enforcement policies can benefit from the newly legalized
industry. Staff is working on advancing the Council’s direction beginning with an
ordinance to allow the conversion of the existing medicinal cannabis retailers to adult -
use later this year. The Council will subsequently vote to affirm permit use, standards
and limitations, policy, and regulations at a future meeting prior to implementation. Read
more in the staff report (Attachment C)
Actions We Can Take Now
Given the documented disparities in our community and the growing momentum within
the City organization to address equity, there are many things that can be done now to
address past harms, break down systemic barriers, and advanc e equity for all our
community members.
Strengthening Staff Expertise
In 2022, representatives of nearly every city department participated in the city’s Racial
Equity Committee and undertook projects that made their department’s community
engagement strategies more inclusive, opened new pathways into the organization for
those wishing to join our workforce and new pathways for mobility within the
organization for those wishing to grow their careers, and modified policies to embed
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equity into daily operations. In 2023, the committee will continue to take on department
level projects and will also begin to serve as a resource to the City when issues of bias
or hate occur in the community by providing insight to City leadership about effective
communications and community involvement. The committee will also spend a portion
of its time evaluating existing policies and programs for unconscious bias and sharing
its findings with City leadership.
Outside of the Racial Equity Committee, all staff will continue to have opportunities to
participate in trainings about Implicit Bias, Interrupting Microaggressions, Bystander
Intervention techniques, and more. These trainings provide staff with opportunities to
connect with each other, discuss sensitive topics in a supportive environment, and learn
how best to integrate the values of equity and inclusion into their daily work, creating a
better environment for both staff and our community. The City’s affinity groups, Black
Leadership Advocating for Change through Connection and Kinship/Knowledge
(BLACCK), the Coalition of Asian and Pacific Employees of Santa Monica (CAPE SM),
CommUNITY (a multi-identity affinity group), Out in Santa Monica, and the Santa
Monica Alliance of White Anti-Racists, will continue to provide opportunities for staff to
grow stronger as allies and advocates.
In addition, to expand our shared understanding of equity and how local government
influences equity outcomes for all residents, DEI trainings will be arranged for both
Councilmembers and Board and Commission members in 2023 -2024.
Assessing Our Impact
Taking the time to consider the City’s work more deeply and how it impacts specific
communities will allow us to make informed decisions, proactively address potential
disparities, and ensure that our policies and programs uplift and support all members of
our diverse community. To that end, the DEI team will initiate a 12 -month pilot program
that will allow the City to analyze new work in new ways by performing equity impact
assessments on four projects selected from a list of initiatives submitted by City
department heads for consideration. The team will use an equity impact assessment
tool (Attachment D) to review current and future policies, programs, services,
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procedures, and budget decisions for the City. 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.
Throughout the assessment process, the DEI team will actively collect feedback from
the departments leading the work. These engagements will serve to refine the
assessment tool throughout the pilot period, ensuring its effectiveness and relevance.
By incorporating the valuable insights and experiences of staff, the goal is to enhance
the assessment process and strengthen its applicability across various City projects.
The DEI team is committed to providing comprehensive trainings on how to effectively
utilize the equity impact assessment tool. Once the pilot period conclud es, these
trainings will be offered to all City departments. The objective is to encourage
widespread adoption of an equity assessment process as an integral part of the regular
workflow. By equipping departments with the knowledge and tools necessary to c onduct
equity impact assessments, we aim to embed equity considerations into the fabric of our
decision-making processes, ultimately fostering a more inclusive and equitable city for
all residents.
Grants for Equity
Many communities, including our own, have found significant value from developing a
grant program that provides residents and community organizations with funds to
advance equity in their communities. Santa Monica has done this through Cultural
Affairs’ Community Access and Participation (CAP) program that funds exceptional
artistic and/or heritage experiences and cultural opportunities which respond to
community needs, and via Wellbeing Microgrants, which funded resident led projects
that improved quality of life over a variety of areas. The DEI team will develop a similar
grant program using the funds generated for equity uses from the Out of Home Kiosk
Program, which will be available starting in 2025. In addition, there are vast resources
available outside the City that can be applied toward equity programs. Staff will contract
with a grant writer to assist with bringing outside funding to equity priorities to further
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amplify our progress toward transformational change for the communities that need it
most.
Developing a Citywide Equity Plan
The efforts detailed above summarize the actions the City can take now with available
resources. However, there is a larger goal for this work, and that is to develop and
adopt a citywide equity plan that reflects the priorities of the diverse identities in our
community, with an approach that is informed by insight from every City department. To
develop this plan, we cannot rely on data and information collected prior to the
pandemic. We will build on the work produced in advocacy by our community
stakeholders in recent years by engaging deeply in the community to understand the
specific equity priorities for each community, and how the City and community can
achieve multi-dimensional progress together.
Creating a citywide equity plan that leverages municipal resources to address equity
challenges means aligning views and fostering a sense of mutual support and shared
goals among community members. The kickoff event for the community engagement
process will feature participation from individuals representing diverse races, sexual
orientations, ages, abilities, and more. The focus will be on encouraging the open
sharing of identity-based challenges and highlighting the significance of allyship among
different identity groups. Actively involving voices from various backgrounds from the
start will set a tone of ongoing collaboration and problem-solving, ensuring that our
engagement efforts genuinely reflect the needs and concerns of all community
members.
Following the kickoff, through a series of open and inclusive discussions, community
members will have opportunities to freely express their concerns, share their
experiences, and contribute to shaping our collective vision for a more equitable
future. These opportunities will include a City hosted community listening session, which
will be accessible both in person and virtually, providing an opportunity for a broader
audience to come together and voice their perspectives on the critical issues of equity.
Offering multiple platforms for participation ensures that community members can
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engage in a manner that suits their preferences and circumstances, fostering a rich and
comprehensive dialogue around equity challenges and potential solutions.
To further amplify community voices and ensure a holistic representation of
perspectives, stipends will be made available to individuals and community groups to
assist them with holding their own listening sessions. The stipends, funded with 25% of
the DEI team’s annual budget will be approved on a first come first serv e basis via a
public application and will remain available until funds are depleted. The stipends can
be used to make the meetings as inclusive as possible, which could include paying for
food, location, childcare, interpretation services or other accommodations for
participants. These stipends will enable community members to convene focused
discussions, allowing for deeper exploration of specific equity concerns within their
respective groups. To facilitate meaningful analysis and incorporation of the discussions
in the development of citywide equity priorities, we will provide standardized
documentation packets to guide the sessions and ensure that the valuable insights
gathered are effectively integrated into our equity team's analysis. Listening sessions
will run for a duration of eight weeks, providing ample time for comprehensive
engagement, and capturing diverse perspectives from across the community.
This approach aims to create a robust framework for capturing resident input,
understanding their unique equity priorities, and leveraging their collective wisdom to
drive informed decision-making. By engaging residents at various levels, from large
community sessions to focused group discussions, the DEI team is committed to
fostering an inclusive and participatory approach that empowers every member of our
community to contribute to the advancement of equity and social justice.
Following the community engagement process, the DEI team will review and analyze
the community feedback to identify major themes and collaborate with departments to
identify existing programs and policies that could address each theme. From there, the
team will develop a reference guide listing existing City programs, policies and priorities
that have been created to address the challenges identified and will share that
information with the community.
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The DEI team will host hybrid community meetings to share the major themes identified
during the engagement process and share the existing City programs, policies, and
priorities currently in place that are related to the areas of focus from the community.
The team will again open an application process to offer stipends to individuals and
community groups to host a series of working meetings where residents will document
recommended solutions to the major themes to help bridge the gap between solutions
offered by existing City programs, policies and priorities, and new programs, policies
and initiatives that could be developed.
At the conclusion of the analysis stage, the DEI team will present the community
identified priorities, along with proposed solutions to the City Council for consideration
and endorsement, to ensure that the Council is informed about the identified areas of
focus, can share their preferred priority areas from those identified by the community
and staff, and can provide support and guidance in driving equity initiatives. These
priorities will become the City’s equity plan for the following five years, and the team will
provide regular updates to the Council and the community regarding the progress made
toward each goal.
Implementing the Citywide Equity Plan
To facilitate internal collaboration in service of the identified equity priorities, many of
which will likely require many departments to collaborate, a dedicated Equity Task
Force will be established, consisting of staff members from relevant departments. This
task force will convene monthly meetings to develop a comprehensive work plan that
includes clear milestones and a timeline. With recognitio n that, for most departments,
the initiatives selected will create additional work for City staff, the DEI team will also be
available to embed within departments for three -month rotations, providing support and
expertise in research and development to prevent delays due to lack of capacity. This
approach ensures that progress is achieved in a coordinated and consistent manner
and allows departments to serve as valued subject matter experts in shaping new equity
initiatives that are created to respond to the priorities set by the community.
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Communities are not stagnant, and a one-time engagement process will not yield the
deeper connection and collaboration with our residents that would best serve the work
of advancing equity in Santa Monica. A Community Equity Coalition will be created
following the principles of the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation model. This
engagement will involve major city institutions, both public and private sector partners,
community stakeholders, and staff members. These quarterly meetings will emphasize
truth-telling, addressing systemic racism, and fostering healing and transformation.
These sessions will also provide dedicated time to address emerging community
concerns, ensuring that evolving needs and challenges are promptly addressed and
incorporated into ongoing equity initiatives.
By implementing this comprehensive approach, the DEI team aims to foster a culture of
equity, inclusion, and active community engagement. Through collaborative efforts,
transparent decision-making processes, and ongoing dialogue, the City seeks to
achieve meaningful and sustainable transformation while ensuring that community
priorities remain at the forefront of its endeavors.
Legal Considerations
While the advancement of equity is a priority for the City, it is also important to keep in
mind the existing state and federal legal framework regarding preferential treatment,
based upon race, sex color, ethnicity, or national origin, including Proposition 209
(which prohibits preferential treatment in the areas of public employment, public
education, and public contracting) as well as the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on
the grounds that these programs violated the Equal Protection cla use of the Fourteenth
Amendment. Staff will endeavor to address the equity gaps in Santa Monica in a
manner that both addresses systemic racism that was generated and reinforced by
historical wrongdoings while being mindful of the considerations above, with the
understanding that within each individual effort a myriad of social identities including
gender, sexual orientation, class, and ability benefit from the more inclusive policies
generated by these efforts.
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Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The stipends referenced in this report will be funded via the DEI team’s budget at
$25,000, which is included in the City Manager’s Office budget for Fiscal year 2023 -
2024.
This report was prepared by:
Lisa Parson, Equity and Inclusion Manager
Delana G. Gbenekama, Acting Communications and Public Information Manager
David Gardinier, Acting Equity and Communications Coordinator
Prepared By: Lisa Parson, Equity and Inclusion Manager
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Racial Equity Assessment Tool
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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.
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Packet Pg. 867 Attachment: Racial Equity Assessment Tool (5592 : Equity Update)
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?
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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/programs-
surveys/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/Santa-
Monica--Malibu-Unified
8. City of Santa Monica Open Data Portal: https://data.smgov.net/
7.A.a
Packet Pg. 869 Attachment: Racial Equity Assessment Tool (5592 : Equity Update)
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?
7.A.a
Packet Pg. 870 Attachment: Racial Equity Assessment Tool (5592 : Equity Update)
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?
7.A.a
Packet Pg. 871 Attachment: Racial Equity Assessment Tool (5592 : Equity Update)
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?
7.A.a
Packet Pg. 872 Attachment: Racial Equity Assessment Tool (5592 : Equity Update)