Racial Equity Committee

The purpose of the Racial Equity Workgroup is to ensure that racial equity is centered across the homelessness response system and that racially disparate outcomes around homelessness and housing are addressed and eliminated. The committee will advise and hold accountable all other boards, committees, and workgroups, including the Leadership Board on racial equity goals, metrics, and outcomes. The overarching goal is that the work of racial equity is woven throughout all boards, committees, workgroups, and system activities. This committee will exist for as long as needed to ensure that the homelessness response system in Alameda County is racially equitable. The Leadership Board and each of the standing committees will nominate one committee member to serve on the Racial Equity Workgroup annually. In addition to these representatives, the Racial Equity Workgroup may recruit other members as needed.

• Apply a racial equity framework in order to advance fairness and justice in all we do, and support other committees to apply this framework.
• Develop a racial equity action plan to guide the entire homeless system’s work on racial inequity.
• Lead implementation of the plan.
• Facilitate an understanding of the connection between structural racism and racial disparities in
• homelessness.
• Assist other committees in setting racial equity metrics and monitoring progress.
• Annually set a racial diversity representation metric for all boards, committees, and workgroups, based on the annual Point-In-Time (PIT) count and approved by the Leadership Board; the metric will be, at minimum, reflective of the racial demographics documented in the PIT count, with specific metrics for the groups that are most over-represented in the homeless population compared to their proportion of the general population.
• Monitor whether the Leadership Board and all other committees and workgroups are achieving and maintaining the racial diversity metric set each year; if one or more bodies are not achieving or maintaining the metrics, work with the group to develop a plan to achieve it within a specific timeframe and report to Leadership Board.
• Regularly report progress towards achieving goals outlined in the racial equity action plan to the Leadership Board and the wider CoC membership.