Looks at the context of California's systemic failures, details lessons gleaned from research, explores the process for developing public will for change, argues for place-based solutions, highlights successful practices, and makes recommendations for policy change and intervention.

Albuquerque is a growing, majority people-of-color city that is becoming even more diverse as communities of color drive the city’s growth. Embracing this rising diversity as an asset and addressing persistent racial and economic inequities is critical to the city’s prosperity. We estimate that the Albuquerque metro economy would have been $11 billion larger in 2015 absent its racial inequities in income. This profile, produced with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, was released in partnership with the City of Albuquerque and New Mexico Voices for Children, and will serve as a guide for the city’s new Office of Equity and Inclusion to set its racial and economic equity agenda. Read the profile and one-page summary.

Media: Mayor Discusses Equity Profile (KRQU TV News), ABQ Releases Report on Racial Diversity (Albuquerque Journal)

A Message from Angela Glover Blackwell (translated into Spanish here)
Distributed at Equity Summit 2018, April 11-13, 2018, Chicago

An excerpt:

The forces molding the future—demographic shifts, staggering inequality, economic and technological change, climate threats— are intensifying. The need is growing for action that fosters opportunity, shared prosperity, environmental sustainability, and resilience. As the challenges mount and the political opposition stiffens, the ambitions of the equity movement must soar, not shrink. Now is the time to articulate bold intentions, set far reaching goals, formulate transformational ideas, and build alliances—including unlikely ones—to push those ideas forward. It is the moment to reclaim control of our agenda and our future.

Provides a framework of principles, describes the work and ideas of key players, and captures the important policy solutions that should be included in the upcoming federal authorization legislation.

From San Francisco, California to Flint, Michigan, the nation is facing an escalating housing crisis. Skyrocketing rents, inadequate infrastructure and stagnant wages are some of the barriers that are preventing millions of low-income Americans and communities of color from reaching their full potential. Healthy Communities of Opportunity: An Equity Blueprint to Address America’s Housing Challenges weaves together insights from the fields of healthcare, housing and economic security to outline a case for progressive, equity-focused policy.

Placing the contemporary housing crisis within the context of American Urban History, this report highlights key movements offering countermeasures to concentrated poverty, racial segregation, economic mobility and substandard housing, including:

• Tying preventive health spending to housing interventions
• Addressing housing and health equity in land use and resilience/sustainability planning in the built environment
• Leveraging the new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to address health and equity outcomes
• Building anti-displacement campaigns across local coalitions and national networks to gain increased tenant protections
• Applying new investment tools to increase housing affordability

Healthy Communities of Opportunity suggests 10 equity housing policy priorities that together provide a strong platform to improve racial equity, health, climate, and economic opportunity outcomes.

The Summit is a call to activists, organizers, and leaders to step into our power, activate our imaginations, and set the national agenda. That agenda will build on what’s been learned about advancing equity and justice and will push us to achieve the scale required for all to reach our full potential. 

See program for full agenda. (Last revised 03-21-18)
See program overview in Spanish here.

This study, co-authored by Emerald Cities and PolicyLink, and generously supported by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, surveys the current landscape on inclusive procurement and contracting policies and practices in the infrastructure and construction industries. The goal was to specifically determine how to best position minority-owned, women-owned, and disadvantaged businesses (MWDBEs) to effectively compete for large-scale construction projects in these industries. A successful inclusive procurement program of action is key not only to providing jobs, but also to closing the wealth gap needed to secure the well-being and future of children, families, and the regions in which they live.

This report details the rationale for inclusive practices in this industry and includes historical and current equitable development policies and trends. It also identifies challenges and best practices and sets forth recommendations for strengthening the field of practice. The report provides insight into inclusive procurement and contracting policies within the energy, water, transportation, health, education, and public housing sectors. It also considers the field of practice in different geographic regions of the United States. Download executive summary here.

This profile analyzes the state of health equity and inclusive growth in the Sacramento region, and the accompanying policy brief, Health Equity Now: Toward an All-In Sacramento, summarizes the data and presents recommendations to advance health equity and inclusive growth. They were created by PolicyLink and the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) in partnership with the Healthy Sacramento Coalition, whose broader vision is to eliminate health inequities in Sacramento. This equity analysis was developed with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Read the profile and policy brief.

Media: Sick Stats: New Report Says Lack of Action on Community Health is Costing Sacramento (NewsReview.com)

A partnership in which residents collectively own and control their housing.