Race Equity at Work

Excerpted from Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture (Equity in the Center, 2018)

Achieving race equity—the condition where one’s racial identity has no influence on how one fares in society—is a fundamental element of social change across every issue area in the social sector. Yet the structural racism that endures in U.S. society, deeply rooted in our nation’s history and perpetuated through racist policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages, prevents us from attaining it.

Illustration by Julie Stuart

By Kerrien Suarez, Executive Director and Ericka Hines, Managing Director & Lead Researcher

The impact of structural racism is evident not only in societal outcomes, but in the very institutions that seek to positively impact them. For example, the Race Outcomes Gap: People of color fare worse than their white counterparts across every age and income level when it comes to societal outcomes. They experience significant disadvantages in education, economic stability, health, life expectancy, and rates of incarceration.

The attainment of race equity requires us to examine all four levels on which racism operates (personal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural), recognize our role in enduring inequities, and commit ourselves to change. As a sector, we must center race equity as a core goal of social impact.

Building a Race Equity Culture

Equity in the Center believes that deep social impact is possible within the context of a Race Equity Culture—one that is focused on proactive counteraction of race inequities inside and outside of an organization. Building a Race Equity Culture is the foundational work when organizations seek to advance race equity; it creates the conditions that help us to adopt antiracist mindsets and actions as individuals, and to center race equity in our lives and in our work. A Race Equity Culture is the antithesis of dominant culture, which promotes assimilation over integration and dismisses opportunities to create a more inclusive, equitable environment. The work of creating a Race Equity Culture requires an adaptive and transformational approach that impacts behaviors and mindsets as well as practices, programs, and processes.

The Race Equity Cycle

While each organization will follow its own path toward a Race Equity Culture, our research suggests that all organizations go through a cycle of change as they transform from a white dominant culture to a Race Equity Culture. These changes include increased representation, a stronger culture of inclusion, and the application of a race equity lens to how organizations and programs operate. We have coined this process the Race Equity Cycle. This journey of change pushes organizations to become more committed, more knowledgeable, and more skilled in analyzing race, racism, and race equity, and in placing these issues at the forefront of organizational and operational strategy. Because each organization is comprised of different people, systems, and histories, individual organizations will enter the Race Equity Cycle at different stages and will approach their race equity work with varying levels of organizational readiness. And while the impact will look and feel different at each stage of the Race Equity Cycle, we believe that all three stages mutually reinforce each other.

A Race Equity Culture is the antithesis of dominant culture, which promotes assimilation over integration and dismisses opportunities to create a more inclusive, equitable environment. 

At the AWAKE stage, organizations are focused on people and on building a workforce and boards comprised of individuals from different race backgrounds. The primary goal is representation, with efforts aimed at increasing the number of people of different race backgrounds. 

At the WOKE stage, organizations are focused on culture and on creating an environment where everyone is comfortable sharing their experiences, and everyone is equipped to talk about race equity and inequities. The primary goal is inclusion and internal change in behaviors, policies, and practices. 

At the WORK stage, organizations are focused on systems to improve race equity. The primary goal is integration of a race equity lens into all aspects of an organization. This involves internal and external systems change and regularly administering a race equity assessment to evaluate processes, programs, and operations.

The Role of Levers in Building a Race Equity Culture

How do organizations move through the Race Equity Cycle to build a Race Equity Culture? Our research identified seven levers—strategic elements of an organization that, when leveraged, build momentum toward a Race Equity Culture within each stage and throughout the Race Equity Cycle. The seven levers represent both specific groups of people engaged with an organization, as well as the systems, structures, and processes created—sometimes unconsciously—to help organizations operate: Senior Leaders, Managers, Board of Directors, Community, Learning Environment, Data, and Organizational Culture. 

Two of the levers, Organizational Culture and Senior Leaders, are crucial for building a Race Equity Culture at Work. We outline the characteristics and actions that define these two levers, which are divided into categories to help with consideration: personal beliefs and behaviors, policies and processes, and data. 

We also provide brief examples of how organizations have put these levers into practice to achieve success in building a Race Equity Culture. It bears repeating that there is no singular or “right” way to engage in race equity work. Each organization needs to determine the levers to pull, and the actions to take, in order to progress in building its own Race Equity Culture.

How to Get Started

Establish a shared vocabulary. Ground your organization in shared meaning around race equity and structural racism. These terms work hand in hand; by achieving race equity, you will be dismantling structural racism. Many organizations maintain a running dictionary of terms from which to draw when needed. 

Identify race equity champions at the board and senior leadership levels. While race equity work only succeeds as an organization-wide effort, a critical component is buy-in from board members and senior leaders who can set race equity priorities and communicate them throughout the organization. 

As these constituent groups make up distinct levers, it’s imperative that they independently demonstrate a firm commitment to race equity. Senior leaders must encourage others in the organization to engage in the work, influence the speed and depth at which race equity is embedded in the organization, and continuously drive progress and accountability. 

Name race equity work as a strategic imperative for your organization. Hold race equity as a north star for your organization. Define and communicate how race equity work helps the organization achieve its mission. The more you connect the reasons for doing this work to your mission, vision, organizational values, and strategies, the more critically important it will feel to everyone in the organization, at every level. 

Open a continuous dialogue about race equity work. There are numerous ways to engage in effective conversations on race equity. Host a lunch about race equity efforts for your team, or for individuals who are invested in your organizational cause, and secure an external facilitator to ensure discussion is both objectively and effectively managed. You can find research and examples of organizations similar to yours that have done race equity work and shared their learnings. Use these stories to start the conversation about race equity within your team, and discuss how the approaches of other organizations might apply to your work. 

Disaggregate data. Start looking at your numbers. The only way to get a clear picture of inequities and outcomes gaps both internally and externally is to collect, disaggregate, and report relevant data. Organizations should examine staff engagement, performance, and compensation data by race, at all staff levels. Program data should also be disaggregated and analyzed by race. Hold yourself and your leadership accountable for this work. 

At this point, you may not know where your organization will enter this work, or the precise path your organization will take on its journey toward a Race Equity Culture. Rather than let this uncertainty impede your progress, move forward with the knowledge that it is normal. Even in the absence of a defined path, there are actionable steps your organization can take to launch its race equity work.

Envisioning a Race Equity Culture

Building a Race Equity Culture requires intention and effort, and sometimes stirs doubt and discomfort. Holding a vision of the future can sustain you in the challenging times. What does a true Race Equity Culture look like, and what benefits will accrue to your staff, systems, stakeholders, and community served?

When your organization has fully committed itself to a Race Equity Culture, the associated values become part of the organization’s DNA. It moves beyond special initiatives, task force groups, and check-the-box approaches into full integration of race equity in every aspect of its operations and programs. Organizations that demonstrate this commitment exhibit the following characteristics:

• Leadership ranks hold a critical mass of people of color, whose perspectives are shifting how the organization fulfills its mission and reinforcing the organization’s commitment to race equity.
• Internal change around race equity is embraced. Staff members are supported in managing and integrating the changes, and the organization demonstrates courage to advance external outcomes.
• Staff, stakeholders, and leaders are confident and skilled at talking about race and racism and its implications for the organization and for society.
• Cultural norms and practices exist that promote positive and culturally responsible interpersonal relationships among staff. Individuals are encouraged to share their perspectives and experiences.

Organizational Culture Lever in Practice

• Programs are culturally responsive and explicit about race, racism, and race equity.
• External communications reflect the culture of the communities served.
• Communities are treated not merely as recipients of the organization’s services, but rather as stakeholders, leaders, and assets to the work.
• Expenditures on services, vendors, and consultants reflect organizational values and a commitment to race equity.
• Continuous improvement in race equity work is prioritized by requesting feedback from staff and the community.
• Evaluation efforts incorporate the disaggregation of data in order to surface and understand how every program, service, or benefit impacts every beneficiary.

We have bold goals for this work. If enough race equity champions are willing and ready to engage their organizations in the transformational work of building a Race Equity Culture, we will reach the tipping point where this work shifts from an optional exercise or a short-term experiment without results, to a core, critical function of the social sector. By building a Race Equity Culture within organizations and across the social sector, we can begin to dismantle structural racism. Only then will we truly live up to our missions to serve the common good. We’re ready for this work; are you?

Senior Leader Lever in Practice