Racial Equity and Social Justice

Summary of objective implementation status (achievements or progress over last year; significant delays or issues, etc.)

Racial Equity Foundations

The Racial Equity Foundations training was carefully co-designed by County staff for County staff, and offers an interactive experience to learn about local Sonoma County history; foundational race equity definitions and key concepts; education on the historic and ongoing role of government in creating and upholding systemic racism; and gain a better understanding of how to assess and improve the systems that have created and prolonged racial inequities in service provision for Sonoma County communities. This training is gracefully, and usually humorously, led by 4 skilled County staff from the Office of Equity (OOE) and the Core Team, and occasionally co-facilitated and supported by other dedicated Core Team members.

The Office of Equity prioritized the roll out of this racial equity foundations training to County leadership (managers, supervisors, department heads), so that when the training becomes available to all staff, leaders are not only acquainted with the material but should also understand the importance of unlocking time and other resources for their department/division to learn how to weave racial equity principles into their everyday work.

This training serves as the prerequisite for the County’s Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability training series as it is foundational to have this baseline knowledge before diving deeper into complex root cause analyses and data culture.

While the OOE works closely with their partners in the Human Resources (HR) departments, there is no earmarked funding or additional resources for Core Team facilitators or HR staff to continue to coordinate, facilitate, and maintain this training on an ongoing basis. The Office of Equity, HR, and the training team are working together to find creative and efficient solutions for more streamlined program administration and coordination.

Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability

The Office of Equity in partnership with Upstream Investments continues to provide training and technical support in the County-wide implementation of Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability. Learning about AR-RBA provides a foundational understanding of how programs, services, and contracts can be designed and improved to serve historically underserved populations such as Black, Indigenous, and people of color. The Racial Equity Foundations training is a pre-requisite for County staff in management positions taking AR-RBA. Other pre-requisites apply for all other staff and external partners. Thus far in 2024, over 230 individuals have been trained, with more scheduled. In addition, the Human Services Department (HSD) and OOE staff support a collective of AR-RBA champions, who meet quarterly to collaborate and discuss best practices including the development of an AR-RBA toolkit and analysis template.

The Racial Equity Learning Program relies on two OOE staff members and Core Team facilitators’ availabilities, which limit the capacity for frequent trainings across 4,000+ employees. County employee participation in AR-RBA trainings is also determined by Racial Equity Foundation training attendance.

Key milestone update (include relevant metrics, if applicable)

Racial Equity Foundations

The Trainer team facilitated two 3-hour soft launches in January 2024 and early March 2024, for Core Team members and members of departmental grassroots equity groups and Human Resources (HR) Leadership, respectively.

Since then, the team has held monthly 4-hour trainings, both in-person and virtual, for County management from March through November 2024, including additional trainings for specific departments, reaching 300+ County of Sonoma leaders, plus an additional 100+ County of Sonoma staff of all levels. The trainer team facilitated 42 hours of training (not including preparation time) in 2024, for all audiences.

Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability

In collaboration with Upstream Investments, 13 Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability trainings and workshops were delivered in 2024 thus far. Over 230 individuals both county staff and external partners were trained with over 82 training hours (not included preparation time) dedicated to Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability.

Coordination and partnership update

Racial Equity Foundations Training for Managers

Currently, two Office of Equity staff and two Core Team members (from Behavioral Health and Human Services) hold the content and facilitation of this training, while their partners at Human Resources support with technical assistance (adding trainings to the training portal, advertising the trainings in the HR newsletters, recording attendee course completion, etc.). All supporting departments value the time, energy, and expertise that these equity champions give to make these trainings a success.  

Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability

Office of Equity and Upstream Investments work in partnership to facilitate trainings and provide technical assistance.

Community, equity and climate update

These trainings and workshops directly align with the goals articulated in this Racial Equity and Social Justice Pillar, by developing a shared understanding of key racial equity concepts and building skills that can lead to better County and community outcomes. This pillar recognizes that we are working as an organization to achieve racial equity in service provision and there is a countywide directive and expectation that we, as public servants, actively develop our racial equity understanding and skillset.

If this objective received Strategic Plan funding, please provide amount spent to date for non-position related funding.

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