Boston, Massachusetts Boston City Profile
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CITY PROFILE ON RACIAL EQUITY Boston, Massachusetts Boston City Profile Early efforts to integrate financial capability strategies into youth employment programs have demonstrated some promising approaches for city leaders and practitioners to consider when designing or expanding programs. Getting Started with Racial Equity in One Department Before the city took on a centralized approach to racial equity, the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) developed a set of practices to examine its work through the lens of racial justice. Beginning in 2006, BPHC began examining racism as a key social determinant of health disparities for Boston residents, despite access to high quality health care. The staggering outcomes, representative of national trends playing out City of Boston locally, led the BPHC to use this Mayor Marty Walsh at a Community Conversation data and make the transition to talking about race explicitly as a frame within the department, 2011, the department began to persistent racial and economic with the community and with key ask how it could embed a racial inequality — that have become partners in its work. Meanwhile, equity lens into all of its internal part of 21st century life.” the Commission’s Anti-Racism work and extend that lens to In June 2017, the city released Advisory Committee, started in its policy work with other city its Boston’s Resilience Strategy, 2008, slowly built up a base of departments. knowledge to influence policy a wide-ranging resiliency recommendations. plan that deals with how the Embedding Racial Equity city will address resiliency A number of efforts were Across Government challenges like climate change simultaneously developed under adaptation; access to affordable Under the leadership of Mayor BPHC’s Racial Justice and and safe housing; and social, Martin J. Walsh, the city Boston Health Equity Initiative, economic and transportation developed the Mayor’s Office including 22 hours of mandatory inequities. The plan focuses on of Resilience & Racial Equity racial justice training for all staff, disproportionately impacted (MORRE) in 2015, and appointed 5-year Health Equity Goals, a communities, such as those its first Chief Resilience Officer revised organizational mission of color, but ultimately makes (CRO) and became one of the and vision, and a language recommendations and plans that 100 Resilient Cities, an initiative justice initiative. As a key part will benefit all Bostonians. by the Rockefeller Foundation. of this strategy, more than 400 The inaugural CRO initially staff were surveyed and more The strategy explains Boston’s focused on leading “efforts than 20 staff were trained as resilience and racial equity to help Boston plan for and facilitators for internal racial lens when it states, “We have deal with catastrophes and justice workshops. After BPHC elevated equity as the core slow-moving disasters — like rolled out the training series in imperative to achieve citywide 2 NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES BOSTON CITY PROFILE resilience. Equity is the fair, just and equitable management of City: Boston, Massachusetts all institutions serving the public Year Starting Racial Equity Work: 2006 directly or by contract; the fair, just and equitable distribution Mayor: Marty J. Walsh of public services and Form of Municipal Government: Strong Mayor-Council implementation of public policy; Population: 673,184 (July 2016) and the commitment to promote fairness, justice, and equity in the Demographics: formation of public policy.” The American Indian/ Alaska Native: 0.04%* plan uses outcomes, procedures, Multi-racial: 3.9% access and quality as criteria for Asian/Pacific evaluating equity. Islander: 8.9% Committing to Racial Healing and Structural Latino/ Hispanic: Change 17.5% White: 53.9% Boston’s community-facing racial healing work was supported Black: 24.4% by the Hyams Foundation, to help the city conduct a series of monthly race dialogues for the next six months throughout *5-year community estimates all the city’s neighborhoods. In addition to training facilitators and engaging thousands of residents in a broad series of dialogues, MORRE began to and social justice in all basic to manage it better are.” dig into the internal aspects of functions of departments, and Chief Resilience Officer Atyia racial equity in city government using metrics to measure impact. Martin says. through the Racism, Equity and Key phases of the plan include Leadership (REAL) Resilience surveying city departments to Creating a Diverse Staff Program. The program, designed assess their current state, looking Capacity to Advance Racial to address and correct implicit at all city staff as stakeholders, Equity bias in individuals, focuses on engaging them as a community By building staff capacity, the organizational changes and and equipping them with the city is looking at the concept culture shifts. tools, skills and support to expand their leadership capacity of priming, which tries to The CRO convenes a Resilience and inspire an understanding understand how implicit bias and Racial Equity working group how the city’s vision for racial shows up in small decisions and with representatives from all equity relates to their day to behaviors, and asks a series of departments to lead the REAL day work. questions to help people be Resilience program, sharing what more conscious and present in “Modern racism really they are doing and building a the moment to change the status perpetuates implicit bias; what plan for a 9,000-person city quo. The concept is based on the does it look like to adjust the workforce to prepare for system work of Howard Ross and more process to remind people that changes — in hiring, procurement commonly used in the private we have these implicit biases. and education. sector, but has broad use for Before we go into a room to city staff. The six phase REAL Resilience make an important decision, program leads to the ultimate we’re giving people the tools to goal of building REAL action be aware of the bias and what plans, embedding racial equity the specific questions to be able NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES BOSTON CITY PROFILE 3 Summary: Boston Boston’s work began with 1 a single city department using data disaggregated by race to start looking at racism as a cause of racial differences in outcomes. Boston prioritized racial 2 healing work across the city government and in communities throughout the city, in order to open up and heal old wounds related to the city’s history of segregation, redlining and forced school busing. In addition to the City’s resilience • As a result of the Office of Fair Boston’s Racial Equity work, the Chief Diversity Officer Housing and Equity’s work to work is deeply embedded is leading an assessment on understand the discriminatory 3 in the city’s resiliency work how changes to employment impacts of housing in to address not only climate practices can increase the Boston, the city passed an change but also “other slow- diversity of the city’s staff. They ordinance in February 2017 to moving disasters like persistent are looking at promotion and prevent small landlords from racial and economic inequities.” retention rates, applicant data, receiving subsidies if they how they advertise and post used certain criminal offender Boston’s work is positions, so they can be more record information for non- 4 attempting to build on inclusive in hiring. The city now convictions or that is more equitable policy development hosts a spreadsheet dashboard than five years old to deny by also addressing attitudes on their website where you can housing to tenants. and behaviors related to see the demographic breakdown implicit and explicit biases, • Under the city’s goals for for each department. specifically through race-based economic mobility, Mayor dialogues and community Simultaneously, other efforts Walsh’s team undertook a conversations. in individual city departments project with the NLC Equitable continue to deepen Boston’s Economic Development racial equity work: Fellowship with the goal of city, we must learn to understand addressing the major racial • BPHC continues evaluating the one another, break down the wealth gap in Boston, by impacts of policy decisions systemic racism of our history, supporting the development and via the department’s new and advocate for the rights of of worker owned co-operative Community Engagement plan, every Bostonian. We will build businesses in the city. which is focused on inclusive a resilient Boston – prepared to and equitable community. “True resilience requires us to go confront the many challenges beyond treating the symptoms of the 21st century – upon a of inequality, to changing the foundation that protects equal structures that produce it,” said opportunity for everyone.” Mayor Walsh. “To be a strong NLC’s Race, Equity and Leadership (REAL) initiative serves to strengthen local elected officials’ knowledge and capacity to eliminate racial disparities, heal racial divisions, and build more equitable communities. Learn more at www.nlc.org/REAL This City Profile is part of a larger series made possible through the generous contributions of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. All photos Getty Images, 2017, unless otherwise noted. © 2017 National League of Cities. All Rights Reserved.”.