“…Laws are merely expressions of a society’s dominant beliefs. It’s the beliefs that must change in order for outcomes to change.”
Dr. Heather McGee
Description
This POWER Play emphasizes the need to challenge and critically examine entrenched norms, policies, and practices that inform how governments equitably and inclusively engage the community in decision-making processes.
Why it matters:
Challenging established norms is essential for fostering systemic change. This disruption is the first step toward fostering equitable practices and addressing exclusionary systems. These existing norms around community engagement make assumptions about who holds power, whose voices are valued, and how decisions should be and are made. Challenging these norms lays the foundation for innovative and transformative practices in government, leading to more effective and equitable outcomes. It’s about recognizing that government should work for the people, with decisions made collaboratively and inclusively.
How to do this:
- Conduct an equity audit using tools such as the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE). This helps identify areas where current practices may hinder equitable practices.
- This Equity and Inclusion starter guide is intended to be a starting place for equity, diversity, and inclusion at the organizational level.
- Read more about lessons learned in the field of municipal diversity, equity, and inclusion work, published by the Massachusetts Municipal DEI Coalition here.
- Encourage a holistic view that considers the interconnected impacts of policies and practices. Systems thinking involves making implicit assumptions explicit and challenging deeply engrained ways of doing work.
- Read case studies on how municipalities across the United States are working to advance racial equity here.
- Practice using this self-paced module, Examining our Mental Models, to learn more about challenging the status quo through six conditions of systems change.
- Conduct power mapping exercises to understand the influence of different community groups. Incorporate ongoing power analysis to reassess who holds decision-making authority and when it can be shared/shifted.
- Deepen your power-building analysis through these Power-Mapping Activities. These activities will help identify the people and organizations you are engaging with, who is missing, and how power is distributed across all of them.
- Regularly question who benefits from decisions, who is harmed, and who influences them.
- Here is a toolkit that provides guidance in uncovering answers to important questions about the potential health impacts of a decision.
- Read this blog to learn more about principles and practical questions for advancing equitable well-being in systems.
- Adopt a learning mindset and be open to feedback and continuous improvement. Create mechanisms for ongoing evaluation, monitoring, and learning to assess the impact of policies and practices on community outcomes and equity goals.
- Read this how-to manual for local governments to develop their own Racial Equity Action Plans after a period of research and information gathering. Here is an example of a completed equity and social justice strategic plan from King County, Seattle.
- Actively incorporate feedback from community members and adjust strategies accordingly.
- This guide introduces accountability resources within a racial equity framework, and this blog explores how to implement equitable feedback approaches that center on liberatory principles.
Example in practice:
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Mass in Motion program was committed to regularly questioning who benefits from decisions, who is harmed, and who influences them. As such, they committed to a process in which all grantees must implement a Leading with Race and Racism Framework and use these questions as a tool for work plan development:
- Who is benefiting from the decisions you are making?
- Who is being harmed by the decisions you are making?
- Who is influencing the decisions you are making?
- Who is making the decisions?
- For each of these questions, ask “How do you know?”
These questions serve to challenge assumptions and spur thinking about who is holding power and who is benefiting from actions. By centering these types of questions in program design, officials can mitigate potential unintended consequences of decisions (e.g. improving a community’s physical environment can encourage gentrification and not benefit the residents the change was meant to benefit).
Tools and resources to support learning:
- Collaboration and Power Sharing Between Government Agencies and Community Power-Building Organizations
- Organizing for Racial Equity Within the Federal Government
- The Groundwater Approach: Building a Practical Understanding of Structural Racism (Groundwater Institute)
- Systems Change & Deep Equity: Pathways Toward Sustainable Impact, Beyond “Eureka!,” Unawareness & Unwitting Harm
- Interview with Kip Holley, Civic Engagement Specialist at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and Author of The Principles for Equitable and Inclusive Civic Engagement