CAP Riverside Participates in National Initiative
With generous support from the Ford Foundation, the National Community Action Partnership (NCAP) is undertaking a two-year project, Racial Equity and Economic Security. This project will examine whether strategies to reduce poverty and enhance economic security are more effective when they take into account racial inequalities.
To learn about this assumption, eight community teams attended a Leadership Seminar on Racial Equity and Society conducted by the Aspen Institute Roundtable for Community Change and African American Policy Forum in Aspen Colorado, October 5-9. The Seminar provided background on structural racism, strategies for communicating these concepts, and a framework for designing projects to address racial inequities. From this experience, tools will be developed and lessons learned will be captured and disseminated throughout the community action network.
Each agency brought a delegation of three significant representatives, who have returned to start implementation. CAP Riverside was represented by Lois J. Carson, Executive Director, Dr. Shelagh Camak, Chairman of the Community Action Commission and Gary Christmas, Deputy County Executive Officer. Carson welcomed Christmas’ participation, stating, “This is bigger than the agency and the leadership of the Board of Supervisors and county leadership is critical to tackling structural racism.”
Don Mathis, president of the NCAP, located in Washington, DC, told Lois Carson, “Although we decided to conduct a competitive campaign to select ten agencies, the name of Riverside County kept coming up and we decided to invite you to be one of the first three without competition.” Jacksonville, FL and Rochester NY are the other two agencies and communities invited.
A key component of this initiative is documenting lessons learned from local communities. In order to do this, the following Community Action Agencies, working with leaders in their communities, will conduct racial equity analyses, educate and mobilize their communities, and refine and adapt their program strategies based on these analyses:
Action for a Better Community (Rochester, New York), Bolivar County Community Action Program (Cleveland, Mississippi), Community Action Council of Lexington (Lexington, Kentucky), Community Action New Mexico, Community Action Partnership of Riverside County (Riverside, California), Fulton Atlanta Community Action Authority (Atlanta, Georgia), Northeast Florida Community Action Agency (Jacksonville, Florida), Social Development Commission (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
CAP Riverside has established two advisory committees, already meeting, thus completing the organizational phase of the initiative. The Policy Advisory Committee will provide guidance for the “Big View” meetings, such as the rules of engagement, speakers, evaluations, etc. They are developing a Code of Conduct to govern behavior at these community meetings. Each brings expertise from an arena cited in the handbook on structural racism: Health, Housing, Education, Employment / Income and Community Advocacy.
The Technical Advisory Committee will address racial disparity in family day care, in terms of access to and provision of child care as an equity matter. The committee is composed of leaders from the child care industry, including the Child Care Consortium, the County Office of Education, First 5, DPSS, Riverside Community College, Licensing, and the County Executive Office; CAP Riverside serves as facilitator
