Philadelphia is committed to identifying racialized inequities in city government and developing actionable solutions to address those inequities through policies, procedures, and initiatives. To formalize this work, the Kenney Administration enacted Executive Order 1-20 to lay out the City of Philadelphia’s racial equity strategy.
The City recently announced its plan to release a series of primers to:
- Share key concepts guiding the City’s racial equity strategy.
- Provide updates on City departments’ racial equity action plans
- Spotlight policy and practice changes that aim to eliminate racial inequities in the City.
Philadelphia’s Racial Equity Strategy: A Primer on the City Department Cohorts
The second primer in the series, “Philadelphia’s Racial Equity Strategy: A Primer on the City Department Cohort Approach,” offers an overview of City’s initiative requiring all City departments develop a Racial Equity Action Plan by the end of 2023. The primer describes:
- The various mandates implemented under Executive Order 1-20.
- The progress made by City Department Cohorts to advance racial equity.
- The key priorities for the strategy for FY23 to sustain the momentum of the racial equity strategy.
The goal of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s (ODEI) Primer Series is to provide regular updates to Philadelphians regarding the City’s approach to addressing racial injustice through government. The second primer moves beyond foundational concepts to discuss ODEI’s approach to ensuring all City Departments develop a Racial Equity Action Plan by the end of 2023.
The Racial Equity Action Plans provide a root cause analysis for racialized disparities within each City Department and offer strategic recommendations. The recommendations may involve changing internal or external policies, programs, or services. This primer also describes plans for FY23 to ensure that progress made under this strategy is sustained across administrations.
