 Good morning everyone Good morning. Good morning Good morning. Go ahead and put in the chat Where you're from your name and where you're from so we can give our wonderful speaker an idea of some of the Cities that you guys are representing Okay, thank you Juan. I'm so glad that you said good morning because I was starting to get nervous that nobody could hear us And I hit the wrong button. So welcome. We've got Florida Here is County. Yes Little Rock Garland Alan Welcome guys. We're so excited. You're here. We're gonna officially start in about One more minute. We'll officially start just to give everyone some time to get in and look through the chat get familiar with the workshop and everything and I'm Christina. I did go and look at the live preview and you look great Alright Just wanted to I'm short. So I just wanted to make sure that You know, I actually see my face. I know I don't be tall virtually. I look really tall I was gonna have to go back and see if I could find some books or something to sit on about it Too short. No, you're good. You're good. Hi Barbara from Birmingham. I got to go to Birmingham for Nusa a few years ago It was so much fun Okay, miss Christina. Are you ready to get started? I am Perfect. So welcome everyone. Thank you so much for joining us For this wonderful workshop partnering with look with municipal or local government for neighborhood equity I don't know about you guys But I am super pumped that I get to be the host and and get to be here for this this workshop It's something I am so passionate about and so I can't wait to hear from from our speaker today My name is Tabitha Butler for those of you haven't met me yet I work for the city of Fort Worth in the communications and public engagement department and I have been on the planning committee for Nusa and it has been so much fun for the last year and a half getting ready for this So before we start I just want to remind you of some of the features that you have here in an event at the top right Hand side of your screen. You've got an inbox button. You can chat with anybody in the conference there So later you need to send be a message You can send it there if you have a question Go feel free to put it there But if you see, you know, somebody in the chat that you're like, man, I really want to connect with them That's how you can connect with them later You can use the chat function to Chat with each other chat with us if you're having a technical difficulty or have a question I'll try to address it during the presentation On the right hand side, you also have it's a little person in front of a chalkboard like a teacher That's where you can ask your questions. So I'm just going to ask that you put your questions there and Christina will answer them as she is able and Then I don't think we're doing any polls. So there but there's a poll button there And then all the people that are there so you can see everybody that's in the conference with you and then there is a Flyer a file under the little three papers that are all stacked up together and I will let Christina tell us about that during her presentation or after and So after going through all of those things, I hope that you use those tools to stay connected Since we can't be together per in person I did want to tell you about a feature that I learned earlier If you want to make your screen bigger go all the way down to the bottom of the screen Where we are and click there's like a little box that's kind of open and that will make your screen full screen So we can't see that on our end, but you guys can see that and make your screen bigger I've had a lot of questions about that come up today So we are so excited to introduce our wonderful speaker This is miss Christina Brooks and she is the city of Fort Worth chief equity officer and director of the diversity inclusion department and We are very proud to have her here today. So without further ado. I will turn it over to her Thank you so much, Tabitha and good morning. Good morning to everyone from all over the country I see Oregon and Alabama and Florida and of course our own Texas is represented in the room today in the virtual room today So I'm happy To talk to you this morning about partnering with local government for neighborhood equity And we're gonna jump right into the presentation as we go through the presentation. There'll be some Slides where I will ask for you to respond or give me some feedback and you can drop drop those Comments or answers to some of the questions that I'll have This is kind of the only way that we can be Interactive in a virtual environment. So Just drop your answers in In the chat and I'll be able to read some of those off as we move through the material today so Let's get started. All right, so the agenda for today's session We're gonna start out talking about the why why is this even a topic that we need to think about then we're gonna go through some Foundational definitions that are really important to having a constructive conversation in this space We're gonna talk about who our stakeholders are in this conversation the drivers for the work that we do ways of Accountability and then some takeaways and then we'll have time at the end for some Q&A Sound good to everybody. Give me a thumbs up in a virtual or yeah, that sounds good or No, this sounds like too much already First thing in the morning. So I have my coffee here. I hope everybody else has their cup of coffee I'm gonna be drinking it throughout the presentation. So let's let's get started So why are Inclusive diverse equitable and accessible neighborhoods important Why are they important? Want to hear your feedback in the chat What makes them? These particular types of neighborhoods important inclusive diverse equitable and accessible Why should we have those? All right? I'm seeing some thumbs up there Any ideas on why it's important to have inclusive diverse equitable and accessible neighborhoods or idea neighborhoods You got to talk back. I Need your feedback. Okay, some of the comments first comments. They're interesting and not cookie cutter. That's great They represent our city Stability those are all good answers anymore Because we all matter absolutely creates opportunities for all Absolutely Including all persons. Everyone has their strengths. Absolutely. These are all really great answers, right? It's healthy All is the operative word. These are really good Really good ideas on why it's so important for us to really consider the importance of having inclusive and diverse and equitable and accessible neighborhoods You know, there's also a lot of conversation around wealth generation when you talk about home ownership and safety issues When you talk about neighborhoods making sure that everybody has the opportunity to live in a really great safe neighborhood that has access to all the wonderful things that Typically homeowners look for good schools Great neighbors The aesthetic or the the the culture of a neighborhood can be unique And I think one of you already mentioned that so these are all really important ways that are Reasons behind why we want to make sure that our neighborhoods are equitable and Accessible and so before we start in on this Conversation because we're gonna dive a little deep if you're if you're okay with that this morning We have to have some foundational definitions for the words that we may use today when we talk about Equity or inclusion when we talk about bringing that to your neighborhood and Working hand-in-hand with your local government and so we're gonna define race Ethnicity and culture Now a lot of times people will use these words interchangeably and they're not really interchangeable terms because they have very Different meanings and so we'll talk a little bit about that And we'll get the definitions that we're gonna use for our conversations today and as context for what we mean when we say race in the context of Working with neighborhoods and local government what we mean when we say ethnicity and what we mean by culture and so Here's some working definitions race is actually a pretty contemporary Term and it is a social construct. It's based in economic Expedience and power and it has nothing to do with biology Right, but it does group human beings on shared phenotypes or or physical likeness or features and they usually are grouped together based on skin color or hair texture and And and a few other things that can be involved when you put a person or an individual in a racialized Category so when you talk about black or white or Asian or Hispanic it doesn't have anything to do with biology or DNA It's a social construct. That's really based on what you look like Now ethnicity is different because it is kind of based in biology and so it traces back a DNA connection to a human population group that originates from a particular geographic location or global region That's ethnicity Culture is something different all together, right? It's just a set of behaviors and beliefs and characteristics of a particular Social or ethnic or age group and it's the way that they live, right? It's the way that they choose to be in the world and they are those ideas of being or behaviors and beliefs are transmitted from one generation to another and so It can be Culture can be something that was established for adaptation or survival and It's distinguished Sometimes by an unspoken set of rules And values what what people eat how they behave how they respond in certain situations And then how they communicate so those are the three distinct definitions for what race is It's social construct Has nothing to do with biology. It's really just based on what people look like and how they're grouped based on what they look like phenotypes Ethnicity is a biological or DNA connection to a human population and then culture is just kind of a set of beliefs and ways of being that are that have generally emanated Because people had to adapt or a people had to adapt for survival and it involves All of these things like habits and foods and language patterns ways of thinking and communicating in different ways so does everybody I Kind of get what those three distinct differences are. They're not the same thing so now From now on whenever you hear people kind of try to use these words or terms interchangeably you can now tell them up race is not the same thing as ethnicity and Race and ethnicity is not the same thing as culture. They're all very different Alright so Using those three definitions now, let's get to what what exactly does equity mean and There are a lot of ways that equity is defined and this is something You know in your own communities. It's important for you to have a clear and shared in common Definition for what equity means in your community Because everybody can kind of pick and choose what that looks like in their community So you you need to make sure that you have a shared definition for this So I'm going to share with you what? Fort Worth's definition is When it comes to equity So for us in Fort Worth, it means the process of incorporating racial ethnic cultural and other identity group history in ensuring frameworks laws and policies and practices processes services activities are intentionally designed with accountability measures that produced fair impartial and just access and outcomes for all identity groups and communities These processes can and should be measured for improvement in progress especially pertaining to civil and human rights and protections under the law Because we want to ultimately at the end of the day We want to make sure that we're creating conditions for all to prosper while Acknowledging and accepting differences without requiring any identity group to assimilate So you shouldn't have to be become something else other than what you are in Order for you to thrive in any community. So that's what we mean in Fort Worth when we talk about equity Now there are some different Kind of underlying types of equity. So if we could look at equity kind of as this umbrella There are subcategories of equity That I also want to share with you before we kind of get into a more robust conversation about what this means when we're talking about neighborhood equity and partnering with local government. So you'll see on the screen there are five types of Equity at work. So there's procedural equity and that just means that an inclusive or accessible authentic engagement Representation in the process to develop or input So that's procedural equity making sure that when you're talking about programs that you may have at your local park Or programs that you may have at your community center. Is there procedural equity involved there? Are you looking at ways that that ensure? Everybody can participate in those programs Then there's Distributional equity, which means looking at programs and policies That result in fair distribution of benefits and burdens across all segments of a community and Prioritizing those with the highest need. So when you're talking about Distributional equity It's kind of making sure that everybody is is carrying their own weight, right there. They're pulling they have some skin in the game and that everybody is both contributing and benefiting at an Equitable rate and we're looking at those that have the highest need and prioritizing them Next we have structural equity And when we talk about structural equity, this means that decision makers institutionalize accountability So that when you start to think about how you can make things fair in programming or activities or laws that there's accountability attached to that and In that accountability the decisions are made with recognition of historical cultural and institutional dynamics and structures that have routinely advantaged or privileged Groups in society and resulted in chronic or cumulative disadvantage for subordinated groups, so making sure that you're taking into into Into the thought process The history like what has happened before when we've done things a certain way Who's really benefited and who hasn't and looking at that as structural equity Then we have transgenerational equity And this just means that decisions are made where you consider different generational impacts And you don't want you want to make sure that there's no kind of unfair burden On one particular generation than on another for another Specifically you don't want to kind of create all of these policies or programs that are great for your current generation But are really going to make it difficult for any future generations Coming along so you want to make sure that you're taking that into account And then finally transformational equity And this means that there's a distinct notion that communities Have indigenous capacity to govern and sustain themselves and their communities That they have voice and influence and agency In regional state or national affairs So this really comes from the idea that There are you know, you always have to have an outsider to come in and fix What's going on in your community Rather than supporting kind of homegrown Ideas and homegrown leadership Making sure that you have a good mix of both because you do want to introduce New ideas But you don't want to do that at the exclusion of the voices that may already be available In your community everybody needs to work together for the best outcomes in your neighborhoods And so we couldn't have this discussion without talking about power And what that means When you talk about relationships, there's always A power dynamic at work whether you Acknowledge it or realize it or not, but there's always this idea of power And so for our working definition of power It means the possession or control or command over others An authority or ascendancy a legal ability capacity Or delegated authority Right power also Can be understood as the ability to influence other or impose one's beliefs And all power like I said is relational And the different relationships either reinforce or just it disrupt one another And so um true power requires three key activities You have the ability to design rules You have the ability to decide who wins And you have the ability to tell the story Right you get to construct the story around The design of the rules and who wins Those three things are usually at work whenever you talk about power And so in the in the sense that we're talking about a relationship between government and community Designing the rules is usually legislation and ordinances or policies within Your city government and then deciding who wins is largely determined by the policy And the process how the process is set up does it is it set up so that One group or individuals Really has the advantage over another group Or does it is it equitable and everybody kind of has a fair shot And you're not going to know that until you actually do some really intense research and understand Impact as opposed to intent Right there are lots of well-meaning policies out there And nobody intended for the policy to actually Injure or be a barrier to anybody but Once it's actually in place when you start to track the data you you may start to notice that Wait a minute not everybody is getting the most out of this and so um Then you have uh, you know telling the story and that's communication, right? We have uh, you know, I would say 15 20 years ago There were really very specific channels where you could communicate Um what you wanted to say and what you wanted said and so with the In the age of social media That has kind of broken wide open So people can kind of tell their own story on social media platforms and you don't necessarily need to wait for Uh to watch it at the on the six o'clock news or read it in the newspaper people And communities generate their own story and so all of all three of these things Are a part of the conversation around power And so power is not only an individual relationship, but an institutional and systemic one Power relationships are shifting constantly. So you'll see things moving back and forth Uh between who holds the power who designs the rules who um Deciding who wins with the policy and then telling the story is really kind of that moving target all the time Because people have the ability to to tell their own story and define the situations for themselves and so um Individuals within an institution or system may benefit from power of which they are not aware So you don't always have to be like, uh in the know that you're wielding um this power But it doesn't change the fact that you have that power Um and based on those three things the design of the rule deciding who wins and telling the story That can shift. So it doesn't depend on whether or not you know that you have the power It just depends. Uh, it's really more about impact um and influence and so um Next let's kind of dive into um The next aspect of our conversation Knowing yourself and knowing your stakeholders So for our conversation today, um, we're going to talk about Uh this in the context of uh ask or or three specific Um Areas so awareness skills and knowledge Anytime you talk about equity or an inclusion Um, it really should start with these three concepts being aware Having a specific set of skills and having a specific knowledge or or being inquisitive to understand Uh kind of historical implications And so what we when we talk about ask, um, it's important for us to kind of understand us right understanding our own individual Identity and what kind of makes up our individual identity And so when we do that we look at all of the different layers or dimensions of Individual identity and at the core right there in the center that little yellow dot right in the middle middle You'll see that there is Individual personality right that's who that's kind of you know, when if you take a personality test if anybody is is familiar with MBTI or disc assessments or Any of those types of uh personality tests? That's who you are kind of at your core like if you are a type a personality or if you're an INTJ according to the MBTI scale That's kind of who you are and it really determines how you prefer to communicate And how you prefer for people to communicate with you. So that's at the core your individual personality Then you get into your individual identity And these are typically things that people may assume they can Assertain about you just by looking at you. We know that that's not That is not the best way to to go about Trying to understand people but with individual identity It's looking at things like your your race your ethnicity your age your ability your gender Those would be identified as your individual identity and then in the next layer of individual identity it comes to external identity and these are things that typically you you can't necessarily See just by looking at people but they're an important part of who we are so it can be anything from Your marital status your parental status. Do you have kids? um your geographic location your educational attainment Level these would all be considered external identity and then in the next layer we have organizational identity and this deals with kind of Who you are in the workplace, right? It can cover everything from your classification at work or seniority or Any anything along those lines Would be characterized as your organizational identity All the way down to things like where you actually work um the location of your office in an organization You know, are you on the top floor of the building or do you work in the basement or do you you know, are you in? uh a part of the uh organization in a building in the organization that people easily recognize Um and then finally you have your community identity and this one's pretty uh important because Community identity is really centered around access and proximity to things So this is really really where kind of the neighborhood And where you live as a part of your identity comes into play, right? You're looking at access to clean water and technology and quality schools and your relationship with public safety Transportation housing all of those things are a part of who you are And so when you think about all of these dimensions of us as individuals We don't see things in the world as they are We see things as we are We see them through this lens that develops over time through all of our layers of identity That were impacted and shaped and formed by our experiences our own uh exposure And our own socialization how we grew up What do you think about that do you agree or do you disagree? Do you think Christina? Uh, that's a bunch of poppy. I there's no way that Any of this stuff affects Who I am as an individual I determine that it doesn't have anything to do with you know where I live or my educational attainment or You know if I speak two languages or three none of that matters. What do you think? Give me some feedback Okay, I see a couple of people saying they agree All right You need a couple more people to respond absolutely Juan says absolutely agrees Barbara said she agrees All right, so it looks like um All right, chris says all those factors definitely affect how uh, how you see the world Um, david is saying very interesting. Yeah, um, this is some pretty pretty cool stuff. Um, so yeah all of those things Really play a part In being self-aware knowing yourself first So if you can begin to understand How you are and how you see the world Then you might begin to understand that My way of looking at things and my way of seeing the world is completely unique Right. There are people that may grow up In the same house with you Go to the same schools as you did But have completely different outlooks on life And that is because there is all of this infinite number of combinations Where are different layers of identity? Combined with our exposure and our own individual experiences Um make things uh very different even though we may have some things that are shared There is a lot That is completely unique to us So when we start to look at uh the world and we understand that My way of thinking about things could be completely unique to me and not everybody Uh could or should share that perspective Um, and so you need to think about that when you go into having conversations with um Other individuals So now let's talk about the stakeholders when we get into this conversation of how can we work um together with uh our local government and making our neighborhoods more equitable We have to think about this idea of who the stakeholders are And the different types of identity groups Um back on that identity wheel We're talking about when we think about community Who is Community who is a part of our community? so we think about In any neighborhood you're thinking about uh, you know home builders and musicians and uh The elderly and environmentalists and artists and restaurants and medical or healthcare facilities and educational institutions childcare grocery stores All of these organizations and then all of the different layers of identity individual identity individuals All kind of makeup what we would consider community stakeholders So making sure that they are all represented in the conversations is key To to centering equity Then on the other side when you look at local government And you start to think about okay, how how does my local government really impact? um my neighborhood And for most localities you're talking about transportation You're talking about um the criminal justice system. You're talking about uh economic development. You're talking about um Law enforcement aviation Parks the fire department the police department Who picks up your trash, right? All the way down to it and broadband access or internet access that's within the neighborhoods so having all of the local government stakeholders And all of the community stakeholders Looking at ways that we can come together and network How we are allocating money Towards the priorities that we develop together And then sitting down and talking about it talking through it Understanding that when you come into those conversations It's it shouldn't be an all or nothing conversation, right? I either get everything I want or I don't want anything When you come into the conversation like that, um, I I hope that there are you know, maybe there are some parents out there I myself my husband That does not work, right? If our kids come to ever came to us with that type of all or nothing attitude um They would get a really swift answer and it would not be the answer That they probably wanted and so being able to come to the table with an open mind Willing to hear and understand and learn from each other, right? There's no kind of uh one Stakeholder that should hold more power Than the other stakeholder if all things are equal and you're working together in the conversation to make sure that You're prioritizing things that you can agree on And you're allocating resources sufficient resources to those things Um together based on priorities that you develop collaboratively And so what are some of those ways that um neighborhoods and local governments can partner on? Um, I need to hear from you. What are some of the ways that you can think of or maybe Ways that you've already partnered with your local government What are some of those ways? Anybody have any experience working with your local government on a project Together like you as an individual or maybe even your neighborhood organization any ideas Ah, okay. Tina said crime stoppers or cops Yes, there are lots of national nights out across the uh the country matching grants. Yep For resident led neighborhood projects. Yes, absolutely neighborhood cleanups Um communication listening helping to solve all of these things are great. Oh, yeah, um neighborhood planning Um, excellent. These are all really really pertinent ways that you can work with your local government So here's a a list that that I put together and everybody just keep uh, um Putting them in the chat. I'm going to go over the ones that are on the slide so These are some pretty common ones Um, and certainly things that are happening here in Fort Worth. So we work with neighborhoods uh on sidewalks making sure that um Our sidewalks are in good repair And prioritizing neighborhoods Um that were typically under resourced uh in the past and making sure that if their sidewalks are not great Uh that we prioritize those when we have uh additional funding And make sure that we help uh communities fix those sidewalks. So again, everybody has an opportunity to thrive and have A great neighborhood a safe neighborhood. We work with neighborhoods on street lights Making sure that the uh, there are lights on residential, um streets So that you know back in the day when uh, the sun went down street lights would come on And we would keep playing right because the street lights were on And then some people would have to go home and eat dinner. Um, but Street lights an important activity that you can partner with your local government You can certainly partner with them and I see those kinds of uh, um Comments in the chat about public safety working with your local local law enforcement But also don't just limit it to law enforcement Also working with your fire department on health care issues As well as your local judicial system um working with parks, um To make sure that you know, if you you have some open land, um, that's in your area What does it take to turn that open land into a city park? Or taking an existing park that may um not have gotten the love that it probably deserved Over the years and making sure that we kind of spruce it up and make sure that we plant flowers and Keep the grass cut and maybe add some playground equipment or something like that Then also community centers Looking at policy around affordable housing. This is really a big one all across the united states now and then also, um land use and zoning Schools and universities economic development in your area making sure that you know, your neighborhood has walkability And you can walk to a grocery store or walk to a health care facility In your neighborhood looking at section three workforce. So Those that are trying to get on their feet and public housing making sure that we're still utilizing their skills whenever the city has construction projects Both horizontal which means moving up and then Or i'm sorry horizontal flat Ah, sorry. It's already been a morning. See I need to take another cup of coffee Set for my coffee, but horizontal construction Which includes parks and then also vertical construction those built environments where you're building a A facility and then health care and prevention. That's where I mentioned that you can uh, certainly partner with um your fire department because typically all fire departments have um A health care component to them. Um, where uh, they have emergency Emergency personnel on on staff. Uh, and then also environmental sustainability um Checking to see if there are brown fields near your Uh communities and how can you? uh partner to um To make sure that uh all of those things are taken into consideration and then Transportation water and utilities infrastructure and then public art is also a way that you can partner with your local government um, and and that's that's really a key one as well because uh sometimes um public art Uh May overlook kind of your local talent that you have right there in your backyard uh burgeoning artists Who would you know have grown up? uh born and bred in those areas And when there's an opportunity for a big major public art project Making sure that you're checking in in your own backyard to see hey, who are the artists that are right here that can possibly Work on these public art projects and you don't always necessarily have to go to europe or or Uh anywhere outside the united states or even outside your state or even outside your city Um to find really great artists That would be honored uh to provide public art Right there in your community So now we have to talk about trust um because anytime you talk about relationships trust has to be um at the foundation of it and if there's no trust you really don't have any uh legitimate partnership that's going to last um and uh Or produce meaningful results So we're going to talk about uh, you know regular meetings focus groups and then survey participation as ways that um communities and Our neighborhoods and local governments Uh can actually help establish trust when you have proactive regular meetings um and proactive focus groups and proactive survey participation Those go a long way to building trust Rather than meeting with communities after the fact After uh, you've already developed the plan and then you kind of roll it out and say hey Don't you love it? This is what we thought you might like and we're going to do this because we've already allocated the money for this those kinds of situations don't really lend themselves to Uh great uh relationships and they certainly don't build trust so making sure that people um all Identity groups and all those community partners that we identified in earlier slides have an opportunity to to really get Get together um and develop that trust by having Conversations, right? That's how you build any relationship Um, if any of you are in a relationship, you know that you can't really build the relationship if you don't talk often Right if you don't talk consistency consistently Um, there may be times when you know, you had a really strong relationship with someone And there was a period of time where you didn't talk But then when you get back together again, it's you pick up right where you left off Those are great but um, just as a rule of thumb You want to make sure that you are continuing to have conversations um with your local partners Uh on a regular basis and that whenever there's a focus group or a survey that you participate Because if you don't participate That's when um decisions are made and you know things get built or uh Money is spent and and then you know, you're kind of like wait, what? How did that happen? And then inevitably they'll say well, we had a focus group and you know like three people showed up Or we sent out a survey and the response rate was really low So we had to move on this and we just moved with the information that we had So if you really want to build trust And you really want to have a strong partnership between neighborhoods Communities and your local government You got to show up and you got to show up consistently and you got to make sure that everybody's voice Is represented in those meetings not just the loudest voice Or the voice that has time on their hands But all the voices that are represented in the identity of your neighborhood should be present And if they can't be present Then making sure that there is someone who represents their voice in the room in those focus groups Submitting those surveys and at those regular meetings okay, so We identified kind of four steps to equity in your neighborhood or community um, and it starts with Those ideas that we went over in the initial part of our conversation number one acknowledging how history An individual identity shapes perspective and outcomes Acknowledging how history An individual identity shapes perspectives And outcomes you've got to acknowledge that first If you really want equity a sustainable model for equity you got to acknowledge that So you can't just uh, sometimes well if you're a new brand new neighborhood and there is no history Then you know that could be a different story, but chances are even if it's a brand new neighborhood The land that that neighborhood sits on has a history So doing your research and finding out what is the history not just of this neighborhood development But what is the history of the land? What used to be here who used to be here before? And understanding that that's the first step number two is including foundational definitions of race ethnicity culture and principles of equity Making sure that everybody understands what you mean when you say race What you mean when you say ethnicity What you mean when you say culture? And how you are defining your principles of equity Then number three is determining And operationalizing drivers for equity and we'll get into that one in a little bit And then number four is Probably one well, there's these are all important But if you're not doing number four the other three things really don't matter If you are not incorporating accountability and measurement into your equity plans for neighborhoods You're never going to know if you're improving and I'm going to tell you that Having a good story to tell is great But that is not what we mean when we say measurement Because you have one good story to tell after you implemented something Does not accountability or measurement make right? You need a good story to back up the data That you collected Right to confirm the data or deny the data that you collected But a standalone story an anecdotal story Is not measurement that is not accountability It makes people feel good If it's a great story, it makes people feel good or if it's a bad story, it'll make people feel bad But it doesn't really get to the accountability or measuring progress And what you ultimately want to see And so okay, so now we're going to talk about what are the drivers For centering equity in neighborhoods So the first driver that I want to talk to you about Is local data policy process laws and ordinances These are critical To driving equity and equity plans Understanding what your local data looks like. How are you collecting it? What kinds of things are being captured? Who is collecting it? Where is it being stored and say is it secure? Or is it open to cyber attack or or You know, can anybody just go in and change the numbers if they don't like what it says Understanding your local data is critical And then looking at your policies and processes and your laws and ordinances All of these things play a critical part And kind of drive where your equity plan Will go where it has the ability to go and where it doesn't have the ability to go So depending on what your data looks like how it's being collected if it's even being collected What the current policies or processes are and what laws you actually have on the books Are driver one in determining how beneficial or how Impactful your neighborhood equity plans can be So you want to operationalize Each one of these areas You want to operationalize The data and these are things that I just kind of went over with you Again, you want to take it back to looking at historical data And looking at okay um, what does this data say about how different populations are impacted or were impacted by a particular policy or process or law So you have to use that historical context remember ask Looking at awareness and then skills and then knowledge, which is the history understanding history So if your data is being collected where you're not collecting demographic information And you can't do that assessment to find out how different identity groups are being impacted That's something that you might want to reconsider Making sure that okay great. You're collecting data, but you need to start collecting demographic Information with the data so that you can kind of really dig into it and find out okay Is this zoning policy benefiting specific groups? And is it negatively impacting other groups or is this process working for everybody? Or does this policy or this process Give advantage to able-bodied individual and Disabled individuals or persons with disabilities They really don't have access to this um, and looking at laws and ordinances Again taking it through that historical process. Okay. How is this impacted? Specific groups those community stakeholder groups those individual identity groups. How does this impact them? so history An impact right taking all of these drivers through that process and really digging into it and finding out Um, is this the best thing for everyone in our community? The second driver is local resource allocation, right? This is a biggie. This is a biggie because you can have all of these grand plans But if there's no money or resources or human capital behind it, um, it's probably not going to happen So looking for a way to make sure that you have these local resources Uh, and looking at operationalize like operationalizing these drivers So operationalizing financial capital Human capital the people that it takes to get it done And then the time that it takes to get it done being very clear on that some of these ideas that um neighborhoods may want to see these neighborhood plans They may take years to actually um achieve So understanding and being realistic about the time frame that it's going to take and again, uh taking it back through um, uh that list of uh history Looking at history. How does this uh, how does this how how has this historically Worked out when we've allocated this amount of money And we've only put this number of people behind this project and we've given them this amount of time How has that worked out for us? Has it been successful or not? So history and impact when you're talking about operationalizing drivers The third driver is um alliances Relationships and numbers This is really key Because you could have uh one person that has a great idea But if they're standing alone and nobody else agrees with that uh idea Or they you know, nobody wants to Push that forward Uh, you don't have an alliance. You you haven't built relationships across groups identity groups and community groups And you won't have the numbers to make sure that it becomes a reality So again operationalizing those drivers and making sure that As you develop alliances That you you look for ways to engage different groups That you shouldn't just be uh kind of go it alone stand on your own We're going to push this through if nobody else agrees with us. You can do that um But it's very rare that those are Successful and even if they are successful, they're short term They're short term wins. So again, this is something you got to determine in your own community Would you rather have a short term win? Would you rather have a sustainable program? that multiple groups and stakeholders across multiple identity groups are uh behind you on and that's where you build the strength in your relationships And that's where you get your numbers to make sure that things advance Uh in your relationship with local government All right So now we're into the accountability and measurement, right? Uh, like I said, this is this is uh pretty key. So if you you don't uh Do anything else you got to make sure that you build accountability and measurement systems in your relationship with uh your local government and with your community or neighborhood uh organizations And so how do you do that? You've got to develop accountability you can see Right. It's it's not We're kind of moving away from this kind of pie in the store Pie in the sky Let's just tell a good story and then that'll be enough. Nope. We got to have data behind it, right? So we need to know Um, who are the decision makers or decision-making bodies? That would be accountable for making progress And it's not always let me just tell you it's not always the person that has the title, right? They typically have to answer to somebody else or someone or another body themselves so Don't always necessarily just focus on someone because they have a title But look at okay. How does what is the organizational structure here? And who are the real decision makers? um that are at work And who controls or influences those drivers that we talked about who controls the data who has access access to it who influences policy and process law Financial capital human capital timelines Alliances relationships and numbers, right? And when we talk about decision-making bodies sometimes those are um boards commissions uh committees Whether they are ad hoc or standing um, you have to take those uh bodies into consideration when you are developing an accountability or measurement for a specific goal Um, so you got to think about what accountability levers you can incorporate into your partnerships Like what is going to you know, what's going to what's what does that lever look like? What can you use? um as part of the accountability And what is the impact to the vulnerable identity groups? um Again, we're not talking about intent you can have great intent like oh, I meant for this to go well um I didn't mean for the Uh, you know wedding cake to fall off the table, but guess what if it's on the floor. It's on the floor Um, not doesn't matter if your heart was in the right place. It's the cake still on the floor So you got to look at impact Right, you got to look at what this is actually Uh talking about. Um, and so uh to dive a little deeper into developing measure data measures you can count um You got to ask these key questions Is it being tracked somewhere now? And if it's not who can? And how can they start tracking it? Second question is are you collecting demographic information with the data? Are you collecting information on? information on ethnicity are you collecting information on age are you collecting information on language? um, all of these things are part of what we call demographic information making sure that you're collecting that so you can understand individual identity group impact Another question is is the data governance and security in place? Do you understand is there a system for collecting the data that's consistent? Or is it just at the limb of whoever wants to collect the data and then if if that's happening It's not really going to be an apples to apples comparison from year to year Because it's going to be a you know, they will have used a completely different process to collect data So you want to make sure that your data governance and security of the data is in place Another question is is the data collection and analysis? um Is there a collection? An analysis point, which means Is there one point of contact or is the data just kind of out there where anybody has the opportunity to manipulate the data or change the data If they want to so you need to make sure this is kind of feeds into the security there That the data you're collecting has one access point Or a responsible access point Another question is the data and analysis transparent and easily accessible to everyone so If it's accessible on a website How many clicks in does it take to get to the data? Or is there a dashboard that anybody can just go to one landing page and find it? And are the metrics measuring the right things this is really really important you got to make sure that You're not just kind of picking metrics or measurements Because you you've googled it and you found one But it really doesn't pertain to what you ultimately want to see but it sounds really good You got to make sure that you are measuring the right things So sometimes it's good to work backwards Find out and determine what you want And then work backwards. Okay, what information can we collect that will tell us How this is improving? And then the last few is there a robust form of impact analysis by vulnerable identity groups Are you measuring impact on parts of your community that? Don't have a regular Um and equal voice at decision-making tables And then last but not least for the timelines realistic, you know when you come up with a plan You, you know, everybody is like all into these into smart goals and those are great But you don't want to create an unrealistic time frame and have people in your community thinking that you're going to have world peace in two years Right, you need to make sure that you are Looking at short-term goals that low-hanging fruit that you can get done really quickly And then looking at long-term plans like what's going to take a generation to figure out if this was really worth all of the The effort that we put in and so you want to make sure that you are incentivizing consistent engagement Um, you want to avoid the chicken little syndrome where you know everything is is Uh The chicken little syndrome where you know, nobody wants to participate when all the work has to get done But then uh, everybody wants to jump on when things go bad Uh, or there's a major failure again, you've got to pay attention to Who and how the work Leading to those outcomes is getting done making sure that they have the resources and the people people and money To actually get it done uh, and you need to incentivize making sure that you get that participation whether it's in a In a survey or In a survey or uh in a focus group or in regular meetings And then think critically right Nothing is cut and dry right. There's always a great area and most things that Uh, we talk about Uh, nothing is is generally going to be all good or all bad There's usually a backstory there and so it becomes our responsibility when we're trying to to match Uh communities and local governments together to get to that history the reason um the focus Uh and focus on tested verified facts and truth Right things that can be verified by multiple Uh resources or sources um I cannot stress enough how important that is Uh in the age of social media Where anybody can kind of tell their own story Um, that is amazing. That's great. That's an advancement But your story needs to be valid and it needs to be backed up with facts and truth And so you need to start looking at first source narratives and accurate data To tell the complete story right you you shouldn't just have a bunch of Stories with no data and you shouldn't just have a bunch of data with no stories You need both of them to come to the table with local government To make sure that that is guiding the work that you're doing together All right That is what i've got for you Um now I want to open it up for questions Uh, I was trying to catch some of them, but there are some that were really long So I couldn't really read all of them and uh present So are there any questions out there? Uh For me or any questions on the information That we went over So christina, um nicole pro it did put a question in the question answer Part she said she's asking these definitions are awesome She's referring to the beginning when we were talking about all the different definitions Do you also have a definition for justice or do you think justice is related to the impact or intent of power? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. We didn't we didn't talk about it in this presentation because when you talk about, uh, justice that is, uh That deserves its own presentation by itself It is the incorporation Of all of the concepts that we talked about today In the context of law And so, um, it is it's definitely applicable Um here, but we only I only had I've only had a certain amount of time And I could not fit all of the aspects, um In that space in here, but you're absolutely right justice is definitely Uh a part of the conversation when you talk about um neighborhood equity and working with uh your local government Yes, for sure. I know I wish we had all day, right? All week early we could talk about all this for for days Yeah, this can this could be like a semester long class Of course, I know So, um mark has a question as well And if you guys don't know our mark helman, he used to be work for the city of fort worth But now he lives in belt u in washington and he's asking What are some encouraging signs that you see in fort worth? What is working? Encouraging signs um that people are still engaged Um one of the greatest things about uh the work that i've um been doing here I've only been here just a little over a year. So i'm originally from texas, but san antonio We moved away and and we're in indiana for about 16 17 years and it came back to texas and the work In the space of diversity equity inclusion had already started with the race and culture task force 22 residents from fort worth got together they came up with 22 recommendations across seven different areas and people are constantly our department is responsible for tracking the progress Of those 22 recommendations people are constantly checking in Um and saying okay, what happened? What's going on in those seven key areas of criminal justice? education economic development governance health housing Transportation they want to see progress and so that's really key to making sure that this stays top of mind um in in on the government side um and in the community so people being engaged and uh the review of those recommendations and strategies and progress That's underway right now with our human relations commission A group of 11 again Fort Worth residents That are reviewing that because that originally that plan was a five-year plan. It's due uh the deadline is uh in 2023 So they're looking at it right now. Okay. Do these metrics? Make sense. Is this timeline realistic? Are there resources? uh sufficient resources being allocated to achieve these strategies that we set out and the strategies that have been achieved Okay, can they be replaced with something new? So this ongoing dynamic process that's taking place Is encouraging Because it lets me know that people didn't just uh have these conversations beginning in 2017 as a one-off in reaction or response to something uh tragic That happened uh in our community. It started the conversation, but they haven't stopped and the work that's being done behind the scenes is also Really encouraging. We still have a lot of work to do. Don't get me wrong This is going to be a It's going to be a yeoman's job to make sure that it all takes place But people aren't forgetting about it and they they are um constantly Asking and pushing and probing and that's always a great thing Yes, for sure. I I see that in anything that we do with our neighborhoods and just as a resident of fort worth and being around Fort Worthians, it's definitely a top of mind and continue a conversation Um, which you know that engagement is there So we have time for one more question. Um, it's from rebecca. She says, how do you reconcile the economic equity lens in a community? That's a mouthful So let me make sure I understand the question. How do you reconcile? Uh, what was the last part the economic equity lens in a community? Ah, so economic development So again, this is an area that I could have just done a whole presentation on economic development in neighborhoods Uh, one of the best examples that we have going on right now in fort worth is the stop six uh area um, it is a neighborhood uh revitalization area stop six if you know anything about fort worth is uh, historically um, one of the oldest african-american neighborhoods That was um under resource for many years and so you saw a lot of decline in decay and infrastructure um businesses um, just you know, no grocery stores all that and and in the past uh several years Well last year the city won a 30 over 30 million dollar grant in partnership with fort worth housing solutions to um, kind of be uh, uh, a starting point for economic revitalization in an under-resourced neighborhood historically under-resourced neighborhood So it starts with mixed-use development in affordable housing and retail grocery stores, uh, and um, we're working side by side with the school district To see ways that we can improve the school system because a lot of times that has a major impact on attracting um economic development to a specific neighborhood so there are lots of ways that um, you can work with uh, your local government to make sure that you turn the page and shift the conversation and actually see progress when it comes to economic uh stability or stabilizing um historically under-resourced uh area and making it, uh, you know become an engine an economic engine for the community bringing in uh grocery stores bringing in retail bringing in job centers, uh, that are within walking distance to affordable homes All of those things can happen, but again it requires a partnership Um and multiple departments in the city. It's not I know economic development usually has the title But it it takes economic development. It takes Uh, whichever department in your city covers land use and zoning It takes transportation and public works when they talk about street and infrastructure and water uh replacing old pipes All of those things all of those departments have to come to the table with communities to kind of plan What needs to happen and how you want it to happen and how quickly you want it to happen While being able to maintain the culture that exists in your neighborhood today that you shouldn't have to Change or assimilate into being something that you don't want to be necessarily In order for money to flow into your community Thank you so much for that. So I wish we had time for more questions But we don't there are a couple more questions Um there and we'll make sure that christina gets those and hopefully maybe she can reach out um and connect with you guys to answer those for you Um, please, uh, remember that this session was being recorded. I did see something in the comments It said somebody wants to go back and watch it again because they they want to get more out of it So thank you so much christina for your time. Um for supporting our our team and being here for nusa. We really really appreciate it Um, we've got um, you've got a few minutes guys to go to the restroom grab a drink grab a snack Um and head to your next workshop. Um, thank you so much for being here everyone I learned a lot. I have like two pages of notes over here And i'm definitely going to be connecting with christina for some books or materials for to dig into to learn even more So thank you so much. We greatly appreciate you You're so welcome. Everybody. Have a great afternoon and enjoy nusa. Yes. Thank you Bye. Bye everyone