Franklin County commissioners vote to add racial equity as a county core principle
To end practices, policies or legislation that harm Black and Latino residents, the Franklin County Commissioners are expected Tuesday to approve a resolution to add racial equity to the county's list of core principles.
The resolution legally codifies racial equity as a sixth core principle and identifies racism as a root cause of poverty, constricted economic mobility and health disparities.
When combating the effects of poverty, Commissioner John O'Grady said the first priority is addressing racism in the county. It has to be one of the county's core principles, he said.
"We have said since the beginning that this was an issue that we were going to lead the fight against, and we can't lead the fight against racism if we don't make it a core principle of Franklin County government policy," O'Grady said. "This codifies that, puts it in writing and makes it the centerpiece of who we are and what we do everyday as a government."
Commissioner Marilyn Brown agreed: "It's been a part of our work for many years, but to have it as part of our core principles means it's top of my mind with everything we do and it's part of the work of the county at all times."
What would racial equity include as a county principle?
The resolution also expands on the core principle through four pledges the county will make to:
Disrupt poverty by seeking to proactively advance racial equity.
Collaborate with residents, community partners and institutions to promote racial equity in all areas of government, education, criminal justice, health, housing and economic success to increase the value of services provided to the community.
Commit to creating and sustaining an organizational culture that applies equity principles internally in order to end disparities in hiring and promotions.
Increase opportunities in contracting and access for funding to minority businesses.
The commissioners' long-standing interest in promoting racial equality, inclusion and diversity in various areas of county governmen helped shape the Rise Together Blueprint to Reduce Poverty, the Innovating New Pathways to Shared Prosperity Economic Inclusion Task Force and, most recently, their declaration that racism is a public health crisis.
These initiatives directly identify the disparities in poverty, health and economic mobility caused by racism, which result in lower employment, home-ownership and life expectancy rates as well as overrepresentation in low performing schools, the emergency shelter system and the prison and juvenile detention systems.
“When you look at the data, whether it’s 20 years, 40 years or 60 years ago, it’s the same demographic of individuals impacted by the same social terms of health — particularly as it relates to poverty,” Deputy County Administrator Joy Bivens said.
“We really want to make sure we’re being as intentional about leveling the playing field so we can move people up the economic mobility ladder,” she said.
Joint efforts across Franklin County officials for racial equity
The county's current five core principles are responsive government, community safety, economic development, supportive human services, and good environmental stewardship.
The resolution to make racial equality the sixth core has been fortified by the joint efforts of the county Department of Job and Family Services, county Human Resources and the Raising The Bar Performance Group (RTB). The commissioners approved a contract with RTB in the spring to assist in developing a racial equity approach to hiring and personnel training, among other things.
Since then, RTB CEO Courtnee Carrigan has led implicit bias training to hundreds of county employees under the commissioners and remains in close contact with the county administration, agency directors, Jobs and Family Services and Human Resources to create a framework for "operationalizing racial equity" across county government.
“It’s not meant to make this all go away tomorrow," Carrigan said. "It's about the commissioners saying, “This is the expectation, and going forward this is not only what our partners and relationships will look like, this is what every Franklin County entity working on equity work will adhere to.'”
With the expected passage of this resolution Tuesday, JFS spokesman Bart Logan said the county will create a racial equity council made up of the leaders of agencies under the county commissioners. They will examine how to make the core principle and four pledges operational within county agencies and work with Lauren Rummel, the commissioners' director of Government Affairs and Ethics, and other officials on necessary advocacy on state and federal levels.
While the work to address systemic racism will be far from over, Commissioner Kevin Boyce said this effort will build on the progress of the Poverty Blueprint and further establish "tangible and measurable change" going forward.
"The passage of this resolution codifies our position on this critical issue," Boyce wrote in a statement. "It’s important to state our values, and more important that our work is a reflection of our commitment to upholding our values to ensure our residents are receiving the best of county government."