RESULTSBASED ACCOUNTABILITY FOR RACIAL EQUITY Erika Bernabei Equity
RESULTS-BASED ACCOUNTABILITY™ FOR RACIAL EQUITY Erika Bernabei Equity & Results, LLC August 9, 2018
You can’t be neutral on a moving train. - Howard Zinn
Check-in! Name and preferred gender pronoun One word/phrase about what you want to get out of today? One word to describe the relationship between racial equity and data?
Definition of racism: Race prejudice + power -The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond
(City of Portland Office of Equity and Human Rights)
What is accountability and to whom are we accountable? NOT JUST COMPLIANCE
Intentions Work, done with the best intentions, does not produce the racial equity we demand in U. S. cities… or it would have already Move beyond intentions and breakdown assumptions so goals have an impact
We need tools Results Based Accountability
Using a community centered, racial equity lens as the foundation for results work • Community leaders, partners and government staff are mutually responsible for planning, identifying, collecting, and using data • A transparent, non-punitive culture around data analysis and use is created that is different that from reporting • Communities aren’t blamed for systems failures • Data is shared with the community
Using a community centered, racial equity lens as the foundation for results work • Data is used consistently • Pick solutions with an eye to root cause so that they will more likely work to disrupt and shift racially disproportionate outcomes • Authentic, trusting relationships so that when data goes in the wrong direction, the group will encourage and empower people to seek solutions rather than blame team members
Use disaggregated data to inform your decisions …because there are unintended consequences of stopping at the first cut of data Answer the Q: Whose lives are you looking to impact? Then disaggregate by race, ethnicity, immigration status, language, etc.
Data skepticism • Data has historically been used to reinforce racist, deficit-oriented ideas about communities of color • Data has been collected from communities of color for research purposes and the learnings have often not been shared back. • Repairing broken relationships with institutions requires time, and you must demonstrate a long-term commitment and a willingness to partner in responsive, engaging, and horizontal ways. • Within government, staff may have experienced similar dynamics
Key principles of Results Based Accountability • Data-informed, transparent decision-making • Start at the end to determine what you want to achieve and work backwards to the means • Identify the right level of accountability: • Population or whole community (long term) • Performance: programs, services, agencies, systems and initiatives (where the rubber hits the road) • Establish partnerships and ask effective questions to quickly get from ends to means 13
Key principles of Results Based Accountability • Use 7 questions to work with partners • Answer 3 questions to determine the effectiveness of programs, services, agencies, systems and initiatives: • How much did we do? • How well did we do it? • Is anyone better off? • Use common language
Root Cause Analysis
DEFINITIONS RESULT A condition of well-being for children, adults, families or communities. i. e. All children in Portland are well educated, All people in the US live in safe communities, All people in Portland are economically self sufficient INDICATOR A measure which helps quantify the result. i. e. high school graduation rate, police arrest rate/crime rate, unemployment rate, income PERFORMANCE MEASURE A measure of how well a program, agency or service system is working. 1. Quantity How much did we do? 2. Quality How well did we do it? 3. Impact Is anyone better off?
7 Questions of Population Accountability • What condition of well-being do we want for our community (results)? • What would these conditions look like if we achieved them? • What measures can we use to quantified these conditions (indicators)? • How are we doing on the indicators quantitatively (data trend) and qualitatively (root cause)? • Who are the partners with a role to play? • What works/brainstorm? • What do we propose to do?
7 Questions of Performance Accountability • Who do you/does your work serve? • How can you measure if they are better off? • How can you measure the quality and quantity of your work? • How are you doing on these measures quantitatively (data trend) and qualitatively (root cause)? • Who are the partners you need and what is their role? • What works/brainstorm (practices, processes, and/or policies)? • What do you propose to do, in what timeline and in what budget?
Select a Result and an Indicator
Think about Portland answer the following questions: 1. What is the condition of well-being (result/s) that you want for all people in Portland? 2. What would these conditions look like if you could see or experience them? 3. How could you measure it?
Your Results • Think about larger context of your work to transform systems to get equitable outcomes for communities of color. • The whole community cannot experience well -being when communities of color experience those conditions at disproportionately lower rates. • Results should be positive i. e. “healthy” versus “not sick. ”
Racial Equity Results… …are about the condition itself, not a choice or possibility of a condition i. e. “educated” as opposed to “the opportunity to be educated” because ”opportunity” reinforces the idea that there are disparate outcomes in communities of color because of the choices people make rather than as a result of institutional and structural racism.
What would it look like? How could racial equity be experienced? • Answer in a culturally relevant, contextualized manner connected to the vision you have for racial equity. • The question is not about any community, but about the communities you serve? • Ask yourself, whose vision does this picture reflect? • Does it reinforce a deficit orientation?
How can we measure it? Indicators! • Measures look similar across the country, but you will have information about the unique context of the cities you work in once you review your disaggregated data by race/ethnicity over time
What are the Root Causes? What are the factors that contribute to the racial disparity you see in the data? What factors do you anticipate affecting the future? What are the causes and forces at work? Dig deep and try to identify the “root causes” Ask “WHY” 3 -5 times!
Root Cause analysis is critical • Data trends over time can highlight racially disproportionate, systems-level outcomes for communities of color. • Ask “why” 3 to 5 times to move past superficial understandings of the sources of racial inequity and get to the underlying causes/histories.
Who are the partners with a role to play? What works to change the current trend?
Selecting meaningful partners Consider the partners that you need to do impactful work. Government and nonprofits must partner with community leadership, and a broad range of partners to successfully address racial inequity. Consider: • other government agencies • nonprofits • other grant making institutions and philanthropies • community based, advocacy and community organizing groups • private sector • any other partners that would be required
Unlikely partners Who are the “unlikely suspects” or partners that you avoided in the past? These might well be the exact partners you need in order to produce the results you seek. Think about current partners and how they might expand, stop or change what they are doing. Even if you cannot yet determine how to access a critical partner, identifying them prevents us from falling back on usual ways of doing work.
Partner role and phasing For each of the identified partners, the group should also determine their role. Why are they important? What are they needed for? When would it be effective to bring that partner into the effort so as to phase the work strategically? Identify partners from other institutions who you need to have an impact in your work. Representatives from grassroots and community-based organizations should be brought in from the beginning.
Brainstorm! No one program or policy will produce a result, but over time, multiple strategies can have an impact. Identify a large number of strategies in multiple categories – including things you are already doing and things you could do Use the following categories to guide the brainstorm: • Low-cost, no-cost ideas • Ideas identified through community knowledge • Promising practices • Evidence-based practices • Out of the box/ “imagine if” ideas
Consider how current policies and programs maintain or reinforce structural/institutional racism Considers all strategies—from current activities and systems, to policies and grantee programs towards the end of racial equity. *Remember that the root causes inform brainstorming.
Which actions to start? Values: Is it strengths-based, people-centered and culturally relevant? Does it advance a racial equity agenda? Leverage: How likely is it to change the trendline? What additional resources for change does it activate? Reach: Is it feasible? Will it benefit communities of color experiencing inequitable outcomes? Specificity: Does it have a timeline with deliverables?
Performance Accountability
Putting a stake in the ground Now the hard work begins. Each team/functional area contributes solutions that are connected back to one or more indicators. Now you need to identify performance measures that show your work is connected to those indicators and use those performance measures to track your impact over time.
7 Questions of Performance Accountability • Who do you/does your work serve? • How can you measure if they are better off? • How can you measure the quality and # of your work? • How are you doing on these measures quantitatively (data trend) and qualitatively (root cause)? • Who are the partners you need and what is their role? • What works/brainstorm (practices, processes, and/or policies)? • What do you propose to do, in what timeline and in what budget?
Who/what do you serve? (institutions, people, systems) Clarity about who/what you serve gives focus to the measures you select – it also ensures that you do not unintentionally hold people accountable for change outside of the scope of the work. Not every activity will impact community members directly (i. e. place based work); some will impact other kinds of stakeholders, such as public officials, staff, Board members
Is anyone better off/ did the work make a difference? Answer the questions: How would I know if this solution worked? What is the intended impact? How would I know if anyone is “better off” as a result of it/it made a difference? …and articulate it as a measure.
Using performance data and root causes to improve practices Even when groups select actions that they believe will address racial disparities, it is critical to regularly review data at the performance level and ask, “why? ” This is where the rubber hits the road and is the difference between perpetuating systemic failures to address racially disproportionate outcomes, and disrupting them.
Community leadership in review of data Even if data looks shows a positive impact, communities experiencing strategies need to help to identify the “why? ” to determine any unintended consequences of success. They are best positioned to flag root causes of otherwise neutral seeming actions or under the radar factors. , and will should help refining solutions to ineffective practices.
Developing Performance Measures How much did we do? How well did we do it? % common measures e. g. workload ratio, staff composition, # organizations/ % staff fully trained/culturally competent people served % services in language spoken, # activities (by type of activity) % activity-specific measures e. g. % timely % people completing activity/training attendance rate, % correct and complete Is anyone better off? #/% skills/knowledge e. g. knowledge of how to start a small biz #/% attitude/opinion e. g. feel a sense of belonging in the organization #/% behavior e. g. school attendance rate #/% circumstance e. g. making a living wage, home ownership, staff of color retention rate
Criteria for selecting and prioritizing performance measures Communication Power Does the measure communicate to a broad range of audiences? Do people care about this measure? Proxy Power Does the measure say something of central importance about the result or action? Does the measure stand in the place of a number of others? Data Power Are good, accessible data available?
Performance Measure Exercise: Agency/Initiative: How much did you do? How well did you do it? Is anyone better off/difference made?
What’s next? • Who will do what, by when? • What resources are needed to get it done? • Is this a long-term action that needs time or can it be done tomorrow? • What is the active role of community leadership in making these decisions? • Write it down
Action Commitments and Accountability Action commitments are critical to holding the group accountable. Make action commitments at the end of each meeting that require each member of the group to commit to one action related to moving indicators with a deadline and a report out on progress on the action(s) at the beginning of every stakeholder meeting.
1. No common understanding or definition of racism Organization or partnership doesn’t have a common understanding of structural and institutional racism nor a common definition for racism For example: Definition of racism: Race prejudice + power -The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond
2. Limited idea of accountability Group has reverted to accountability as compliance only
3. Data work didn’t begin with culture change A race equity foundation that is communitycentered, and built on trust and relationships, must be laid before data collection and use begins
4. No work done to examine the of history of data in the community Moving too fast Doing data work as a technical exercise Community is left out
5. Mistaken belief that this is technical work for a data analyst Data related work is done by a data team/person instead of embedded internally and owned broadly
6. Root Cause Analysis doesn’t center the work No real root cause conversation Analysis is never used after it is done Community doesn’t participate in the analysis Bad facilitation
7. Stopping at the framework A framework is completed… but the work never starts The work is the work!
8. Avoiding unlikely partners and continuing business as usual with current partners Unlikely partners may be required to produce the results you seek Current partners may need to expand, stop or change what they are doing
9. Unclear about who/what you serve (institutions, people, systems) Lack of clarity about who/what you serve to give focus to the measures you select and causes you to: • unintentionally hold people accountable for change outside of the scope of the work or • identifying measures you can’t impact
10. Reliance on evidence based practice only Reliance on *hot* or evidence based practices without asking: Is it culturally relevant? Does it take into account community values? Was it selected with an eye to the root causes of racial inequity? What would work better? Why was it picked?
11. The community does not actively participate in the review of data Community doesn’t consistently participate in the designing and refining solutions Community doesn’t back up the work being done because they are not actively involved in the work
12. The data looks bad, but it is not used to change practice The group has not used data to: • consider lessons learned from other parts of the agency/other agencies and community • adapt best/evidence based practices • change requirements of funding, contracts, balancing what is required with what you believe will work to change systems.
13. Ego/resources prevent real partnership Organizations fail to think about partners that would make their own work more effective – often because of ego, resources/time. No reallocation of resources, shifting power, because of loss, fear of failure/exposure.
14. Leaders don’t take strategic risks and model behavior Asking people to do things that leadership aren’t willing to do (i. e. sharing bad data, ) Not considering power and identity when asking people to take risks, causing staff job/health/reputation to be sacrificed
16. People were deployed based on hierarchy instead of assets and influence System Role Person *Annie E Casey Foundation
15. Partnership is not is held accountable The group doesn’t use action commitments (with deadlines and a report out at every meeting) to hold people accountable. No one uses data and no one shares it.
Undoing Racism® Racism is the single most critical barrier to building effective coalitions for social change. Racism has been consciously and systematically erected, and it can be undone only if people understand what it is, where it comes from, how it functions, and why it is perpetuated. Learning from History is a tool for effective organizing. Understanding the lessons of history allows us to create a more humane future. Sharing Culture is the life support system of a community. If a community’s culture is respected and nurtured, the community’s power will grow.
Developing Leadership Anti-racist leadership needs to be developed intentionally and systematically within local communities and organizations. Maintaining Accountability To organize with integrity requires that we be accountable to the communities struggling with racist oppression. Networking The growth of an effective broad-based movement for social transformation requires networking or “building a net that works”. As the movement develops a strong net, people are less likely to fall through.
Analyzing Power As a society, we often believe that individuals and/or their communities are solely responsible for their conditions. Through the analysis of institutional power, we can identify and unpack the systems external to the community that create the internal realities that many people experience daily. Gatekeeping Persons who work in institutions often function as gatekeepers to ensure that the institution perpetuates itself. By operating with anti-racist values and networking with those who share those values and maintaining accountability in the community, the gatekeeper becomes an agent of institutional transformation.
Undoing Internalized Racial Oppression manifests itself in two forms: Internalized Racial Inferiority The acceptance of and acting out of an inferior definition of self, given by the oppressor, is rooted in the historical designation of one’s race. Over many generations, this process of disempowerment and disenfranchisement expresses itself in self-defeating behaviors. Internalized Racial Superiority The acceptance of and acting out of a superior definition is rooted in the historical designation of one’s race. Over many generations, this process of empowerment and access expresses itself as unearned privileges, access to institutional power and invisible advantages based upon race.
Identifying and Analyzing the Manifestations of Racism Individual acts of racism are supported by institutions and are nurtured by the societal practices such as militarism and cultural racism, which enforce and perpetuate racism.
Accountability Pathway *Jolie Bain Pillsbury
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