The Sacramento community still can make its voice heard on how the city might end institutional racism and racial disparities.
The application deadline to join the Racial Equity Council (RE Council) is 5 p.m. May 16. Council members will be selected June 30 from among community-based racial-equity groups, organizations, and designated leaders who represent the Sacramento Racial Equity Leadership Network (RELN), which created the council’s membership application.
RELN member DeAngelo Mack said the RE Council will allow voices to be heard and provide insight into “how we want our city to look like, be more equitable, and how to be a better community.”
“The council will give them power,” Mack told the city’s Racial Equity Committee during a virtual meeting held April 26. “For so long we’ve been looking at things from a top-down approach expecting different results. Now we’re looking to work from the bottom up. We want to hear and utilize the expertise of our community. The goal is to allow (members of) the council to be powerful decision-makers.”
On Jan. 26, 2020, the city council started a series of actions to address long-standing racial inequities and move Sacramento toward becoming an antiracist city. Based on past events and complaints with certain departments with majority White employees such as the police and fire departments, elected leaders started to acknowledge and address historic and systemic racism.
The African American Employees Leadership Council (AAELC), a local organization composed of city employees, expressed its concern about the city’s workforce diversity and salary trends after the release of the city auditor’s “2020 Audit of City Employees’ Workforce Diversity and Salary Trends” annual report.
“Right now, the (RELN) is in a great moment. Through this work, we’ve been coming together since 2019 talking about how to better support local policies and elevate community voices around these issues,” Mack said. “We’re looking forward to partnering with the (RE Council).
To learn more about the Racial Equity Council application process, visit https://engagesac.org/blog-civic-engagement/2022/5/5/ut9n862aiw4xzjhdakaakk8vuc1wuj
email Nora with Race Forward at nora.liu1@outlook.com.