The Commission's Principles

The Planning Commission uses a modified version of the racial equity principles from the Center for Urban and Racial Equity to guide our work: 

Movement Solidarity: Racial equity work must be connected and guided by racial justice movements including the Movement for Black Lives. 

Systems Analysis: Understanding history, the distribution of power and resources, and the policies, systems and practices that create and perpetuate inequities is key to addressing the web of interconnected issues that inhibit communities of color from reaching their fullest potential. 

Social Justice: Because racial inequities are rooted in policies and systems that unjustly disadvantage people of color, solutions to these challenges must be grounded in a commitment to shifting power imbalances and advancing social justice. 

Inclusion & Community Voice: An equity-oriented approach centers and actively seeks full inclusion of people of color in the process of identifying challenges and shaping solutions that will affect their lives and communities. 

Naming and Confronting Racism: Deliberate and focused attention on the various manifestations of racism - interpersonal, cultural, institutional and structural - is needed to transform the policies, systems and practices that produce unfair outcomes across race and ethnicity. 

Intersectionality: Recognition of the ways that sexism, classism, homophobia, nativism, and other forms of discrimination and exclusion intersect with race contributes to a fuller analysis of racial inequities and better targeted strategies to address them. 

Sustained Commitment: A commitment to long-term, sustained investment in time, resources and people is required of governments, institutions and organizations that aspire to make equity real internally and throughout society.