Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 16, 2023
Subject
SUBJECT: METRO EQUITY PLATFORM UPDATE
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE a status report on implementation of the Metro Equity Platform.
Issue
ISSUE
This report provides an update on progress and activities conducted by Metro between February 2021 to February 2023 to implement the agency's Equity Platform framework.
Background
BACKGROUND
Metro's Equity work is based on the Board approved Equity Platform (Attachment A), which provides a framework that guides how the agency works to address inequities and create more equitable access to opportunity through four main action areas. These areas are called the pillars of the Equity Platform: 1) Define and Measure, 2) Listen and Learn, 3) Focus and Deliver, and 4) Train and Grow. The platform is not a singular task or process that will be completed but rather an agency commitment to incorporate equity into all facets of Metro's decision-making and budget allocation and genuinely engage impacted communities in our processes while continuously pursuing equitable outcomes in everything we do.
Metro defines equity as both an outcome and a process to address racial, socioeconomic, and gender disparities, to ensure fair and just access - with respect to where you begin and your capacity to improve from that starting point - to opportunities, including jobs, housing, education, mobility options, and healthier communities. It is achieved when one's outcomes in life are not predetermined, in a statistical or experiential sense, on their racial, economic, or social identities. It requires community-informed and needs-based provision, implementation, and impact of services, programs, and policies that reduce and ultimately prevent disparities.
Metro's Office of Equity and Race (OER) was established in January 2020 to foster the institutionalization of equity in the agency programs, policies, service...
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