Five years ago, District 97 passed the first Racial Equity Policy and Procedures in Oak Park history. A few weeks later District 200 followed suit. Because of these policies, equity work in our schools continues today. In a similar fashion, Diversity Oak Park believes that the village must codify its new equity commitments in formal policy or in an ordinance, with accountability protocols in a manner similar to our schools.
We applaud the village for getting some key developments and substantial investments right in committing to racial equity. In the past two years the village has:
• Utilized expert guidance from the Government Alliance for Racial Equity to provide village administration with fundamental understanding of racial equity work
• Hired a full-time equity director and provided support personnel
• Hired the highly regarded University of Illinois Chicago Great Cities Institute to map and help carry out a comprehensive equity evaluation and planning process
• Launched a community survey on individual racial experiences and perceptions, and most importantly
• Modeled to a very great degree in the Climate Ready Oak Park Report a racial equity assessment of environmental challenges, identified racial and socio-economic climate impact disparities, and proposed prioritized resource allocations for villagers most harmed by our global climate crisis.
Trustees on Aug. 1, 2022 unanimously embraced the sustainability report’s priority goal for the village to “advance Equity in Buildings & Housing through an equity impact analysis, authentic community engagement, and user-centered design for village housing and building assistance programs funded by public dollars.”
The Climate Ready Oak Park assessment process mirrored what a coalition of education activists first proposed in 2016 in D200, and D97 and which D200 adopted in 2019 — the application of racial impact assessment protocols as a central component of a larger racial equity policy and programs.
For sure, equity in our schools is a contentious work in process — around capital improvements; support for curriculum restructuring; hiring and retaining racially diverse faculty; growing a safe, respectful, and inclusive school culture; and in allocating equitable academic resource supports. We hope that village racial equity commitments will strengthen equity in our schools.
Diversity Oak Park urges the village to take the next steps in guaranteeing transparency and accountability for all equity-based decisions. Doing so can help avoid the deep conflict D200 faced in adopting major capital improvements last year.
First, village policy must ensure, as did our schools, that there is diverse community engagement in racial equity policy development, specifically including representation from established groups experiencing inequitable disparities in Oak Park.
Secondly, work with the Government Alliance for Race and Equity and the Great Cities Institute should be extended to facilitate community engagement in understanding best practices in equity implementation, in drafting an equity policy/ordinance, action plans, accountability procedures, and in guiding the first years of ordinance implementation.
Thirdly, in applying equity assessments to major programs like policing, hiring, housing, and capital improvements, the village Diversity, Equity and Inclusion director should be responsible for monitoring and documenting such processes from beginning to final recommendations to the village trustees. This documentation should be available for public review, as proposed by Village Manager Jackson in a policy recommendation to trustees on Feb. 1, requiring village government to provide residents easy access to all village data.
Codifying racial equity actions and procedures in an explicit policy/ordinance will make certain, as our current trustees appear to be doing, that racial equity is more than an aspiration guided by best intentions. Doing so will also provide continuity for future village trustees and administrations.
In the meantime, the racial equity assessment process, as called for in Climate Ready Oak Park, needs to be applied to the housing plan being presented on March 19.
Finally, we suggests that trustees not see the plan from the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus consultants as the final take on housing reform. Any housing strategies presented, both old and new, require time for appropriate community response, agreement, revisions, and possible additions that consultants may have overlooked.
The Diversity Oak Park Steering Committee includes Rob Breymeier, John Duffy, Henry Fulkerson, Burcy Hines, Ralph Lee, and Paul Sakol.