Biden Continues to prioritize Racial Equity through a timely Executive Order
By Candace L. Milner, J.D., Racial Equity Policy Associate for Public Citizen
On the first day of his presidency, President Biden signed an executive order directing each federal agency to create and implement an equity action plan focus on championing racial equity throughout the work of the federal government. Last year, we released a report highlighting the racial equity actions taken by federal consumer protection agencies. In that report we mentioned, and still believed today, that while requiring equity action plans was a nice first step, more needs to be done across the board to ensure proper implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of these plans. Last week, President Biden issued an Executive Order, titled on “Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government,” to ensure that equity work across the executive branch continues beyond the initial plans.
The new Executive Order builds on the first by requiring accountability measures to ensure equity work is sustainable and efficient. Agencies are now required to create a public equity action plan annually. This process will give agencies a chance to periodically update their plans in real-time to ensure that the public has a consistent update on different agencies commitment to equity. There is also a requirement that agencies maintain agency equity teams and ensure that a senior leader is accountable for the implementation of the agency’s equity plans. Personnel capacity is often a barrier of conceiving and implementing new ideas and initiatives. Ensuring that a team and leader is in place that is responsible for equity work at every agency removes barriers to aggressive action.
In addition to ensuring equity work across agencies is efficient, Biden’s executive order has measures aimed at strengthening community partnerships and ensuring impacted communities are part of the planning and implementation processes of this work. As agencies create their budgets and programs, they are required to explore ways to improve community engagement by focusing on the quality, frequency, and accessibility of their engagement efforts. There is a specific directive to focus on locally led development of programs that ensure federal resources are being used to improve economic opportunity in rural and urban communities.
After President Biden signed the executive order, there was a White House Convening on Equity. During the convening, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, discussed Biden’s goal of increasing the amount of contract dollars being awarded to small, disadvantaged businesses by 50 percent by 2025 and announced OMB will be releasing guidance to help agencies ensure this goal is met. Furthermore, she discussed the recommended new data collection standards for race and ethnicity, and improving service delivery to ensure processes are as accessible and easy as possible. The convening ended with policy advisors and agency leaders sharing impactful narratives of how Biden’s equity efforts have materialized into relief an impact for everyday Americans.
President Biden’s administration’s commitment to equity is rooted in the understanding that centuries of systemic oppression has led to insufficient resources and opportunities in too many of our communities. Biden has stated that “advancing equity is not a one-year project. It is a generational commitment.” This work is not quick, but it is urgent. The most recent executive order sets federal agencies up to engage in equity work in a sustainable way not only until the end of Biden’s administration but beyond. The steps taken here are commendable and Public Citizen is excited to see agencies use the directives in this executive order to continue to partner with impacted communities to further equity through programs and investments that interrupt the lasting impacts of systemic racism and poverty.
