Racial Equity in Public Policy

Across the United States, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Latinos, Black and African Americans, and Asian and Pacific Islanders experience racism every day—in one-on-one interactions, in communities and neighborhoods, and across our country’s systems and institutions. This includes the political, education, banking and finance, criminal justice, health care and other systems built to disadvantage people of color and Indigenous peoples and advantage white people. Too often, this leads to different and often unjust outcomes, including poorer health, lower-income, higher medical costs, and limited opportunities for social, economic and financial advancement^[1]. And because these outcomes are the result of policies, laws, systems, institutions and the way our communities are built, they repeat across generations. This is structural racism.

The policy change focus of this guide hits the cultural and structural levels. But the conversations we have with decision-makers, advocates, volunteers and each other—as well as development of policies themselves—are also imbued with individual, internalized and interpersonal racism.

Actively opposing racism by advocating for changes in political, economic and social life is anti-racism.^[2] As an initiative, this is where Voices for Healthy Kids strives to be, and we are working toward that vision. As a starting point, we intentionally lead with an equity framework, meaning we consider how each action we take upholds or breaks down structural racism.