The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has identified seven levers to support the development of policies that achieve equitable outcomes:

• Focusing: Identify and select demographic group(s) for priority.
• Programmatic strategies: Services and opportunities tailored to priority groups, particularly programs co-designed with those groups.
• Proximity/access: A variety of physical and/or virtual locations that are accessible to the priority population, including availability in the appropriate languages.
• Eligibility: Enrollment requirements and processes that facilitate participation of those with the most significant barriers.
• Reporting requirements: Streamline systems that disaggregate participation and outcomes data by race, gender, age, geography, or other demographic identifiers as well as groups who may face distinct barriers that can contribute to desperate outcomes.
• Performance measures: Data collection that moves beyond typical measures of academic or employment gains to capture progress in socio-emotional learning or other ancillary domains.
• Use of funds: Budget allocations that support strategies for serving prioritized groups.

Principles for Racially Equitable Policy Platforms--co-developed by Race Forward, People’s Action, the National Congress of American Indians, PolicyLink, the National Urban League, Demos, UnidosUS, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, and Rights & Democracy-- offers five points of guidance for integrating racial equity into policy platforms:

1. Fix systems; not people; 
2. Create racially equitable solutions that benefit all;
3. Ensure that solutions are grounded in and emerge from the experience of communities of color, by engaging leaders of color who are accountable to those communities;
4. Commit to collecting race/ethnicity data and use it to track and target the greatest needs; and
5. Set measurable, results-based equity goals with specific attention to racial impacts.

Both resources highlight the importance of community-driven solutions, and of tracking and disaggregating data in order to allocate resources to populations most impacted by violence and structural racism.

Spotlight

A New Deal for Youth (ND4Y) is a youth-led, youth-centered effort advocating for the creation of new systems, policies, investments, and structures that reimagine life for young people in America. The New Deal for Youth Policy Platform advances interconnected policy ideas that transform current systems, and that center racial, gender, and social justice. To determine if a particular policy proposal will have a substantial impact on the lives of young people,  ND4Y changemakers apply the following scoring criteria:

Tier 1 Questions (3 points each)

• Does it shift power, decision-making, and/or resources to youth and young adults?​
• Is it youth-led?
• Does it dismantle institutions and systems that have become complacent? ​
• Is it youth-centered? 
• Does it address immediate needs? ​
• Does it build momentum towards systems change?​

Tier II Questions (2 points each)

• Does it transform the system rather than reform it?  ​
• Does it support young people’s liberation?
• Does it set youth up for success? ​ 
• Does it center healing? ​
• Is it community-driven?
• Does it address many different areas that impact young people’s lives?

Tier III Questions (1 point each)

• Does it address long-term thriving? ​
• Does it ensure that none of our priority populations are left out? ​
• Does it shift narratives around youth and young adults? ​
• Does it recognize that young people hold more than one identity at the same time? ​
• Does it recognize that we all deserve great things for our communities? ​
• Does it benefit at least one priority population? 

While ND4Y applies these scoring  criteria to legislation, they are equally applicable and adaptable for non-legislative policy and systems change efforts also, and can also be applied across populations and age-groups.

Additional Resources

• Assessment of Federal Equity Action Plans, released by Race Forward and PolicyLink, reviews 30 of the Equity Action Plans in response to Executive Order 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”and examines the degree to which the plans lay the groundwork for meaningful action to advance racial equity. The assessment is based on five guiding racial equity principles (originally developed by PolicyLink in For Love of Country: A Path for the Federal Government to Advance Racial Equity):

1. Understand the past, present, and your influence; 
2. Consistently address root drivers; 
3. Adopt a continuous learning and adaptive approach; 
4. Work in partnership with impact in relevant communities; and 
5. Be transparent and accountable.