December 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 40

SOCIAL EQUITY
Racial Equity in Parks and Recreation
By Michelle Kellogg and Julie Nelson

quity and equality are sometimes used interchangeably, but actually
convey very different ideas. Equity is about fairness while equality is
about sameness. Racial equity means that race can no longer be used
to predict life outcomes and life outcomes for all groups are improved.

Working for racial equity is to our
collective benefit. When we think
about racial disparities, we often think
about how inequities affect communities of color. The goal is not to
just eliminate the gap between white
people and people of color, but to increase our collective success. For example, using plain language to convey
our policies and procedures will make
them easier for all community members. Improving outdated hiring practices will strengthen the hiring process
for all employees. Creating inclusive
and welcoming environments will ensure that all people will feel welcome.

Why Race?
While explicit acts of discrimination
became illegal through the Civil Rights
Act, government policies and practices included " race-neutral " approaches
that perpetuated racial inequities, often
without explicit intent. Across every indicator for success, from jobs to housing, education, criminal justice and
health, we still see deep and pervasive
racial inequities nationwide.
Focusing on racial equity seeks to
address the institutional and structural racism that perpetuates these
disparities. Institutional racism is
when policies, procedures and practices work better for
white people than
for people of color,
often unintentionally. Structural racism
refers to the history
and current reality
of institutional racism across all institutions, combining to
create a system that
negatively impacts
people of color.

Why Is This Important to Parks and
Recreation Professionals?
Feedback gathered from Bossen Field neighborhood residents as part of a racial equity pilot project resulted in several
It is anticipated that
changes to this initial architectural rendering for the park,
by 2042 people of
which was done without any neighborhood input. One change color will become
was the relocation of two softball fields (depicted here as the
the majority popupie-shaped features) to move the noise and lights further away
th
lation in the United
from the apartment buildings on 28 Street.
38 Parks & Recreation

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States. Children of color are on course
to reach that milestone by 2023.
Parks and recreation services in
this country offer a great opportunity
to advance racial equity. To that end,
park and recreation services need to
be at the forefront of addressing the
inequities in our society.
Racial Equity Tools
Too often, policies and programs are
developed and implemented without
thoughtful consideration of racial
equity. When racial equity is not explicitly brought into operations and
decision-making, racial inequities
are likely to be perpetuated. Racial
equity tools are designed to integrate
explicit consideration of racial equity
in decisions, including policies, practices, programs and budgets, and to
provide a structure for institutionalizing the consideration of racial equity.
A racial equity tool:
* Proactively seeks to eliminate racial
inequities and advance equity.
* Identifies clear goals, objectives
and measurable outcomes.
* Engages community in decision-making processes.
* Identifies who will benefit or be
burdened by a given decision, examines potential unintended consequences of a decision, and develops strategies to advance racial
equity and mitigate unintended
negative consequences.
* Develops mechanisms for successful implementation and evaluation
of impact.
Use of a racial equity tool is an important step to operationalizing equity
but is not sufficient by itself. In order
to move forward, we must normalize

December 2015 - Parks & Recreation

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