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Government Alliance on Race and Equity

The Government Alliance on Race and Equity is a national network working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all.

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Home>Hennepin County, Minnesota

MidwestMinnesota 2017Core Member

Hennepin County, Minnesota

Hennepin County has an enormous opportunity to address racial disparities and make strides toward racial equity for the local population. The county is home to over 1.2 million residents, including approximately 40 percent of the state’s residents of color. Almost 17 percent of county residents ages five or older speak a language other than English at home and nearly 13 percent of the county’s population is foreign-born. Along with that diversity come significant disparities by race and ethnicity—some of the largest in the country —in employment, educational attainment, health and socioeconomic status.

Addressing racial disparities is core to the county’s mission and practices. Structural and institutional inequities led the Hennepin County Board to adopt a diversity policy in 2013, which established the business case for workforce diversity within the county. The policy recognizes that furthering diversity and inclusion goals is core to the viability of the county as an organization and is necessary in order to create systems, processes, programs and initiatives that provide effective services to all county residents. This essential work is most effectively accomplished in collaboration with their many partners—municipalities, business communities, educational institutions, health and wellness organizations, and the many and varied communities of residents within their borders. Their collaborations have produced pathways to employment at Hennepin County for underrepresented job seekers, and the creation of the Workforce Leadership Council, which serves as a vehicle for promoting the model among other regional employers.

The county also has developed transportation plans that incorporate the needs and perspectives of communities being served by those plans, and strategic efforts to address the social determinants of health in all county policies and programs. Hennepin County now stands to build upon its successes and the groundwork initiatives of its departments by unifying its efforts into an approach that brings the work of reducing disparities to all lines of business across the organization. In 2018 Hennepin County created a senior leadership position to oversee and coordinate efforts across all county lines of business to reduce racial disparities in social determinant outcomes.

In 2019, all Hennepin County employees will receive training on advancing racial equity with the goals to build employee awareness of the impacts of racial disparities, deepen employee understanding of the drivers of disparities, and to position employees to apply the learning in their work. In this way, Hennepin County is laying the groundwork for implementing racial equity impact assessment tools and more deeply embedding an equity mindset in the way departments operate and make decisions, moving closer to realizing the vision of a county where all residents are healthy and successful and their communities are safe and vibrant.

Tonya Palmer has been Hennepin County’s Executive Diversity Officer since 2014. Her knowledge and experience include mediation, facilitation, and adult learning principles and she has served county employees and communities as a leader, mentor and trainer with passion, love, great story-telling, and a commitment to helping others be their whole selves.

News from Hennepin County, Minnesota


March 24, 2020

Bringing Equity into the Library: A Conversation with Christy Mulligan, DEI Coordinator for the Hennepin County Library 

Libraries are often considered one of the foremost democratic institutions in America. However, the American library system as a whole has struggled with issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. In this post, we speak with Christy Mulligan on how the GARE framework has helped to establish new norms and catalyze necessary conversations around racial equityREAD MORE > Read More


April 10, 2017

Welcome New Minnesota Advancing Racial Equity Cohort Member: Hennepin County Library

Hennepin County Library believes that access to information is a fundamental right and is essential to an informed society. One of the core missions of the public library is to provide equal access to that information, and to make available valuable resources that would help to benefit the communities they serve. Hennepin County Library values theREAD MORE > Read More


March 22, 2017

Welcome New Minnesota Advancing Racial Equity Cohort Member: Hennepin County District Court

The Fourth Judicial District Court is the largest trial court in Minnesota with 62 judges, 15 referees, and 582 staff who process approximately 40% of all cases filed in the state. The District serves Hennepin County, which is made up of 45 cities (population: 1.2 million), and approximately 40 percent of the state’s residents of color. WithREAD MORE > Read More


August 18, 2015

The Twin Cities Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute: Using Board and Commission Appointments to Advance Racial Equity

A unique partnership between the City of Minneapolis and Nexus Community Partners works to improve racial equity in board and commission membership, which in turn influences major policy decisions toward more equitable outcomes. Read More


Primary Sidebar

Participating Jurisdictions: Hennepin County, MinnesotaBegan Racial Equity Work: Getting Started in 2016 Population: Extra Large (1,000,000+) Region: Midwest Number of Employees: 4001 – 8000Form of Government: County


Demographics

White:75.6%
African American: 12.7%
Asian: 7.4%
Hispanic: 6.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native: 1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander: 0.1%
Multi-Racial: 3.1%
Total Population: 1,223,149


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Government Alliance on Race & Equity
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GARE is a joint project of the new Race Forward and the Haas Institute for a Fair & Inclusive Society.© 2023 Government Alliance on Race and Equity

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