Racial Equity Evaluation Framework

Aligning Our Action, Learning, and Outcomes

Few evaluation frameworks are grounded in the experience of racial equity practitioners working to advance systems change within a local, regional or state government context. Drawing on the real-world practice and experience of racial equity and data lead staff from 24 jurisdictions across the GARE network, the Racial Equity Evaluation Framework is designed to support local, regional, and state jurisdictions in advancing racial equity that:

• Integrates a phased, ongoing evaluation approach based on where jurisdictions are in their racial equity journeys.
• Centers a long-term vision of achieving racial equity outcomes  
• Recognizes the dual role of local, regional, and state government as both one institution among many influencing community outcomes and uniquely responsible for protect and providing for community members through its policies, funding, and operations.
• Emphasizes that equitable evaluation is multi-layered. Individual evaluators and data practitioners ground their mindset and methods in racial equity as a foundation for systemic transformation. 

The framework is designed to strengthen jurisdictions’ ability to:

• Provide a shared language to evaluate their racial equity progress.
• Evaluate structural, cultural, and relational shifts and outcomes.
• Build the internal conditions necessary to sustain racial equity work.    
• Avoid evaluation methods that take from communities without giving back
• Center racial equity both as a process and an outcome.

Advancing racial equity via all three of these levers creates the conditions for community members to thrive more equitably. 

The Jurisdiction Theory of Change identifies three interdependent levers that jurisdictions can engage to advance racial equity: Capacity, Influence, and Authority. Together, these levers describe how governments can strengthen their internal systems, external relationships, and formal authority to create the conditions so that all families and communities live long, healthy, joyful lives, no matter their race, class, or zip code.

Every government, regardless of size or geographic context, continuously and systematically exerts all three levers. 

	Governments demonstrate capacity through programs and services they deliver, such as economic development, health and human services, public safety, and community infrastructure.
	They exercise influence through partnerships with other systems that affect residents' lives, including the healthcare sector, business community, and nonprofit organizations.
	They manifest authority through formal powers: the ability to enact and enforce laws, regulations, policies, and zoning ordinances, and to direct public resources through procurement and contracting.

These levers overlap and reinforce one another.

• • Capacity enables Influence and Authority. Staff skill, leadership alignment, and equity tools create conditions for structural change.
  • Authority is government’s strongest lever. Only government can pass laws, set regulations, or direct public dollars.
  • Influence expands reach. Cross-sector partnerships magnify jurisdictional impact.