From June 13-15, 2023, in Oakland, CA, GARE hosted Governing for All: The California Statewide Convening to Advance Racial Equity, a statewide gathering for California GARE member jurisdictions and agencies. Nearly 500 racial equity practitioners representing 62 GARE member jurisdictions across the state gathered to share learning, deepen connections, and build relationships between local and state racial equity practitioners in government.
In a recent survey, GARE members identified regional and statewide convenings as a key priority in growing our movement to advance racial equity and transform government. California is frequently positioned as a policy trailblazer, and with over 100 GARE member jurisdictions – the largest concentration of any state – it offers ample opportunities for organizing. In a joint letter to convening attendees, GARE Director, Gordon Goodwin and GARE Deputy Director, Network Strategies, Marsha Guthrie noted, “At a time in our country when we are witnessing the attempts to oppress the rights of Americans, it is imperative to highlight places like California standing firm on racial justice. The establishment of a statewide Racial Equity Commission (SB17) and policies to protect student rights in education, support fair housing, address gender equity in pay, environment justice issues, and protections for LGBTQ people to name a few are intentional acts and examples of how government can catapult its power towards a vision for equity.”
Ninety participants gathered on the first day for a full-day pre-conference workshop on the GARE approach to racial equity in government. On the second day, the opening plenary began with a land acknowledgment led by Manuel Lieras, Title VI Indian Education Coordinator, American Indian Resource Center, followed by a welcome and grounding with Marsha Guthrie and Cathy Albisa, and addresses from U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (CA) and Treva Reid, Oakland Council Member, District 7. A rousing spoken word performance from Porsche Veu, The Poetic Activist, closed the morning’s event.
Mainstage programming over the two days included two plenaries that explored themes of collaboration and capacity-building to center racial equity. The first, State of State: California’s Past, Present, and Future, featured the Capitol Collaborative on Race & Equity (CCORE), a racial equity capacity-building program for California State employees. In a lively conversation moderated by Lianne Dillon, Racial Equity Strategies, CORE Lead, a panel of CCORE participants celebrated wins and reflected on CCORE’s challenges, needs, and goals.
The plenary Infrastructure and Co-Governance/Governing Power, facilitated by Lamont Cobb, Director of HR&A Advisors Inc, engaged state and local government representatives in conversation with community-based organization leaders on government-community collaboration and the work advocates are doing to support appropriate distribution and use of federal infrastructure investment funding. The two lunch plenaries, California’s Power in the Equity Officer Movement led by Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) Managing Director of Policy and Practice, Matt Vader Sluis, and Building Power for Racial Equity: What’s culture have to do with it? led by GARE co-founder Julie Nelson.
Breakout sessions covered a wide range of issues, resources, and information. Two of the most well-attended sessions focused on accessing and using data to advance racial equity: Our Future Racial Data Equi-system Aligning Our Racial Equity Work with the Data Lifecycle to Build with Greg Gearheart and Breakout National Equity Atlas: Working Together in Research Justice towards Data Equity with Michelle Huang, while Narrative Strategy for a Just, Multiracial Democracy with Dennis Chin and Nadia Khastagir was also popular.
To foster regional connections, the convening offered regional-based conversations that focused on event themes ranging from co-governance and policymaking to narrative and communications, and data and evaluation through a region-specific lens of shared political landscapes, opportunities, and challenges. “It was so good to get to see so many other people involved in this work, especially when we are so often the only ones in our office or workspace,” one practitioner reflected.
In the final session of the convening, attendees shared their takeaway lessons, and Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Poet Laureate of Oakland, and Lateefah Simon, 2024 U.S. Congressional candidate closed the event with inspiring words. Attendees reported feeling more connected to work and each other, expressing a strong interest in strengthening peer-to-peer connections. As one participant remarked, “I needed this to fuel my energy and soul to keep advancing racial equity in my jurisdiction.”