Racial Equity Team for Forward Together Safely

2021 NACo Achievement Award Winner

Boulder County, Colo., CO

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

Boulder County’s pandemic response and recovery to COVID-19 addressed the pandemic with the Forward Together Safely initiative (FTS). The initiative was conceived in April of 2020 as an immediate, focused organizational response to the pandemic. The pandemic strategy centered racial equity as a fundamental goal of the initiative via focused internal organization. The Racial Equity Team was assembled with the collaboration from key contributors that include: Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and non-People of Color who are identified as racial equity leaders in Boulder County. In April of 2020, the racial equity team assembled to direct our efforts in a pilot to center race and racial equity in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of the racial equity team had a two-pronged approach: 1. Provide critical attention to addressing the racial & ethnic disparities during the pandemic (which acknowledges/includes the intersectionality of marginalized identities, ex: LGBTQ+, ability, immigration status, age, etc.), maintain high-level view to incorporate equity practices and approaches. 2. Create long-lasting programs, practices & processes in a small sample environment, such as FTS. By piloting racial equity within the programs and practices of FTS, the County will have the organizing approach to scale up racial equity throughout the County that can be embedded within departments and offices and bridge the work of the county as it moves out of pandemic response into recovery.

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