Why is the Racial Equity Map important? Our systems are, and have historically been, out of balance, and people with lived experience of racism suffer the impacts of these imbalances most deeply. More specifically, people with lived experience of racism endure gaps in access to employment, income, education, housing, social services, healthy food, and more. White people benefit from having better access to these systems. This disparity is “institutional racism.” These systemic imbalances will persist until white people and people with lived experience of racism confront institutional racism -- together. The REM will help guide your organization’s thinking and actions to advance racial equity.
There are three main goals of the REM:
Find out where your organization is on its racial equity journey
Spark thoughtful and respectful conversations
Identify action steps to advance racial equity together
There arefive steps to the REM: Step 1.Identify who will take it Step 2.Score it individually Step 3.Analyze scores Step 4. Talk about your scores as an organization Step 5. Plan your next steps -- together