Oakland Mayor To Discuss Equity In The City After Report Gives Low Score
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Oakland has a lot of room for improvement to bring equity to residents, according to a report that the mayor will discuss in a public forum this evening.
The "Equity Indicators Report" will be up for discussion with Mayor Libby Schaaf and Darlene Flynn, director of race and equity, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the public library branch at 1021 81st Avenue in Oakland.
Residents are invited to hear about the report and ask questions. The report is available online at https://www.oaklandca.gov/documents/2018-oakland-equity-indicators-report.
Oakland scored 33.5 out of 100 where 100 means perfect equity and 1 means the greatest inequity.
But the report cautions that a high score is not necessarily good. A high score indicates high equity, but that may mean that everyone is suffering.
The study was done in partnership with the City University of New York's Institute for State and Local Governance with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.
The report says the results "will be useful across city departments" as city officials "strive to advance equity by using strategies determined through an intentional focus on racial and ethnic disparities and their root causes."
The report says Oakland defines equity as fairness. Fairness means that identity such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or expression "has no detrimental effect on the distribution of resources, opportunities and outcomes" for the city's residents.
An assumption made in the report is that race matters but "almost every indicator of well-being shows troubling disparities by race," the report says.
The report, however, establishes a baseline that can be used by city officials and community members to improve equity.
© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
