On the first day of the Biden-Harris Administration, President Biden signed Executive Order 13985 on “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” calling for a comprehensive approach for the federal government to transform itself – for fairness and equity – to become not just ideals, but principles embedded in the daily practices by which government serves its people. The Executive Order charged the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in partnership with heads of agencies, to identify, by July 2021, effective methods for assessing whether agency policies and actions (e.g., programs, services, processes, and operations) equitably serve all eligible individuals and communities, particularly those that are currently and historically underserved.
As a part of this effort, OMB issued a Request for Information (RFI) to seek input, information, and recommendations from a broad array of stakeholders in the public, private, advocacy, not-for-profit, and philanthropic sectors, including state, local, tribal, and territorial areas, on available methods, approaches, and tools that could assist in this effort. The RFI findings can be found here.
OMB Acting Director Shalanda Young summarized key findings in the OMB’s Report to the President on Methods and Practices to Assess Equity here.
Delta Regional Authority is proud to join over 90 other federal agencies in releasing a historic Equity Action Plan to support the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government equity agenda. View DRA’s Equity Action Plan to learn more about our efforts to prioritize meaningful community engagement and increase investments in persistent poverty counties.
The White House has launched a new federal equity microsite that includes the findings from the year-long equity process that agencies have conducted, and the executive summaries of the equity action plans submitted by the largest federal agencies.
On February 16, 2023, President Biden signed a second executive order on equity to reaffirm the administration’s commitment to equity-centered governance and outcomes.
