BIPOC
is an acronym for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. The term was created to highlight the unique relationship to whiteness that Indigenous and Black people have, which shapes the experiences of and relationship to white supremacy for all people of color within the US. (source)

COMMUNITY INDICATOR
is how we measure socioeconomic conditions in the community. All community indicators should be disaggregated by race, if possible. (source)

COMMUNITY MEMBERS
are residents, customers, business owners and others who live, work or otherwise engage in activities within Washington, DC. More specifically, communities of interest may exist for a specific program or policy. Communities of interest may share a common geographical location, interest or attribute. (source)

CONTRACTING EQUITY
means investing in contracting, consulting, and procurement that benefits the communities a jurisdiction serves, proportionate to the jurisdiction’s demographics. (source)

CULTURAL COMPETENCY
means behaviors and actions that reflect and respond effectively to the racial, ethnic, cultural and linguistic experiences of the communities involved with a particular program, policy or procedure. (source)

CULTURALLY AND RACIALLY INCLUSIVE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
are public processes that ensure the participation of people of color, immigrant and refugee communities, and low-income residents in City outreach and public engagement processes. (source)

CULTURAL RELEVANCY
means programs, policies and/or procedures that respond to and are reflective of the needs of a person and/or community’s racial, ethnic, cultural and linguistic experiences. (source)

EXPLICIT BIAS
refers to the attitudes and beliefs we have about a person or group on a conscious level. Much of the time, these biases and their expression arise as the direct result of a perceived threat. (source)

EQUITY RESULT
is the condition we aim to achieve in the community. (source)

IMPLICIT BIAS
describes when one holds attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without conscious knowledge. (source)

INDIVIDUAL RACISM
is the pre-judgment, bias, or discrimination based on race by an individual. (source)

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM
refers to policies, practices, and procedures that work better for white people than for people of color, often unintentionally. (source)

MULTICULTURALISM
is equal rights and respect accorded to all cultural groups. Multiculturalism creates the conditions for understanding, respect and interaction between cultures and equality of opportunity for all cultures. (source)

PERFORMANCE MEASURES
are at the city, department, committee, Council-wide, or program level. Appropriate performance measures allow monitoring of the success of implementation of actions or measures that have a reasonable chance of influencing indicators and contributing to results. Performance measures respond to three different levels:

1) Quantity—how much did we do?;
2) Quality—how well did we do it?; and
3) Is anyone better off? (source)

PRIVILEGE
is a benefit, wage, or special advantage available only to certain members within a specific social group, ethnicity, gender, race, or class. (source)

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
is the act of intentionally empowering community members to effectively engage in deliberation, dialogue and action on public issues and in the design and delivery of public services. (source)

RACE
is a classification of human beings created by Europeans (whites) which assigns human worth and social status using ‘white’ as the model of humanity and the height of human achievement for the purpose of establishing and maintaining privilege and power. (source)

RACE NEUTRAL
can be used to describe a measure, policy, or program that is considered or implemented without accounting for the inequitable distinctions or classifications based on race. Race neutral policies typically exacerbate racial inequity. (source, source)

RACIAL DISPARITY
is differences in outcomes or community conditions based on race. Examples include different outcomes in health, education, environment and criminal justice outcomes based on race. (source)

RACIAL EQUITY
means that race will no longer predicts opportunities, outcomes, or the distribution of resources for Black, Indigenous, and other residents of color. (source)

To achieve racial equity, the District must:

• take a resident first approach. We must equitably redistribute decision making power to Black, Indigenous, and other residents of color.

• meaningfully include or follow the lead of Black, Indigenous, and other residents of color during the policymaking process.

• “relieve symptoms” of racial inequity in the short term.

• change structures that reinforce and perpetuate racial inequity in the longer term.

RACIAL EQUITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT (REIA)
means a systematic examination of how different racial and ethnic groups will likely be affected by a proposed action or decision. REIAs are used to minimize unanticipated adverse consequences in a variety of contexts, including the analysis of proposed policies, institutional practices, programs, plans and budgetary decisions. The REIA can be a vital tool for preventing institutional racism and for identifying new options to remedy long-standing inequities. (source)

RACIAL INEQUITY
is when race can be used to predict life outcomes, e.g., disproportionality in education (high school graduation rates), jobs (unemployment rate), criminal justice (arrest and incarceration rates), and other key economic and social indicators. (source)

RACIAL JUSTICE
is the proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes and actions that produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts and outcomes for all. (source)

STAKEHOLDER
refers to any person or group that has an interest in or is affected by the action or process in question. Stakeholders include residents, business operators and owners, property owners, non-profit, public and private agencies and organizations. Identifying the full spectrum of stakeholders is one of the early and critical steps in developing an effective public involvement strategy. (source)

STRUCTURAL RACISM
is a system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity. It identifies dimensions of our history and culture that have allowed privileges associated with “whiteness” and disadvantages associated with “color” to endure and adapt over time. (source)

SYMPTOM
refers to a sign of structural racism.

WHITE SUPREMACY
is a historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations and peoples of color by white peoples and nations of the European continent, for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power and privilege. (source)

WORKFORCE EQUITY
is when the workforce of a jurisdiction reflects the diversity of its residents, including across the breadth (functions and departments) and depth (hierarchy) of government. (source)