About Us
Established in 2020, the Office of Race and Social Equity is a part of the City Manager’s leadership team. Our work Is committed to centering our residents and staff by developing an infrastructure to ensure policies, procedures, services, and programs are discussed and evaluated through a racial and social justice lens. We are committed to reducing, and ultimately eliminating, inequities throughout the City. Our office co-creates tools, provides training, works with residents and staff to rectify wrongdoing, and holds our departments, agencies, council, and other organizations accountable.
RASE Office Mission, & Vision
The Mission
RASE’s mission is to fulfill the All Alexandria Resolution by embedding racial and social equity into all city policies, programs, decisions, and environments, ensuring that every resident and visitor of Alexandria feels safe, welcomed, and valued. Our office centralizes the work of racial and social equity across the city, bridges the gap between community and government, promotes racially and socially equitable policy analysis and research, provides ongoing education and technical support, and continuously monitors and evaluates our progress to ensure that equity remains at the core of our city's development. To read more about our mission, please click here.
The Vision
We imagine a City of Alexandria that lives up to the All Alexandria Resolution, whereby racial and social equity is fully embedded in all aspects of how the City works. A City where the worth, talents, and contributions of all people are valued and recognized. A City that has eliminated racial and social divides so that race and identity are not a determinant of economic, political, social, or psychological outcomes. To read more about our vision, please click here.
How does the All Alexandria Initiative Connect with Racial and Social Equity?
Our office serves as the compass to hold our city accountable to the ideals that we have collectively committed to in the All Alexandria Resolution — a resolution that acknowledges Alexandria's part in a history of oppression, systemic racism, and white supremacy and sets a vision for our future where all Alexandrian’s will be prosperous.
Under the All Alexandria Resolution, our city is committed to working toward a world where we are all embraced for who we are, and are able to thrive to reach our highest potential. This requires:
- Removing barriers for all Alexandrians to fully participate and to have a sense of belonging;
- Taking an intersectional approach to consider a myriad of social oppressions and injustices while leading explicitly with race; and
- Equipping the people of our city with the tools and understanding to effectively promote racial and social equity as they serve and walk alongside our residents.
This is where our office comes into play! Read more about our mission and vision below!
Want to learn more about All Alexandria? Click here for more!
Building Alliances to Reduce Disparities
The goal is not to just eliminate the gap between white people and people of color, but to increase the success for all groups. Racial equity develops goals and outcomes that will result in improvements for all groups, but the strategies are targeted based on the needs of a particular group. Systems that are failing communities of color, are actually failing all of us. Targeted universalism will increase our collective success and be cost effective – Government Alliance on Race and Equity
The City’s racial and social equity initiative grew from the efforts of an interdepartmental Race and Social Equity Working Group, formed in 2018. These City employees developed and piloted social and racial equity programming in four City departments. The programming was based on the work of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), a national network of governments working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all. The City became a member of GARE in 2019, developing its inaugural Racial Equity Learning as part of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ year-long Advancing Racial Equity Cohort.
As a member of GARE, Alexandria joins governmental jurisdictions across the country in
- Making a commitment to achieving racial equity
- Focusing on the power and influence of their own institutions, and
- Working in partnership with others
When this occurs, significant leverage and expansion opportunities emerge, setting the stage for the achievement of racial equity in our communities.