During a recent government meeting, officials emphasized the integration of racial equity considerations into the city's budget deliberations. Each budget proposal, referred to as a \"change request,\" underwent a thorough race and equity impact analysis to assess its potential effects on the city's race and social justice initiatives.

The City Budget Office (CBO) has collaborated with the Office for Civil Rights to create a rubric for evaluating these proposals, ensuring that racial equity is a focal point throughout the budget development process. This partnership aims to refine the evaluation process annually, incorporating feedback from various departments and the Office for Civil Rights.

The CBO's change team is actively engaged in three key areas: assessing collective progress in achieving racial equity, enhancing data usage to measure the equity impacts of city programs, and reviewing internal workforce equity conditions within the CBO itself. Officials acknowledged that this work is iterative, with each department starting from different levels of understanding and implementation regarding racial equity.

The meeting highlighted the city's commitment to fostering racial equity in its budgeting practices, reflecting a broader initiative to ensure that all community members benefit equitably from city programs and resources.