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DPH Office of Health Equity outlines multi‑year racial equity action plan and rollout timeline
Summary
Dr. Ayanna Bennett presented DPH's Racial Equity Action Plan focused on workforce policy, service quality, community engagement and data improvements; DPH plans training in May–June, tool use beginning in July, and monitoring reports through the year.
Dr. Ayanna Bennett, director of the Office of Health Equity, briefed commissioners on the DPH Racial Equity Action Plan and related workforce and accountability work.
Bennett outlined core workstreams: equitable hiring and recruitment policies, retention and promotion tracking, standardized discipline approaches and manager training, leadership training and professional development, and measures to embed equity in service‑quality work. She said many foundational items are in place but that COVID deployments delayed some timelines; the department is now reconstituting planned training and data collection activities.
Key timelines in the presentation included delivery of staff training between May and June, piloting a racial equity assessment tool in early projects and broader adoption starting in July, and monitoring and reporting milestones in May, July and November with a year‑end equity report in the next calendar cycle. Bennett also emphasized the need for more complete race/ethnicity and language data and said the department is working to disaggregate smaller populations (Pacific Islander, Native American) using multi‑year aggregations if necessary.
Commissioners praised the scope of the plan and asked about community engagement methods and how the department will handle small‑population data and cross‑jurisdiction collaboration. Bennett said DPH intends to use a range of community engagement techniques, partner regionally for task forces where relevant, and phase work so some deliverables will appear this year while deeper data disaggregation takes longer.
Commissioners asked for periodic updates; Bennett noted scheduled monitoring briefings May 18, July 6 and November 12 and said staff will return with concrete examples and the assessment tool in the next months.
