Program Description

  Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice

After many years of spending on programs and initiatives to close racial disparities in Montgomery County, the Montgomery County Council decided it was time to take an approach that looked at race as the primary determinant of disparities. In April 2018, the County Council passed Resolution # 18-1095 to establish an equity framework for policy and decision making. The resolution required the County to perform a baseline study by the Montgomery County Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) to describe current racial disparities in education, employment, housing, health, land use, and others. Following the completion of the study, the County Council passed Bill 27-19 to adopt a Racial Equity and Social Justice law. The law mandates 1) the creation of an Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice (ORESJ), 2) that all County employees receive racial equity training, and 3) that all departments examine their policies, procedures, and protocols for racial inequities. In December 2020, the County Council passed Bill 44-20 that requires the ORESJ to provide racial equity impact assessments (REIA) on supplemental appropriations. The ORESJ will also provide a racial equity analysis of the Montgomery County Public Schools operating and capital budgets.

The Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice partners with Montgomery County departments and regional and national non-profit organizations to accomplish the following actions mandated by law:

• perform an equity assessment to identify the County policies and practices that do not advance racial equity and that must be modified to address racial disparities;
• develop metrics to measure the progress in redressing disparate outcomes based on race and social justice;
• work diligently with each Montgomery County department to develop racial equity and social justice action plans to remedy issues adversely impacting County residents that include community engagement;
• provide training to County employees on racial equity and social justice; and develop long- and short-term goals for success in redressing disparate outcomes based on race and social justice as well as their own metrics to measure their success and progress.