Network Equity Commitment

Over generations, local governments have perpetuated inequity, wittingly and unwittingly, through exclusionary policies and practices impacting Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. Through our actions, the members of the Sustainable States Network aim to undo this legacy. We will assist local governments in developing the capacity to identify and correct bias, and to create equal opportunity for all people regardless of their ethnicity, race, economic class, age, gender, sexual orientation, differing ability, religious belief, or other social characteristics. Our goal is to support practices that uncover and address unintentional bias, to root out explicit forms of discrimination, and to foster norms of inclusion and community solidarity.

Local governments have a responsibility to promote the well-being of all residents, especially those that are excluded from public decision-making and economic opportunity. This responsibility entails empowering their participation in public decision-making, and recognizing their presence and value in community life by addressing past and present harm. The Sustainable States Network recognizes that we can play a key role in helping municipalities move towards accountability, and by working with municipal leaders to ensure that racial and social equity becomes integral to our efforts to create truly sustainable communities. This means supporting our member programs to develop the capacity of municipalities in their states to address the impacts of systemic oppression on Black, Indigenous, and people of color as well as other marginalized and vulnerable people by removing barriers to meaningful participation, access, and opportunity.

By emphasizing accountability and change at the community level, supporting peer-to-peer learning, facilitating the sharing of resources and information, and developing multi-program collaboration that is explicitly focused on advancing racial and social equity and inclusion, we can help create a future where all members of the community receive a fair share in benefits, participate equitably in civic decision-making, and feel recognized and included in community life. 

Network Equity Goals & Commitments 

SSN Commits to:

• Adopting an equity plan with a problem, vision and mission statement alongside equity commitments that is incorporated into the Network’s annual Action Plans.

• Posting the Network’s equity statement and strategy on the SSN website and sharing the commitments with member programs, partners, and stakeholders.

• Leveraging storytelling to showcase the efforts of state programs and individual communities working to make equity part of the sustainability norm by regularly updating the SSN website, highlighting success stories and initiatives in blogs and other communications, and by speaking at sustainability conferences/webinars and the Network’s annual meeting. 

• Utilizing an annual survey to investigate barriers and opportunities for state programs to advance their equity commitments by cataloguing equity actions, assessing needs, and identifying strategic programming and funding priorities. 

• Identifying, pursuing, and sharing funding sources to continue resourcing equity related programs, convenings, and consulting needs.

• Facilitating regular opportunities for equity-focused, peer-driven training, learning and sharing via Working Group meetings, sessions at the annual gathering, learning circles, webinars, and convenings such as cross-state networking events. 

• Expanding the breadth and reach of SSN’s equity commitments by cataloging and building relationships with national and regional partners, community based organizations, equity coaches, consultants, and prospective state programs that share our equity vision. 

• Supporting the SSN Equity Working Group to track and assess progress towards the Network’s equity metrics by providing annual reports and recommending course adjustments as needed.

• Curating resources to help state programs participate in our high-impact equity actions by hosting a platform for state programs to access racial and social equity tools, coordinating consulting and coaching resources, and developing model best practices and equity actions. The high-impact equity actions we encourage our members to participate in as part of the Network's commitment to equity include;

• annual reporting on equity work to date,

• developing and tracking equity metrics for your state program with respect to the participating cities, their income and racial diversity compared to the income and racial diversity of the state. (See SSN Commitment #4.)

• completing at least one of the following five activities each year with the goal of implementing all over time: 

• Host at least 4 hours of equity related programming for staff and/or municipalities annually. Programming could take the form of training sessions, presentations, roundtables, workshops, panel discussions, facilitated staff discussions or other opportunities for learning and engagement.

• Adopt a program and/or an organizational equity statement that includes commitments for action and is shared publicly on program materials and with municipalities. 

• Compile a demographic profile of participating municipalities by certification level to assess program impact and to identify potential barriers to participation

• Ensure that your program has at least one action that directly advances racial and/or social equity.

• Conduct an equity evaluation of your program by reviewing best practices from an equity perspective. Make adjustments as needed and/or a plan to update in the future.  

• Add equity-related resources to your program.