The Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Public Sector (the Public Sector Index) is a new analytical tool developed by the Center for Economic Inclusion to help city and county governments measure their progress towards building inclusive organizations that support racially equitable economic outcomes for employees and residents.  

Participating governments complete the Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Public Sector survey and receive a confidential score report that identifies where organizations have met racial equity standards, provides peer comparisons, and recommends opportunities for further progress towards racially equitable and inclusive organizations. Organization responses will also be presented in aggregate in an annual Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Public Sector report, with high-scoring governments recognized and celebrated. 

The Index assesses participating organizations based on their progress in implementing 70 racial equity standards across ten categories of organizational activity (with an 11th category, Human Services, for county organizations specifically): 

• Leadership  

• Hiring  

• Culture, Retention, and Advancement 

• Procurement 

• Finance and Budgets 

• Community and Economic Development 

• Workforce Development 

• Public Safety 

• Housing, Transportation, and Land Use 

• Public policy 

• Human Services (county governments only) 

Each standard will require a simple, multiple-choice answer and will be accompanied with definitions and examples to help respondents answer appropriately. 

Participating companies will also be given the opportunity to provide details of specific practices and policies they are implementing to advance racial equity in their workplace. 

Forward-thinking leaders in local governments across the country recognize that some of their existing practices and policies stand in the way of goals to build racially equitable, inclusive, and prosperous communities. Status quo practices – outdated job requirements that exclude qualified candidates of color, purchasing agreements with longstanding contractors that lock Black, Indigenous, Latine, and Asian entrepreneurs out of opportunities to grow their businesses, land use planning that fails to integrate the needs and perspectives of historically marginalized communities, economic development incentives that subsidize low-wage job creation – serve to exacerbate racial wealth gaps across communities. Meanwhile, emerging practices based on research and experimentation in local governments across the country offer pathways forward that result in better service delivery, improved relations with community members, and better outcomes for everyone.  

Many local governments have established taskforces and committees, created new permanent roles and teams, and joined peer learning networks to make progress towards becoming more racially equitable and inclusive. Yet these efforts are too often piecemeal, siloed within specific departments, and lacking broader context and peer comparison. Based on conversations we’ve had with public sector leaders and partners in recent months, we believe that those looking to take their next steps towards building racially equitable governments would benefit from a new tool developed by the Center for Economic Inclusion, the Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Public Sector. 

This analytical tool evaluates a local government’s internal and external-facing practices across ten dimensions, including Procurement, Community and Economic Development, and Budgets, identifying more than 60 racial equity standards that research and experience affirm to support more racially equitable and inclusive outcomes. Participating organizations receive a customized score report that provides a clear, concise, quantified picture of their government’s overall current state for supporting racial equity, benchmarks progress against peers, and identifies opportunities for further progress. High-scoring entities will also be publicly recognized in an annual Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Public Sector report. The Public Sector Index structure is modeled off of the Center’s Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Private Sector, which launched in 2022 for private sector employers. 

After taking the Public Sector Index, organizations can choose to pursue additional consulting services, tools, and products with the Center for Economic Inclusion to support strategy development and implementation of racial equity standards within their organization, and further anti-racist learning and action. 

The Index is designed for city and county governments with at least 25,000 residents. In 2023, the Public Sector Index is available to all city and county governments in Minnesota that meet this population threshold as well as select city and county governments outside of Minnesota on an invite-only basis. Note that the Index must be completed by a city or county as a whole entity; individual departments are not eligible to complete the Index by themselves. 

Smaller city and county governments, as well as other government types, including state governments, regional agencies, and port authorities, are welcome to complete the Racial Equity Dividends Index and will receive customized score reports. However, their results may not be included in the overall Racial Equity Dividends Index report. 

The Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Private Sector is intended to complement currently available racial equity tools by identifying specific racial equity standards that can be implemented across your organization, from your organization’s budget processes, to procurement, to economic development, to public policy. In doing so, the Public Sector Index offers tangible actions that local governments can take to leverage their power as employers, service providers, and policymakers to drive racially inclusive outcomes for their communities. Distinct from existing tools, the Public Sector Index score reports also provide quantitative scoring and peer comparison to give leaders in government a clear sense of their current progress and future opportunities for inclusive, antiracist action.

Click here to choose the Public Sector Index level that is right for your public sector population level.

The Index uses a tiered pricing system for registration to support participation by local governments of all sizes. This pricing structure covers the administrative costs incurred by the Center.   

• Registration for city and county governments with fewer than 75,000 residents is $1,500. 

• Registration for city and county governments with between 75,000 and 250,000 residents is $2,000. 

• Registration for city and county governments with between 250,000 and 2 million residents is $3,500. 

Included within registration is a one-hour briefing session with leaders with the Center for Economic Inclusion and a small group of peer Index participants after score reports are distributed. During this briefing session, Center leaders will explain the features and key insights within score reports and facilitate a conversation to identify opportunities for further progress. 

The Index is a tool designed to help organizations self-assess and improve in building racially equitable and inclusive workplaces – not be blamed for what they haven’t yet accomplished. The Public Sector Index is designed to set a high bar; even organizations at the forefront of racial equity efforts are unlikely to have implemented all, or even most, racial equity standards in this Index. 

Organization scores in the Racial Equity Dividends Index will not be shared in identifiable ways by the Center for Economic Inclusion. Furthermore, organizations will only be named publicly in the Center’s Public Sector Index report if they score highly. These measures are intended to encourage all organizations, regardless of their starting place on racial equity, to participate. 

Companies can register for the Index using this page until June 30, 2023. Registered organizations will receive a link to the Racial Equity Dividends Index survey in early July, and responses will be due by Friday, August 11. Score reports will be distributed to organizations and overall results will be shared by November 2023.  

The 2023 Public Sector Index can be considered an adaptation on the Center’s Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Private Sector that is designed specifically for city and county governments. Accordingly, the Public Sector Index is similar to the Private Sector Index but differs in several key respects.  

All racial equity standards in the Public Sector Index have been adjusted to reflect the unique structure and responsibilities of the public sector, and six categories of standards – Community and Economic Development; Workforce Development; Housing, Transportation, and Land Use; Public Safety; Finance and Budgets; and Human Services – are new and distinct to the Public Sector Index. 

The Public Sector and Private Sector Indices share four categories of organizational activities that are relevant to both the public and private sectors: Leadership; Hiring; Culture, Retention, and Advancement; and Public Policy. The Indices also share a similar structure, with participating organizations registering in advance, receiving and completing the Index survey, and receiving customized Index score reports with peer comparisons. 

The Index survey is designed to be completed by a team of leaders within a participating organization who can best speak to the existing policies and practices across different functions and departments by responding to clearly defined multiple choice questions and a limited number of open-ended response questions. This team of leaders will likely include representatives from different departments, including:

Diversity & Inclusion

Public Safety

Planning and Land Use

Economic Development

Workforce Development

Human Services

Human Resources (HR)

Staffing / Recruitment

Counsel / Legal

Procurement

Information Technology (IT)

Communications

Community Relations

The Public Sector Index was developed by the Center for Economic Inclusion and draws from the insights of expert practitioners and organizations at the forefront of racial equity in local governments, including PolicyLink, Brookings Metro, the Harvard Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project, the Urban Institute, the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, academic researchers, and more. Center staff selected and defined standards that are recognized and validated as local government policies and practices that support tangible progress towards racially equitable outcomes within local governments. 

The broad framework and value proposition for the Public Sector Index has also been tested with select local city and county governments in Minnesota. 

2023 marks the launch of the Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Public Sector, and the Index will be distributed annually going forward. 

As new research and insights emerge, the Center intends to revise and update the racial equity standards within the Public Sector Index, though the broad framework and many questions are likely to remain consistent across years to support ongoing benchmarking by participating organizations.