In 2021, APHSA created an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Peer Community. This community of leaders is charged with advancing racial equity outcomes and collectively informing EDI practices in human services systems across the country.
The APHSA EDI peer community is comprised of EDI experts committed to tackling racism and marginalization human services. To do this, the members focus on policy and practice related to advancing racial equity at the state, local, and community levels.
In addition, this community provides opportunities for sharing ideas, offering peer support, and developing innovation that will help transform the human services sector. The goals of decreasing/eliminating disparities and increasing outcomes for communities of color set the agenda for every meeting.
To fully inform EDI culture nationally, the EDI Peer Community has recruited strategic leaders from multiple states and communities. These leaders have extensive experience in advancing equity and justice.
Targeted areas for discussion and development for the EDI Peer Community include:
· Agency Culture: Discuss and learn about advancing organizational culture focused on eliminating racial disparities inside human services organizations and for the communities served. Learn from current efforts by looking at the outcomes and barriers to outcomes.
· Community-Based Organizations and Partnership: Discuss the use of data to assess service impact on communities of color. Learn about disaggregating data to adjust programming and educational goals to keep pace with the changing needs of the communities and measure improvement using baseline data to see if program solutions positively impact outcomes for communities of color.
· Data and Analytics: Discuss tools and ideas to measure the cultural responsiveness of policies and programs for employees, stakeholders, and communities. These policies and programs track coordinated diversity activities aligned with organizational direction and measure race equity outcomes using quantitative and qualitative data.
· Education: Discuss how training can achieve organizational change and advance EDI in the workforce.
· Human Services Program Service Delivery and Outcomes: Examine system service delivery through a race equity lens.
· Policy: Examine racial disparities' root causes in policy by looking at data and outcomes.
· Well-being and Health: Discuss how to advance well-being and health equity for communities of color through service delivery.
· Budget Priorities: Opportunities to advance EDI through state block grants, highlighting potential engagement with community-based organizations serving diverse racial and ethnic communities.
For more information about the APHSA EDI Peer Community, please see the contact information below.