A post from Waiyi Tse, Executive Project Manager, UCLA Luskin:

The Aspen Institute defines structural racism as “the system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations and other norms often work in reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequities in every key opportunity area, from health, to education, to employment to income and wealth.”

The sessions on the conference's second day focused on strategies to address structural racism in our systems and institutions; the importance of applied research and analysis in supporting advocacy efforts and policy interventions; and public systems of accountability.

Over a dozen concurrent panels were offered throughout the day, including: “Unconscious Bias”,  “Residential Segregation and Opportunity Mapping”, “Critical Issues in Child Welfare”, “Effective Use of Data for Equity”, “Educational Reform and Juvenile Justice,” and “Power of Social Media” (a discussion led by UCLA Luskin’s Communications Associate Seth Odell is being offered on Thursday, May 26).

One of the panels I attended was on “Governance and Accountability” featuring Madeline Janis, Executive Director of Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) and UCLA Luskin Senior Fellow; Rinku Sen, Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC); and Sherry Salway Black, Director of the Partnership for Tribal Governance National Congress of American Indians. The panelists discussed concrete strategies on how to close the racial equity gap in our institutions and systems. Rinku Sen discussed ARC’s legislative report cards on racial equity and shared success stories on how this tool has advanced social justice issues in various state houses. LAANE effects change by combining dynamic research, innovative public policy and the organizing of broad alliances. Madeline Janis has developed a blueprint for economic recovery that accounts for disenfranchised groups. She also spoke about the importance of messaging and communications when developing any kind of advocacy strategy (something Dean Gilliam is teaching his students in his class “Framing Social Justice: Strategic Communications and Public Policy”).

Again, a huge thank you to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for supporting the School’s Social Justice Initiative and convening this group of social justice advocates. WKKF is tweeting this conference. You can read the tweets here.