The City of Dallas is boasting “environmental justice” as a new measure of equity in municipal initiatives.
Officials hosted the fifth annual Equity Indicators Symposium on Friday in anticipation of a “soon-to-be-released” 2023 update of the Equity Indicators Report.
Council Member Jaynie Schultz (District 9), chair of the Workforce, Education, and Equity Committee, spoke about the commitment many City officials have to making Dallas “the most equitable city” in the nation.
“The journey toward becoming the most equitable city in the United States is never-ending by design,” she said, asserting that while the City has made progress in making Dallas more “equitable,” more work must be done to address historical disparities within the city.
“We’re actively making strides in infusing equity principles into every facet of City government,” said Schultz. “From the upcoming bond program to our detailed budgeting processes, equity is becoming the backbone of our decision-making across the city.”
Schultz said the City will use equity indicators to track how well municipal departments meet their equity goals and use those findings to inform future decisions regarding taxpayer spending.
“How do we measure our progress toward becoming the most equitable city? That’s where the Equity Indicators Report comes in,” she said. “It’s our scoreboard.”
“As the equity indicators become our ‘Bible,’ we will be able to become more and more nimble and adept at using them fully,” she explained.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, equity initiatives have taken on significant prominence at City Hall, with officials aiming to require equity elements in more and more taxpayer-funded projects.
Last week, City staff told council members that an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) framework would be used to measure spending in the 2024 Bond Program. However, this philosophy, as well as those behind the notion of equity, has faced scrutiny, with critics suggesting it places too high a priority on political agendas rather than pragmatic decisions.
The Dallas Equity Indicators project was adopted by the City through a collaboration with the left-wing nonprofit Every Texan. It aims to measure how well the City is accomplishing its equity goals.
During Friday’s symposium, Every Texan research and data director Coda Rayo-Garza delivered a presentation on the status of Dallas’ equity initiatives. The City has used five equity “themes” until now: economic opportunity, education, neighborhoods and infrastructure, justice and government, and public health. This year, a sixth indicator — “environmental justice” — will be included in the report.
“We’re now looking at six new themes, whereas in the last report, there were five,” said Rayo-Garza.
She claimed that adding an “environmental justice” measurement was “an answer to the call that was put forward fundamentally by the community.”
“Environmental justice highlights that historically disadvantaged communities often bear the brunt of environmental hazards, so this theme is going to become critically important in the years to come,” she said.
Rayo-Garza said the “most pronounced disparities” in 2023 were in the categories of economic opportunity and justice and government.
“On the other side of that, where we saw the most equitable scores was in the neighborhoods and infrastructure theme,” she said.
The complete 2023 Equity Indicators Report will be released “soon,” according to Rayo-Garza.
The symposium also featured discussions between City officials and local stakeholders about equity in relation to housing and infrastructure in Dallas. The live stream of the complete event can be accessed here.
