County declares racism a public health crisis

Resolution Of The Board Of Supervisors Of The County Of Sonoma, State Of California, Declaring Racism A Public Health Crisis In Sonoma County

WHEREAS, people in Sonoma County have the right to a life free from institutional, structural, systemic, and interpersonal racism, bigotry, bias, discrimination, and harassment and it is incumbent on elected officials and public servants to ensure this right especially for Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color; and
WHEREAS, it is incumbent on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to honor, endorse, and support antiracist practices in Sonoma County; and
WHEREAS, race is a social construct system with no scientific basis; and
WHEREAS, anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity provide the foundations of racial inequity, and their effects also marginalize other communities by privileging those with lighter skin; and
WHEREAS, these privileges have been built into our systems and institutions through historic and current laws, policies, and practices that reinforce these unfair determinations of who is afforded the opportunities and resources they need to lead a full, healthy, and dignified life; and
WHEREAS, these impacts include unfair and unjust access to economic opportunities, healthcare and education, affordable housing and safe environments, and social and community support; and
WHEREAS, racism intersects with other forms of prejudice and oppression to increase adverse outcomes for communities of color, including compounding discrimination based on immigrant status, gender, and sexual orientation, mental and physical abilities; and
WHEREAS, in Sonoma County the impact of racism on the social drivers of health has resulted in Black people living 10 years less than any other racial and ethnic group in the county; and
WHEREAS, Sonoma County Black and Hispanic/Latinx children are about 2.5 times more likely to live in poverty than their White counterparts; and
WHEREAS, Black people are 2.3 times more likely to be without health insurance and Hispanic/Latinx people are 4.1 times more likely to be without health insurance than White people; and
WHEREAS, people of color are overrepresented in our county’s unhoused population, with 12% of unhoused persons being Native American/Alaska Native and 8% Black compared to the county population of which 2% is Native American/Alaska Natives and 2% is Black; and
WHEREAS, the 2022 Sonoma County Strategic Plan’s racial equity and social justice pillar aims to “achieve racial equity in County service and ensure a workforce reflective of the community we serve,” recognizing the role of County government in unseating racial inequities in local communities; and
WHEREAS, the Office of Equity’s vision is a Sonoma County “where power and resources are distributed equitably; where systems support every community member as they work together to cultivate well-being, agency, and liberation; and where people of all races and identities can live authentically;”
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Sonoma declares that racism is a public health crisis adversely impacting the health and well-being of people of color in Sonoma County; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has committed to support the development, adoption, and implementation, of a countywide Racial Equity Action Plan that acknowledges, confronts, mitigates, and creates accountability for creating solutions for the pervasive damage caused by institutional, systemic, structural, and interpersonal racism within the County of Sonoma; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Sonoma, commits to the following actions:
1. Foster a County organizational culture that supports the commitment to achieving racial equity by investing and continually developing an ongoing racial equity learning and leadership program to build antiracist skills and capacity in the county.
2. Identify and deploy best practices that promote racial equity and address institutional, structural, systemic, and interpersonal racism in all Sonoma County’s community facing services and the internal facing services that
support County operations; and
2. Adopt and implement a Health Equity Action Plan, Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan that specifically address structural racism; and
3. Advocate for, prioritize, and fund efforts that distribute and allocate resources and investments of time toward antiracist goals and needs of communities of color; and
4. Strengthen relationships and partnerships with community-based organizations that are confronting racism; and
5. Promote early and ongoing community involvement by engaging the community members and stakeholder groups most impacted by racism to advance racial equity; and
6. Implement strategies to ensure that the County of Sonoma workforce reflects county demographics, especially the demographics of people utilizing County safety net services; and
7. Ensure the consistent collection, analysis and reporting of disaggregated demographic data, including race/ethnicity, socioeconomic, health, workforce and other data to assess, evaluate and measure progress towards eliminating racial inequities.

PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Sonoma held this 12th day of March 2024.