In Boulder County, race matters. We center race in our equity work because we know historically and currently, race is the biggest predictor of disproportionate outcomes and disparities in the United States of America. Good government is impossible without racial equity. In 2018, the Board of County Commissioners with the full support of county and racial equity leadership, made transformational racial equity one of the county’s strategic priorities.

The future vision of this institution is one that has overcome systemic racism and all other forms of oppression. The recognition of the impact of racism on the need for intentional efforts toward eliminating racism is foundational to transformational equity work. To that end, Boulder County’s institution of government will reflect full participation and shared power with diverse racial, cultural and economic groups in determining its mission, structure, constituency, policies and practices. A place where members of all identity groups are full participants in decisions that shape the institution for full inclusion of diverse races, cultures, lifestyles and interests.

The result is healing within the workplace and employees; a place of alliance in combating all forms of social oppression. A Boulder County where we humbly work with larger communities (regional, national, global) to eliminate all forms of oppression and assist in creating fully inclusive, anti-racist and multicultural organizations everywhere.

Everyone’s humanity in the institution and community matters. For everyone’s humanity to matter, first the organization and persons within it must recognize that historically and currently, anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity is causing harm. Sincere efforts must be made to identify, stop and repair the harm.

Everyone in Boulder County government shares a responsibility to actively contribute to the liberation of all people, especially those who have been historically and structurally marginalized and oppressed.

As a government institution, it is our moral responsibility to interrupt institutional racism which manifests through racist laws, policies, practices and behaviors. In order to advance racial equity, we must practice transformational racial equity within our own governmental organization and within ourselves.

It is the responsibility of all county department directors and elected officials to ensure with integrity and fidelity that this policy is articulated to each employee within their supervision. It is expected that all employees endeavor to develop the will, knowledge, skill and capacity consistent with this policy. It is expected that everyone practices and exhibits transformational racial equity with honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness as we build for eternity (Boulder County Policy 1.6, Fully Inclusive, Anti-Racist & Multicultural Organization).

Framework for Transformational Racial Equity

Through Adaptive Leadership, Teaching & Learning, and Key Partnerships, the Office of Racial Equity develops and delivers programming and leadership for transformational racial equity in Boulder County.

Program Highlights

Racial Equity Practitioners

Certified Practitioners are central to Boulder County’s organizational Capacity Building model for racial equity and critical in a transformational racial equity framework. The Practitioner Program offers Boulder County employees the opportunity to serve as a certified practitioner of the protocol for courageous conversations about race because protocol is an essential foundation for examining and addressing institutionalized culture and structures that promote racial disparities.

Racial Equity Mondays

Racial Equity Mondays are regular interactive sessions offered to all employees and structured with the intention to create opportunities to reflect on personal and organizational will for Racial Equity; develop skill in the practice of Courageous Conversation Protocol; increase knowledge and expand narratives on race; and build capacity to examine and address racial disparities.

Racial Equity Teaching and Learning

The Racial Equity Teaching and Learning program includes a full curricula of courses and offerings to develop and strengthen employees critical consciousness of race in order to build individual and organizational capacity for examining and addressing racial disparities.

Racial Equity Panels

Racial Equity Panels offer review of proposed projects and programs submitted by any county department or office through the application of a Racial Equity Impact Assessment. Certified Practitioners offer multiple perspectives through structured feedback with the intention of examining and addressing culture and processes that contribute to racial disparities.

Our purpose is to eliminate race as a predictor of disparities in Boulder County, and beyond. Our priority is to build individual and organizational capacity for examining and addressing racial disparities by developing and strengthening racial consciousness and persistent application of the tools, principles and processes that comprise the Boulder County Framework for Transformational Racial Equity.

Since Office of Racial Equity was created in 2022, we do not have Key Performance Measures information available.