Reviewing our anti-racism progress

Dear John,

One year ago, the Williams Institute issued a statement, along with the other academic programs and centers at UCLA School of Law, stating that issues of racial justice are critical to our work and that we “cannot fully fulfill our mission” without focusing on racial justice.

In that statement we pledged “to work on specific, concrete actions we can take … to better support anti-racist efforts and the movement for Black lives, including the following:
* Assessment of our current practices,
* Development of programming related to issues of race and racism,
* Lifting Black voices in our particular fields,
* Better supporting recruitment, retention, and placement of Black students,
* Better supporting recruitment, retention, promotion, and development of Black staff and faculty,
* Collaboration with other entities already working on anti-racism, whether within the law school or outside, and
* Using our resources, whether financial or otherwise, in other ways to promote racial justice."

I am writing today to hold us accountable for that pledge. We are proud of the work that we have started this past year in several of these areas, and we know that much more needs to be done.

During the past year, our work towards these goals has included:

Race & Sexuality Law Teaching Fellowships: Through a partnership with UCLA Law’s Critical Race Studies program, we created a new law teaching fellowship program focused on Race & Sexuality. Our first two fellows will be announced this month. In partnership with Planned Parenthood, we also created a new fellowship on sexual and reproductive health, which will start on July 1.

Race & SOGI Small Grants Program: This year, we launched a small grants program to support research at the intersections of race, sexual orientation, and gender identity that will have a direct impact on policies that impact LGBTQ people of color. We have awarded seven small grants to researchers working on a range of topics, including health, policing, detention, and discrimination. We will continue to work with grant recipients over the coming year by providing mentorship and highlighting their research.

Research Audit and Recommendations: This year, we conducted a research audit to explore how we could center racial equity more fully in our research. We inventoried our own research and the public policy priorities of various BIPOC-led LGBT and non-LGBT organizations. We found that about one-third of our policy-focused work addressed non-LGBT-specific civil rights policies that were also prioritized by LGBT and non-LGBT BIPOC-focused organizations (i.e., incarceration and policing, livable wages, and immigration). We developed a course of action to research understudied topics and strengthen our working relationships with BIPOC organizations.

Research and Programs: Much of our research this year has highlighted the health and economic disparities experienced by LGBTQ people of color. In January, we launched a new series, LGBT Well-Being at the Intersection of Race, to examine the demographics, health, and well-being of different racial/ethnic populations. Our first report focused on Black LGBT adults ([link removed]) , and our second report focused on AAPI LGBT adults ([link removed]) . Our report on the impact of COVID-19 ([link removed]) on LGBT adults found that LGBT people of color faced more severe health and economic consequences of the pandemic than white LGBT people.

Anti-Racism Committee: Last summer, we convened an Anti-Racism Committee, comprised of Institute staff, to create a framework for interrogating and strengthening the institutional, cultural, and interpersonal dimensions of racial justice and equity at the Williams Institute. The Committee began by taking an inventory of staff concerns and perceptions of challenges we face as an organization. Based on that feedback, the Committee suggested the use of an outside consultant to help identify specific areas for improvement and make concrete recommendations for reform. The Anti-Racism Committee will continue to help coordinate organizational efforts to move toward greater equity and inclusion.

Internal Organizational Audit & Report: We hired an external consultant, Collaborate Consulting, to conduct individual and organizational assessments and an organizational audit. The audit found that the Williams Institute has already laid a foundation for meaningful systemic anti-racism work. It recommended that we work to cultivate a culture of mutual respect across the organization; conduct ongoing anti-racism and conflict resolution training for all staff; and review our hiring, onboarding, compensation, and harassment policies and procedures with an eye towards furthering equity.

The Williams Institute remains committed to fighting anti-Black racism in the way we work and in the work we do. During the coming months, we will create new goals for this year and report back on the progress we are making on Juneteenth 2022.

Sincerely,
Brad

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