Racial Equity at Planning & Building

Oakland's Planning & Building Department acknowledges the historical role that planners, building and development professionals, and other officials have played in enabling systemic racism and segregation in our communities. To reverse these harms, we commit to prioritizing the voices and needs of Oakland's Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) residents in the development of our City.

Race and Equity Team

The Oakland Planning and Building Department (PBD) has formed a Race and Equity Team (RET) with the help of the Department of Race and Equity (DRE). Its charter was formally signed by department leadership in 2019. With guidance from DRE staff, the RET supports the Department in furthering its equity goals, both in the community and internally. The RET also collaborates with RETs in other departments throughout the City. You can learn more about the City of Oakland's Race and Equity Change Process.

Our Mission

The Department of Planning and Building's Racial Equity Team supports the mission of the City of Oakland to transform practices in City government to promote racial equity. The Team will develop the department's Racial Equity Strategic Plan and promote application of a racial equity framework and tools across the department's activities.

Our Goal

We, the Planning and Building Department want our work, the services we provide, and the policies we develop to ensure that people of color and historically marginalized groups have the same opportunities as white people and other historically privileged groups. We help the people of Oakland create and maintain communities where all residents have access to elements that support a good quality of life, such as: access to art, beauty, joy, nature and green spaces, safe and adequate housing, a vibrant economy, diverse neighborhoods, and the ability to engage in creating and shaping the world around them.
Planning & Building Race & Equity Goal

Our Goal

Planning & Building and its Racial Equity Team have been working to achieve racial equity in our internal structure, our external policy and services, and in the outcomes of our work in the community. With the help of the Department of Race and Equity, the Planning & Building Department (DRE) and its Racial Equity Team have been changing our approaches and building capacity to proactively address racial inequities resulting from our work in many ways:

  • Incorporating racial equity analysis into our planning and policy work in many different projects
  • Requiring participation for all managers and supervisors in DRE's Advancing Racial Equity Academy to study everything from personal and implicit bias to structural and institutional racism and the tools to dismantle it
  • Creating an "Inclusive Hiring Guide" and incorporating implicit bias training for interviewers in the hiring process to ensure our staff better represent the community we serve
  • Educating our staff about the impact of our field on racial injustice, including holding a department-wide book club to read The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America and publishing newsletters for staff with many timely resources regarding racial justice.
  • Working across departments and breaking down silos to develop policies, trainings and staff capacity to more inclusively engage the community in shaping the policy that affects them, including helping develop City Administrative Instruction 6802: Inclusive Community Engagement(PDF, 336KB).
  • Collaborating between staff and management to integrate racial equity goals into our department's budget priorities and key performance indicators

Today, our focus is on engaging all staff in creating a guiding document that identifies ways their daily work impacts racial disparities and how we can continue to change our approach toward leading to better results for the most impacted communities.

Projects

With the guidance of the Department of Race and Equity, PBD has moved toward developing all of its planning and policy projects with a racial equity framework, using tools such as Racial Equity Impact Analysis and Inclusive Community Engagement practices. The following City of Oakland projects that impact have explicitly included racial equity in their data analysis, goals, measures of success and/or community engagement practices.

Oakland 2045 General Plan Update
Inclusive engagement with Deeply Rooted Collaborative and Racial Equity Impact Analysis

Eliminating Lead Paint Hazards in Oakland & Alameda County(PDF, 3MB)
Racial Equity Impact Analysis of lead paint hazards

2023-2031 Housing Element(PDF, 7MB)
Racial Equity Impact Analysis of Housing Element policies

Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (DOSP)
Centers racial equity in analysis, goals, policies, and measures of success

DOSP Equity Assessment(PDF, 7MB)
Equity Assessment of the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (DOSP) Options Memo

DOSP Disparity Analysis(PDF, 7MB)
Analysis of racial disparities for the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (DOSP)

East Oakland Neighborhoods Initiative
Partnership between the City of Oakland and 12 community-based organizations

West Oakland Truck Management Plan(PDF, 767KB)
Public engagement plan to reduce barriers to access for under-represented West Oaklanders

Learn more about how Oakland is addressing institutional and cultural change toward racial equity:

News

NEWS LIST

Contact us to learn more

Meet Your Team

William Gilchrist William Gilchrist
Director of Planning & Building

Monica DavisMonica Davis
Assistant Director of Planning & Building

Christopher RaglandChristopher Ragland
Deputy Director of Building

Joanna WinterJoanna Winter, Planner IV
Strategic Planning Division

Annie HeAnnie He
Accela Program/Project Manager, Digital Division

Aaron LehmerAaron Lehmer
Technical Communications Specialist, Digital Division

Shane NorrisShane Norris
Specialty Combination Inspector, Building Inspections Division

Khalilha HaynesKhalilha Haynes
Planner III, Strategic Planning Division

Kubilay İnanlıKubilay İnanlı
Planner I, Zoning Division

About

Planning & Building Department Race and Equity Team (RET)

Planning & Building's Race and Equity Team (RET) includes members from every division of the Department who have completed or are completing the City's Advancing Racial Equity Academy (AREA) training and are helping reduce barriers to racial equity both inside the department and in our community-facing service and policy. Click on the button to the left to learn about all of our team members.

Banner art courtesy Favianna Rodriguez

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