Equity at the Center

What 60 Regional Economic Coalitions Can Teach Us about Intentionality, Trust, and Taking Account of the Past as We Imagine the Future

Growing up as an African American in the segregated South of the early 1950s, it would be very easy to look at the world, still, through the binary racial filter of my childhood – “beware whites, trust negroes.”  The problem is those childhood filters had been rendered less effective by my lived experience.  My lived experience had confirmed to me many times that character is not defined by skin color.  Still, it was difficult not to lapse into a comfortable old “truth”.

So, when my JSA colleagues and I were asked to help deliver technical assistance around equitable economic development to the 60 Regional finalists in the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA’s) $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC), I was in a “trust, but verify” kind of space.

I needed to confirm that the people I would be working with were as committed to prioritizing equity and equitable development as I was.  Fortunately, after some frank conversations and an initial presentation, we signed on, in no small part because Jon Schnur and his colleagues at America Achieves demonstrated to me and my colleagues that we could “put all our cards on the table – face up” through our contributions to the technical assistance America Achieves would provide. That was the key moment. I was not interested in delivering a “light touch” or “just a taste.”  For me, the national moment was too grave and the local stakes too high. I felt the applicants needed to meet a high bar.  And I didn’t want us to be out on a skinny limb.

Achieving equity and equitable development requires hard work. It requires people to discover their shared interests, resolve their historic conflicts, co-exist, and collaborate with each other – and with accountability – despite many, many years of “bad blood.” In the TA sessions with the BBBRC finalists, we zeroed in on historic conditions and the requirement for embedding intentionality, including asking, honestly, “Who is at the table? Who is not at the table? Why aren’t they here?” when designing processes to produce equitable results.  

I am not naïve about change.  Progress is hard and it takes time. The thing that matters most is commitment. And commitment is one of the characteristics that so many BBBRC finalists have in common. I’m certain about that.  

These coalitions, like those supported by the EDA and America Achieves, have prioritized their efforts for working with and supporting historically excluded communities, including in rural areas; communities of color and indigenous communities; lower income communities; and those that have experienced significant distress in rural and urban geographies.

During the time I spent with these inspiring coalitions, I saw how the role of equity and equitable development emerged in their final proposals. If I were to synthesize what I heard (and learned) from the coalitions, it would be something like this:

• Equity requires creating solutions that are tailored to each coalition partner and community being served.

• Legacies of inequity continue to affect communities in the present (not unlike the childhood filters I referenced earlier) and trust must be grown, and earned.

• Equality ≠ Equity.

• There is a path to equity, and it runs through equitable development, by which I mean building the capacity of stakeholders, surfacing and managing conflict, creating a process for communication and idea generation, and mutually agreed upon measures for success.

• To provide the appropriate solutions for each coalition member, an equitable development lens is an essential tool during the planning process.

• Recognizing and “equitizing” power dynamics, or decision makers and the voices that are valued in those decisions, is a key part of coalition-building and maintenance.

Now, we’ve Zoomed ahead (literally) a few months. As those 60 finalists await imminent word on which of them will be awarded grants up to $100 million, the national moment is arguably even more pivotal. The local stakes linked to the success of all 60 of these coalitions are enormous and the need for winning regional coalitions to meet a high bar is totally non-negotiable. At the same time, a tangible expression of hope and a commitment to progress has emerged.

Across America, simplistic expressions of binary “truths” are being replaced with broad-based, creative, complex, and inclusive coalitions. Those coalitions are composed of local, regional and state officials; businesses; colleges and universities; and nonprofit and entrepreneurial organizations. As such, I suspect my observations will also be relevant to the many communities and regions considering traveling a similar path as the BBBRC finalists.

I'm going to say this now: After the past couple of weeks, and the passage of bills that will have a tangible impact on our people, our communities and our planet, I’m feeling excitement that these 60 coalitions - both those who receive phase two grants as well as those who don’t - can drive such meaningful impact in the months and years ahead.

The next era of American achievement, hopefully one with equity at its center, is coming. These coalitions will need to do all they can to take advantage of the additional federal investments coming down the pipeline, and are going to have an opportunity to help make America be a country that works for all. Or, to put it another way: it’s a big national moment for each of us to take a fresh look at those old filters we all have, as well as the messiness of our collective, lived experience, and look to the path ahead with a new (and inclusive) clarity and focus.  

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