The Operationalizing Equity model shown above embodies the approach of the Department of Race & Equity. At our center is our mission: Dismantle Systemic Racism. This mission is captured in the City Ordinance that establishes our department. The Department of Race & Equity is grounded in the knowledge that institutional racism, implicit and explicit bias, inequity and injustice are embedded in the systems and structures of government. In the United States, these centuries-long systems of oppression are rooted in white supremacy and anti-Blackness, creating structural disparities that we wrestle with today. We aim to dismantle institutional racism because racial disparities permeate our current systems of Health, Education, Criminal Justice, Workforce, and Housing – just to name a few. This requires an intersectional lens to address the interconnected oppressions that compound disparities, which occur across the lines of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, people with disabilities, age, etc. Our department's aim is to redesign current systems that are intentionally structured to produce inequitable outcomes, and to collectively build better ones that promote the thriving of all people and neighborhoods in San Diego.