Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability (AR-RBA)
Upstream Investments is bringing anti-racism to Results-Based Accountability in partnership with the Sonoma County Office of Equity and with the support of Equity & Results and Clear Impact. Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability (AR-RBA) is a tool for strategic planning and a framework for performance management through which practitioners:
- Cease the erasure of historically marginalized communities
- Use demographic data to disrupt inequity
- Maintain data transparency
- Take responsibility for outcomes and commit to do better
AR-RBA begins by recognizing that inequities exist in Sonoma County as a result of generations of institutional and structural racism. AR-RBA provides an ends-to-means framework to assess whether investments are actively mitigating inequities in Black, Indigenous, Asian and local communities of color.
Advancing equity in our County demands that we look at community and program level data by race and other demographic indicators (e.g. race/ethnicity, language, gender, disability) to adopt strategies to eliminate inequities. AR-RBA uses local data to tell community stories with integrity and honors lived experiences. Through a focus on race and ethnicity we daylight our systems’ contribution to the disproportionally negative outcomes experienced by local communities of color.
More about anti-racism
Ibram X. Kendi defines anti-racism as a powerful collection of policies that produce or sustain racial equity between racial groups. Anti-racism is based in the truth that racial groups are equals in all the ways they are different.
In Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability, we center race because it is foundational to this country’s history and how individuals experience systems. We also focus a lot on race because it is the single greatest predictor for a person’s health, wealth, and overall well-being. This loving focus on race isn’t at the exclusion of other identities, for each and every one of us are an intersection of many beautiful identities.
More about Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability (AR-RBA)
Why AR-RBA?
Have you ever wondered if an agency, organization, or government is using resources effectively? How about whether or not a program makes a difference in the lives of our community members? And are our programs reaching Black, Indigenous, Asian and local communities of color?
AR-RBA is a decision-making tool focused on impact. We use the AR-RBA process to look critically at data, to perform a root cause analysis to see where we can make the biggest difference (finding the “hot root”), and to develop strategies that will directly impact the hot root.
Learn more about Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability at Equity & Results.
Two Kinds of Accountability
Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability provides accountability at both the population and program level by measuring outcomes rather than just outputs. AR-RBA is used by communities to improve quality of life AND by organizations to achieve the best possible outcomes for our clients; it’s a framework that unites big-picture strategy with people-driven solutions.
Data-Driven Decision-Making
Data-driven decision-making is part of the data culture created by Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability. Data is more than numbers on a page. Data is stories. At its best, data offers a holistic picture to inform and direct our decisions.
AR-RBA pulls in and embraces all of our voices, but especially the voices of the people closest to the problem, in recognition that those closest to the problem are often closest to the solution.
Since we know that our systems and institutions will continue to default to benefiting the white community, we have to assume that if we are unaware of our impact, we will cause and perpetuate harm to Black, Indigenous, Asian and local communities of color. The data we collect will never be perfect, but it can hold the power to reveal whether or not our strategies are making a difference in our community.
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