The purpose of Oakland’s Equity Indicators Report is to develop a baseline quantitative framework that can be used by City staff and community members alike to better understand the impacts of race, measure inequities, and track changes in the disparities for different groups over time. This framework can then be used to guide and inform policies that address these disparities.

Education has long been an area of well-known disparities in outcomes across racial and ethnic groups, both in Oakland and throughout the country. Yet, education is also perhaps the single most powerful tool to rectify disparities in other Themes, such as Economy. This Theme includes measures that span from traditional measures of student attendance and achievement to measures of teachers, recognizing that teachers play a critical role in a child’s education.

In Oakland and across the Bay Area, there are wide disparities in economic outcomes for different groups. Structural barriers in society result in some residents having more access than others to economic opportunities that build wealth and financial stability. This Theme not only includes the standard measures of economic well-being (e.g., unemployment, poverty) but it also evaluates racial and ethnic disparities in the quality of jobs, business development, and elements of financial health.

Public Safety is a critical area of concern for any city. Though national conversations have recently brought a lot of attention to racial and ethnic disparities in public safety, this is a long-standing problem area that can have severe negative impacts on communities of color.

Affordable, stable, and high-quality housing is a basic right of Oakland residents. Many Oaklanders face challenges in accessing adequate housing, and racial and ethnic minorities are even more disadvantaged. The Indicators in this Theme reveal disparities among individuals and neighborhoods and highlight the pressing need for more equitable housing policy.

Public health relates to many of the other Themes in the Equity Indicators framework. Public health outcomes are tied to housing quality, environment, and neighborhood. Social determinants of health include poverty, employment, and educational attainment. The public health field has historically been dedicated to understanding and addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes, but the complexity of these issues contributes to the persistence of inequity.

For a city to thrive, it is essential that neighborhoods are safe and accessible, and that residents have the opportunity to access city services and hold the city government accountable. Oakland residents face disparities based on where they live in the city, with majority non-White neighborhoods faring worse than majority White neighborhoods. Neighborhood differences rooted in historical segregation result in disparate outcomes for people of color, especially African American and Latino residents.

Oakland has a long history of activism around issues of inequity and social justice. It is, therefore, not surprising that Oakland was chosen in 2017 to be among the first cohort of five cities to develop local Equity Indicators tools in partnership with the City University of New York’s Institute for State and Local Governance (CUNY ISLG) and with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.

The Oakland Equity Indicators framework is structured at four levels: Citywide, Theme, Topic, and Indicator. The Citywide framework consists of six Themes that cover broad areas of people’s lives: 1-Economy, 2-Education, 3-Public Health, 4-Housing, 5-Public Safety, and 6-Neighborhood and Civic Life. These Themes are not exhaustive, but were chosen based on areas of inequity in Oakland.

The Business Development Topic includes three Indicators that measure racial and ethnic disparities in business ownership, prime contracts awarding, and business vacancy. The first Indicator in this Topic measures disparities in business ownership rates between African American and White Oaklanders. The second Indicator measures disparities in the distribution of contracts under $100,000 awarded by the City to African American and White business owners. The third Indicator measures disparities in the location of business addresses that had been vacant for two years or more by majority race/ethnicity of census tracts.