What We Do

The EAT is a coalition of community members and City of Austin staff focused on advancing racial equity in our communities through partnerships with City departments, non-profits, philanthropic entities and community-based groups. The EAT meetings are dedicated to critical discussions and strategizing on how to best improve the quality of life for most directly impacted communities in Austin.

The EAT is composed of the individuals who organized and pushed for the creation of the Equity Office back in 2015. Their first goal was helping the Office co-create the Equity Assessment Tool. Now, in monthly meetings the EAT functions as a compass for the Office, ensuring we remain accountable to the community.

Learn more about the Equity Action Team, including upcoming meetings. Or visit the Equity Action Team Dashboard to join the team!

The Equity Office offers several grant programs intended to help grassroots and local community organizations access funding. Learn about our current grant programs.

Find more information on immigrant affairs including Citizenship Clinics, get schedules for upcoming English Classes and Citizenship Classes, find information on our Certified Welcoming initiative, and SB4/Know Your Rights (KYR) by clicking on a link below. 

The Information sessions to learn how to apply for U.S. Citizenship are held twice a year (Spring and Fall) to help individuals understand the process and determine eligibility for applying for U.S. citizenship.

• Check the Citizenship Clinic schedule to find out when our next information sessions will be held
• Citizenship Classes and English classes are available to help you get ready for your civics exam and interview
• SB4/Know Your Rights information
• Certified Welcoming Initiative information
• Employment Authorization Assistance (Information applies to City of Austin Employees only)

The City's Joint Inclusion Committee (JIC) are hosting budget input sessions for community to prepare for the Fiscal Year 2026 budget. These community budget input sessions are an opportunity to share your community's needs, interests, and influence priorities for all commissions. By attending these sessions, you can help shape fiscal year 2025-2206 budget recommendations. Check the budget input session schedule here and download flyers here.

Quality of Life studies collect information and data so community can make recommendations to City Council and City Departments to improve the quality of life of Austinites across the City. 

Currently, there are three Quality of Life studies that are about to launch. The Commission for Women, Early Childhood Council, and Comission on Aging are conducting studies. The research teams are in the beginning stages of these studies. 

The research teams conducting the studies are: 

• The University of Texas at Austin (Quality of Life Study of Women and Young Girls)
• Decision Information Resources (Quality of Life Study of Families with Young Children)
• The University of Indianapolis Center for Aging and Community (Quality of Life Study of Aging Population)

COMING SOON! Keep checking back for updates to learn more about these studies and how you can get involved.

The Equity Assessment Process is the core of our work. Community organized for the creation of an equity assessment tool, and City Council created the Equity Office to build and administer it.

The equity assessment tool is a self-assessment completed by departments, and is in the process of being implemented with all 40+ City departments and offices. In January 2024, Cohort Four will begin engaging with the Equity Assessment Process, including moving through the equity assessment tool. The Tool has been used to establish a baseline for the City's impact on equity. It takes departments through a critical examination of their policies, procedures, planning, programs, personnel, and budgeting through a lens of equity. The four sections of the Tool are: Department Culture, Community Engagement, Budget, and Alignment with the Strategic Direction 2023.

Visit the Equity Action Team Dashboard to learn more about the Tool and read departments' responses. You can also visit this story page to learn about the percentage of city departments implementing the equity assessment tool.

The full process encompasses many steps, and involves a lot of individual support and development of department staff leading its completion. If you would like more information on how we lead this work, we encourage you to reach out and someone from the Office will meet with you and answer any of your questions. 

The Equity Office has administered many reports on the City's programs and initiatives. This section attempts to collect them all, however, a more reliable way to stay in touch is through the Equity Action Team Dashboard.

• Local Government Structures for Civil Rights Enforcement report by GARE (Government Alliance on Race & Equity). The City of Austin is charged through Resolution No. 20180628-062 to review possible structures for civil rights enforcement. The purpose of this study is to understand how jurisdictions across the country are structured to accomplish similar work. The findings will inform recommendations to structure and position civil rights enforcement in the City of Austin for future success.

• The report detailing Confederate-named assets on City property is at the following link: Confederate Assets Memo. Through the Council initiated resolution to rename confederate assets, our office launched a SpeakUp page to collect names from Austin residents. The collection of names can be found here.

• The report analyzing the Austin Police Department's Racial Profiling Data can be found at the following link: Analysis of Racial Profiling.

• The report analyzing the first wave of Austin Police Department divisions to complete the Equity Assessment Tool is at the following link: APD Equity Assessment Reports.

• The toolkit distributed to help build a racial equity analysis in the City's COVID-19 response can be found at this link: Equity COVID19 Guide.

• The report on the CodeNEXT Equity Assessment is at the following link: CodeNEXT Assessment Report.

• The Equity Office's analysis of the 2018 Bond Projects is at the following link: Bond Projects Equity Analysis.

• The report on the first group of departments to complete the Tool is at the following link: Racial Equity Assessment Report.

• The report on the second group of departments to complete the Tool is at the following link: 2nd Racial Equity Assessment Report, and is further available in Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and Vietnamese. 

The Annual Equity Forum is a free event designed to bring Austin-area organizers, community members, and City employees together to share information and resources on racial equity. The heart of the event will include breakout sessions addressing how different organizations normalize, organize, and operationalize equity, and includes a lunch keynote speaker. The intent of the forum is to showcase how and where equity work is being done in and around Austin, and to have conversations about working together on equity related issues and initiatives.

Check out our speakers, panelists, agenda and photo album from our January 2024 Equity Forum here.

Stay tuned for the date and location of our 2025 Equity Forum to be announced in the Fall of 2024!