Center for Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities

Focus Areas

The center’s focus areas reflect a holistic view of equity that emphasizes systems solutions that address multiple problems. This comprehensive approach turns the mirror inward to hold systems accountable. 

Transforming Systems
The center will work with the state’s health and human services agencies,  the Texas Education Agency, juvenile justice agencies, the Supreme Court Commission, the Judicial Commission on Children and Families, community, youth and other stakeholders to examine and develop reform efforts to address disproportionality and disparities across systems.

Social Justice
The center works toward social justice by coordinating Undoing Racism workshops that educate system leaders, community partners, internal and external stakeholders and constituents to promote social equity and justice. 

Anti-racist Principles
Anti-racist practices are the core of system transformation.  The center promotes racial equity through training defined by anti-racist principles:

Undoing racism: Racism is the single most critical barrier to building effective coalitions for social change. Racism has been consciously and systematically erected, and it can be undone only if people understand what it is, where it comes from, how it functions and why it is perpetuated.

Learning from history: Understanding history allows us to create a better future.

Sharing culture: Culture is the life support system of a community. If a community’s culture is respected and nurtured, the community’s power will grow.

Developing leadership: Anti-racist leadership needs to be developed intentionally and systematically within communities and organizations.

Maintaining accountability: Agencies and organizations must be accountable to communities struggling with racist oppression.

Networking: The growth of an effective broad-based movement for social transformation requires building a network of support. As the movement develops a strong net, people are less likely to fall through.

Analyzing power: As a society, we often believe that individuals or their communities are solely responsible for their conditions. Our training looks at institutional power to help identify systems that contribute to racial disparities.

Undoing internalized racial oppression: Internalized racial inferiority is the acceptance of and acting out of an inferior definition of self rooted in the historical designation of one’s race. Over many generations, this process of disempowerment and disenfranchisement expresses itself in self-defeating behaviors. Internalized racial superiority is the acceptance of and acting out of a superior definition is rooted in the historical designation of one’s race. Over many generations, this process of empowerment and access expresses itself as unearned privileges, access to institutional power and invisible advantages based upon race.

Identifying and analyzing the manifestations of racism: Our training examines institutions and societal practices that contribute to individual acts of racism.