Beyond Buzzwords: Operationalizing Equity in Riverside County Policy

In public service today, "equity" is a word we hear constantly. It finds its way into mission statements, strategic plans, and political speeches. But for a resident struggling to make ends meet in Riverside County, a word on a page does not pay the rent or keep the lights on.

As a Community Action Partnership (CAP) Commissioner and, currently, a doctoral student in public administration, my focus isn't just on saying the word—it's on operationalizing it. We need to move beyond equity as a buzzword and toward equity as a measurable outcome.

To do that, we must understand the crucial difference between equality and equity.

The View Over the Fence

The simplest way to understand this difference is the classic illustration of three people of different heights trying to watch a game over a fence.

• Equality is giving everyone the exact same size box to stand on. It sounds fair on the surface. But the tallest person didn't need the box, and the shortest person still can't see over the fence.

• Equity is recognizing those differences. It means giving the shortest person two boxes, the middle person one, and the tallest person none, so they all share the same view.

Why This Matters in County Policy

In the context of local government, "equality" often looks like a standardized, one-size-fits-all program. It is efficient to administer, but it ignores the reality that our residents start from vastly different places due to systemic barriers, generational poverty, or geographic isolation.

If we treat unequal situations equally, we simply perpetuate the status quo.

At the Community Action Partnership, our mandate is to fight the causes and effects of poverty. This requires an equity lens. It means asking tough questions: Are our application processes accessible to a single parent working two jobs without a reliable car? Are we targeting resources to the neighborhoods with the highest historic underinvestment?

Advancing equity is complicated, demanding work. It requires moving beyond good intentions and looking at hard data on outcomes. As your Commissioner, I am committed to ensuring that Riverside County’s resources are used not just efficiently, but justly, to build real ladders of opportunity for our low-income residents. We aren't just trying to hand out boxes; we are working to lower the fence.