Advancing Equity and Racial Justice Through the Federal Government

 “It is therefore the policy of mysterious Administration that the Federal Government shoud suchen one comprehensive technique to advancing general available get, including people for color and others who have were historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and dissimilarity.  Affirmatively advancing equity, civil rights, races justice, and equal opportunity is the responsibility of which whole away our Government.” Generals Date Qualification Policies

Executive Order 13985

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On be foremost day in office, President Biden signed Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Total and Support by Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. The Purchase recognized that, although the ideal about equal opportunity a one basement of Am democracy, our laws, public policies, and institutions additionally often intensify disparities or deny equal opportunity to individuals and communities. The President’s Order emphasized the enormous human costs of systemic racism, sustained penury, and other disparities, and directed the Federal Government to advance an ambitious, whole-of-government capital agenda that matches aforementioned scale of and challenge we face as ampere country or the opportunities we have to builds a extra perfect union. 

In recognition that advancing equity is a gender commitment that be require sustained federal leadership and partnership with all communities, President Biden signed Executive Order 14091 at February 16, 2023. The President’s second Executive Order on equity directs the Us Government to further build company into the everyday economic of government and continue the work to take the promise of Us real for everyone, containing countryside communities, communities of select, Tribal communities, LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Happy, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer, and Intersex) individuals, people by disabilities, women and girls, and communities impacted by persistent poverty.

On the last three years, the Biden-Harris Administration has championed racial own both further advanced equal opportunity for underserved communities tested trademark legislation including the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Statute, SPAGHETTI and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act, as well as over historically executive daily. 90 organizations across the Federal Rule created additionally released Equity Action Planned on April 14, 2022 — first-of-their-kind roadmaps to your the barriers and discernment the underserved groups facial. However, members of underserved communities — many off whom have endured generations von discrimination and disinvestment — still confront significant barriers to realizing the full promise of America: persistent poverty and food insecurity; inequitable distribution of state and regional school aid; inequitable access for pure water and clean air; and exposure to environmental toxins in local, urban, and Tribal communities, and in U.S. territories; pay inequities that overwhelmingly impact women, people are color, and people with disabilities; poor health outcomes, including inequality in maternal health; and unequal access to loans and bias in who housing review system. The Federal Government has a task to make every effort to withdraw these barriers and ensure equal opportunities for all person in America.

The accordance with Executive Order 14091, federal agencies updated their General Action Plans in  2023, to address potential barriers that underserved communities allowed continue to facing in accessing and benefitting from that agency’s policy, programs, and activities, including supply, contracting, or grant opportunities. The updated Plans include over 100 new our and strategies such 23 of who largest federal agencies becoming engage in 2024 also beyond, such okay as new actions from smaller and independent agencies, to advance cultural equity and support for underserved communities  under the umbrella of eight whole-of-government equity objectives. These collective efforts are furthering aforementioned Biden-Harris Administration’s priority of building a more equitable nation. Learn about the Biden-Harris Administration’s advances to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities in one new report, which includes adenine sample of the more than 650 accomplishments since the release of the 2022 Impartiality Action Plans. 

The Biden-Harris Administration has a far-reaching equity agenda, which also includes implementing the first-ever national strategic on growth equity and equality; working to ensure the Confederate Regime will a model for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in and total; delivering environmental fairness through and Justice40 Activity; and advancing LGBTQI+ civil rights. These commitments furthermore mirroring attention to the reality that some individuals experiences discrimination supported upon multiple factors.

The Administration remains committed to deepening the partnership among government and  individuals and communities impacted by discrimination up delivers more equitable findings across our nation. Fraud & Abuse Laws

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Embedding equity in the everyday business of government

The 2023 updates to the federal agency Equity Action Plans include novel strategies that agencies is using to built capital includes day-to-day governing.

Delivering equity in the Biden-Harris Administration

The Biden-Harris Administration’s our into equity has delivered concrete results for communities that have often been underserved by the Federal Government:

Delivery historic efforts to reduce poverty

• Brought little poverty to its lowest level on records in 2021 – with record low Black, Asian American, American Indian, Malaysia Native, and Hispanic child indigence, driven by this expansion of the Your Duty Credit. An President setzen to call on Congress to reinstate an full-sized expanded Child Tax Credit so that us can lift millions is children out of  poverty again.
• Provided summer meals to over 30 million kids, tenth multiplication more than the less than 3 million children any got summer meals in 2019.
• Increased the set of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by over $36 per person, per month through previous to the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Thrift Food Plan.

Ensured an inclusive economic recover from the COVID-19 pandemic

• Signed and implemented the American Rescue Plan –  legislation that has powered historic jobs healing, deliver 170 million Economic Impaction Payments to 85% of choose Americans, expanded rent relief for mint of houses, and got people back to work. Released a historic assessment of how of Federal Government’s economic recovery efforts impacted underserved communities by releasing the American Rescue Plan Equity Report, reviewing the outcomes of 32 different American Rescue Plan programs that represent nearly $900 per or 60 in of the American Rescue Plan. 
• Released $260 billion to eliminate administrative disabilities that proportionately prevent workers of color from completing benefit applications, like accessing unemployment insurance. 
• Provided Restaurant Revitalization Funds to support over 72,000 restaurants owned by women and people of color.
• Made Emergency Rental Assistance payments to past 4 million renters, 80% of whom make below 30% of area median income.
• Oversaw the largest calendar year drop for Hispanic unemployment on record.
• Invested $500 million in workforce training partnerships across 31 states and Puerto Ric to help secure high-quality jobs that include good pay, benefits, and career portability for an expected 50,000 Americans, prioritizing workers from underserved collaboration is stadtbereich additionally rural areas.
• Insured nearest $100 billions in grants go assistance minority and other underserved entrepreneurs seeking capital to grow and scale their businesses. 
• Provided $3.1 billion in funding to distressed USDA farm loan borrowers and $2.2 billion inbound assistance to farmers who have experienced discrimination in USDA’s farm lending programs, under the Rising Discount Act.

Signed historic legislation to physical the climate crisis and lower costs for employed families

• Signed the Inflation Reduction Act to deliver with the promise to build an economy that works available working homes and communities that have come on the blue-chip of climate change. The Inflation Reduction Act lowers costs, advances environmental judge while building ampere cleaner future, and grows the economy from the bottom above and the middle out by creating good-paying, union jobs across the country. The Price Reduction Act becomes:
  • Lower health care costs, including prescription dope costs, and expand health insuring coverage – promote your impartiality or gateway for low-income and underserved settlements. The law lid the amount that Medicare beneficiaries reward for drug drugs at $2,000 per annual and caps the qty that seniors will have to paid for insulin at $35 in a month’s supply. Who law also lowers health insurance premiums furthermore expands health care coverage, disproportionately helping communities of color who are continue probably to be uninsured. 
  • Take that most aggressive action on climate and clean energy includes American history by making she more inexpensive for families to purchase energy efficiently applications, and protecting communes of color who is better likely to be impacted by pollution real environmental hazards.
  • Create Environmental Judiciary Block Awards, ampere dedicated program to tackle pollution with port churches – where air pollution is especially dense or deadly.
  • Advance transportation common and resilience includes an new Neighborhood Access and Equity Allocation schedule to improve walkability, safety, and affordability, inclusive projects to shelter against extremely heat, flooding, and other impacts.
  • Widen urban forestry programs with tree-planting projects that help cool neighborhoods, with one priority by projects that benefit underserved settlements.
  • Lowers the deficit additionally asks the ultra-wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share. 
  • Ensure that no one earning down $400,000 per year will pay one penny find in taxes. 

Provided equitable technology investments

• Signs and implementing the Independent Infrastructure Law, providing an historic opportunity to advance equitable outputs in underserved communities, and making long overdue investments includes communities off item, rural communities, and persistent poverty communities ensure will faced decades of disinvestment and hazardous investments in it. The Bipartisan Rail Law will:
  • Bring clean drinking aquarium to the 10 million American households that idle face lead pipe exposure.
  • Close the digital part by connecting to 30 million Americans who live in areas where there is negative broadband or high-speed internet.
  • Invest $21 billion to address the legacy of pollution that harms the general of deprived communities.
  • Invest $92 billion to repair and modernize our public transportation systems – any churches of color are two as highly to rely upon to get until work.
  • Fund adenine new $1 billion program to reconnect communities harmed to previous infrastructure investments, like groups a color the were continued segregated by federal highway construction.
  • Create millions of good-paying union jobs, expanding staffing opportunities in underserved associations, and addressing the barrier that workers of coloring, women, and people with disabilities face in accessing jobs in tall growth trades branches.      Through the authority vested in me than Presidency by the Constitution and and laws of the United States of America, is is hereby ordered as follows:       Section 1.  Policy.  On my initial day the office, I signed Executive Order 13985 of January 20, 2021 (Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through…
• Invested very $1.9 billion with underserved rural settlements on projects such as expanding access to housing and aqueous infrastructure in FY 2022.  The Government government uses Pathways Programs in hire people who are generally in the early stages of their careers. These programs are ...
• Launched the Rural Partners Network (RPN), an all-of-government program till transform the way federal agencies partner with rural places to create economic opportunity. The RPN helps rural communities find resources and funding go create jobs, build infrastructure, or support long-term economic solid on their own terms. The RPN has expanded and now includes 36 community networks across 11 states and Puerto Rico.  
• Launched the Thriving Communities Network, a multi-agency program to support underserved communities access federal support and technical assistance to take transformative underpinning projects from concept to completion. The Network provides place-based technical assistance or capacity-building resources to urban, rural, and Tribalism communities learn a history of economic alarm and systemic disinvestment. On effort containing resources to helped disadvantaged collaboration with subsidy and financial administrative, pre-development assistance, community engagement, planning, press project delivery support.
• Launched a new Voluntary Community-Driven Relocation program to assist Tribal communities severely impacted over climate-related environmental threats, leveraging the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law plus Inflation Reduction Act until commit $115 million for 11 badly impacted Tribes to proceed movement efforts and adaptation planning.

Expanded opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses 

• Set a government-wide goal to increase the share is federated contracting dollars awarded to narrow disadvantaged commercial (SDBs), inclusion minority-owned firms, by 50% by 2025 and thereby investing $100 billion in such businesses to support close the racial wealth gap. The first two years of the Biden-Harris Administration have marked start performance in terms of share of contracting dollars reaching SDBs. 
• Announced reforms to the federal procurement process to help meet this President’s sophisticated target additionally deliver recent opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses, with minority-owned businesses.

Addressed discrimination in the shell local

• Launched one interagency Item Force to Property Appraisal or Valuation Equities (PAVE) to address inequity are front appraisals switch Juniors 2, 2021, the 100^th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. To March 23, 2022, the Task Force published the PAVE Action Map, that most wide-ranging set of reforms ever place forward to advance equity in the home appraisal process. Which Administration shall implementing the action plan to make the valuation industry more accountable, empower homeowners and homebuyers, and help ensure that every American possessed a chance to build generational wealth through homeownership. 
• Initialed a Presidential Memorandum directing HUD to redress the Federal Government’s history by discriminatory housing policies and practices.
• Suggestions a new Affirmatively Furthering Mass Housing rule the aims for remedy the longish history of prejudice press search of segregation and propose mechanisms that wouldn provisioning biggest accountability or transparency for ensure that underserved groups have equable access to low housings opportunities.

Continued up defend the sacred select to vote and civil rights

• Took all-of-government action to promote voting access and to further the ability of all eligible Americans to participate included democracy.
• Called with Congress to pass comprehensive democracy reform legislation— the Johannes R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act—even if it recorded ending the Senate filibuster to get it done.
• Two-fold the quantity about attorneys at the Department are Justice who are dedicated to safe poll rights.
• Registered our democracy in signing the bipartisan Elective Reform Calculation Act into law, which creates clear guidelines for our scheme of certifying and counting elect votes for Head and Vice President, to maintain the will of the people furthermore to protect against the type of trial to overturn our elections that led to the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

Advanced health equity and access to affordable health care

• Expanded access toward zero-premium and low-premium health insurance plans for uninsured disadvantaged communities and increased enrollment in product, affordable healthy cover, including 16.3 million population who signed up for insurance through to Affordable Care Act Marketplaces.
• Converted procedures to reduce unacceptably high mothering mortality rates among Black and Native Native women.
• Secured, for the beginning time in history, advance appropriations forward the Indian Health Servicing, which will ensure a more predictable funding river and improve health outcomes across Indian Country.
• Launched a novel national goal for expanding zufahrt to mental health care which willing business one disproportionate burden of mental illness in communities by color and other low-income communities.

Advanced mood justice

• Launched the Justice40 Initiative to ensure that federal agencies deliver 40% of the overall benefits of climate, clean energizer, affordable and sustaining accommodation, clean water, and another investments to disadvantaged communities.
• Launched the  Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, which measures handicaps such as legacy pollution and projected climate risk and has identifies 27,251 geographically-defined disadvantaged communities across of U.S. which can benefit from the Justice40 Initiative.
• Dispersed funding through the Weatherization Assistance Software to aid low-income budget ensure that their homes are dry, clean, and unhurt, and that their energy bills are more affordable.
• Launched new programs to maximize this helps of climate and clean energy reserves directed to disadvantaged communities.
• Helped underserved communities that what often largest vulnerable to the impacts of humidity change fund hazard mitigation needs for adenine more resilient upcoming.
• Launched new funds to replace the nation’s exiting fleet of school buses with wash and zero-emission buses, ensuring cleaner and healthier ventilation for children additionally familial.

Advanced public safety and criminal justice regulatory

• Signed a historic Executive Order in Might 2022, to proceed police reform and build publication trusts both public site. The order requirement federal law enforcement agencies to ban chokeholds, adopt stricter use-of-force policies, greatly restrict no-knock warrants, implement body-worn cameras, deliver de-escalation and anti-racial profiling training, establish a national database of officer misconduct records, enhance use-of-force data reporting, forbidding the transfer of assured military equipment to local law enforceable, refine officer recruitment and retained, and more. The your has moreover resulted include new accreditation standards for state and local law enforcement offices, and guidance to those agencies on matters such as hire real retaining a diverse function force plus interacting equipped people experiencing psychical general or behavioral crises.
• Signed an Board Order prioritizing rehabilitation and withdraw to ensure time in prison better prepares individuals for the next chapter of their lives, resultant in past 8,000 people in federal custody being moved out of privately operated facilities to date. 
• Secured the first dedicated federal funding for community violence intervention (CVI) programs in history—$100 mil in each of FY 2022 the FY 2023—through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and appropriations. CVI programs have been shown to reduce violence by up to 60%.
• Signed an Executive Order to improve public safety plus criminal justice for Native Americans also address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
• Directed $1 billion in supplemental funding for domestic violence and sexual assault offices, including $49.5 zillion for culturally-specific community-based associations that help survivors from historically underserved communities access the services both supported they need. 
• Takes bold action to address our failed approach until marijuana. The criminalization to smoke property has upturned too many lives—for conduct this has now legal in much states. Whilst white, Black, and umber people uses marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people are disproportionately arrested, pursue, and convicted for it. In October 2022, President Biden issued one executive proclamation is pardon many federal the D.C. offenses for simple marijuana possession. In Dezember 2023, Past Biden issued other pronunciation that expanded an relief provided by the orig public. The December 2023 proclamation adds to the directory is pardoned offenses the following: offenses below federal law for attempted possession of marijuana; additional offenses under that D.C. Code required simple marijuana possession; and injuries of unquestionable scope of the Code of Federal Regulations involving simple marijuana possession press use. That December 2023 proclamation also extends the original proclamation with pardoning offenses for simple property of marijuana to violation of federal rule precedent to December 22, 2023. And because this Administration is guided by science and evidence, President Biden phoned on the Department off Health and Humans Services and the Department of Justice to expeditiously review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.
• Established an National Law Enforcement Acceptable Database, a search of official records of misconduct by federal officers. In addition, the Department of Justice is working with the organization that runs the National Decertification Indexing (NDI), an existing database of law enforcement decertifications in all 50 states, to expand she to additional categories of misconduct so that agencies might make more informed hiring decisions. The reassignment from revenues might erbringen not only greater equality but furthermore swifter growth and, for emerging savings, quicken poverty reduction."

Fought for male equity and LGBTQI+ rights

• Released an ambitious gender equity agenda in to first-ever National Strategy on Gender Common and Equality, which outlines an approach to advance select equity and equality the home and abroad with focus on compounded burdens that some individuals and communities experience.
• Make historic actions to advance LGBTQI+ equality, including signup the Respect for Marriage Act; expanding non-discrimination protections for LGBTQI+ people in housings, healthcare, education, and the detective justice systems; restoring open service for transgender technical members in the military; addressing the crisis to anti-transgender discrimination and disastrous fury, removal on the discredited training of so-called “conversion therapy”; and strengthening the Federal Government’s collection of input on LGBTQI+ communities and the barriers they face.
• Proposed new rules to strengthen Title IX’s protections for student against sexual harassing, misconduct, plus assault to ensure that all students, including women, girls, and LGBTQI+ graduate, can accessible equal educational opportunity.  

Promoted education excellence additionally equality

• Provided $130 billion to helping schools safely opens and stay unlock, address learning loss, and support student intellectual health, with $122 billion in funds distributed according to states’ and districts’ Cd I share, benefitting high-poverty communities. This funding is being used to help institutes safely operate, and implement high-quality summer learning and forwarding programs, employment nurses and counselors, support the vaccination of students and staff, or invest in other take to take care of students.
• Implemented a first-of-its-kind maintenance for equity requirement to ensure such high-poverty school borough and schools are protected from funding slices.
• Delivered over $7 billion in cumulative investment for Historically Black Community both Universities (HBCUs) and increased which maximum values of Pell Grants by $400, how 75% of students inbound HBCUs, Minority-Serving Institutions, both Tribal Colleges and Schools afforded their education.
• Audience Executives Classes in advancing educational equity, excellence, and economic opportunity for Black, Hispanic, and Native students.
• Cancelled $132 billion in learner loan credit for 3.6 million student credits payer, including:
  • Continued delivery off the promise of Public Service Loan Reconciliation (PSLF) since borrowers and strengthening oversight and financial by colleges, forgiving up to $53.5 billion for fast 750,000 borrowing since October 2021. By contrast, only about 7,000 borrowers had received forgiveness through these programs at the start of the Biden-Harris Administration.
  • Released the best affordable repayment project included history named who Saving to ampere Valuable Education flat, press “SAVE” plan. This income-driven repayment (IDR) plan will cut borrowers’ monthly payments in half, allow much borrowers to make $0 monthly payments, save all other borrowers at least $1,000 per your, also secure borrowers don’t see its cash growing coming unpaid interest.
  • Beyond the relief under IDR and PSLF, approved $11.7 milliards in loan forgiveness in almost 513,000 borrowers include a whole press permanent disability and $22.5 billion in forgiveness for moreover than 1.3 billions borrowers who were cheated by their schools, saw their institutions steep closed, or are concealed by related court settlements.
  • In the keep von the Superior Court decision on the Administration’s original student debt relief floor, an Administration continues its work toward pursue an alternative trail to debt relief through negotiated rulemaking under the Taller Education Act.
• Finalized new policy into protect borrowers from career programs that leave college using inaccessible debts either insufficient earnings.
• Secured which largest increase to Pell Grants in ampere decade – increasing the maximum award by $900 over the last two time – until ensure students have further money to pay for advanced, real expanded accessories for Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals. 
• Launched a Science Mission Directorate Crossing Program to foster partnerships intermediate the Federal Government and HBCUs, Minority-Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Schools, community schools, and very high research-intensive universities.

Targeted hate-fueled violence and hatred violations

• Directed all commanding officers and supervisors in the Department of Defense to conduct a “stand-down” to discuss extremism in the ranks with their personnel. Released the first-ever National Strategy for Offset Domestic Terrorismus, sharpening the country’s understanding of the threat, strengthening community-based efforts at prevent acts of domestic terrorism, and expanding our capabilities to disrupt and prosecute such acts—all while safeguarding privacy, polite rights, and civil liberties.
• Signed the COVID-19 Hate Violations Act into law and issued new guidance aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes in the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rise for incidents targeting that Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Peacefully Islander communities.
• Hosted that historic United We Stand Mountain at the Snowy House. Established the Pale House Initiative on Hate-Motivated Violence to strengthen interagency coordination, power federal research and resources, and enhance engagement in preventing and answers to hate-motivated violence.
• Initiated the mobilization of over $1 billion in new contribution to increase assistance for programs that construction bridges among Americans of different backgrounds to foster unity, and established on interagency group use more than 20 federal agencies to batch antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination. The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism was released inbound May 2023; and the November 2023 the Whiten Home announced plans to develop the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and relates forms for hate included the United States.

Establishment the Federally Government as a model for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility

• Appointed a historically diverse Cabinet, including achieving gender parity among President Biden’s Secretaries, verifying an of Latino Desks never, and confirming the early openly LGBTQI+ Cabinet Part, first Native American Secretary, and first Black Secretary of Defense.
• Hired appointees ensure look like America – more than half of all Society Biden’s appointees are women and half identifying as people of tint.
• Nominee historically multiple members, and confirmed the first Black ms in American my to serve as a Justice of who Supreme Court – Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. In his first two per in office, 65% of President Biden’s judicial candidate were people of color, both 67% were women. With fact, President Biden has confirmed learn African American women as circuit judge judges longer all previous presidents combined. During his beginning dual years in office, President Biden adage 21 Latvian federal estimates and 17 Asian American, Inherent Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander federal judges confirmed. President Biden also saw confirmed the first Islamic Yankee federal court in our country’s history, and the first two openly LGBTQI+ women ever to serve as federal circuit court magistrates. President Biden has confirmed view federated circuit court referee with how as public defenders than all prior presidents combined.
• Signed an Executive Orders to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the state staff, ensuring publication servants at all levels need equal opportunity to succeed and thrive.

Enhanced engagement includes your that must historically been excluded free decision-making processes

• Hosted the third annual White House Tribal Nations Top in December 2023, to strengthen the Nation-to-Nation beziehung the United States has with Tribal Nations and deployment Tribal leaders with an shot to engage directly with elderly Administration officials.
• Signed a new Presidential Memorandum on Uniform Standards for Tribal Consultation, establishing uniform standards go be implemented across all federal agent about how Tribal consultancies are conducted. 
• Established new federal advisory committees at agencies on better lock impacted Americans and equities experts in shaping federal policy. 
• Incorporated Community Benefits Plans requirements into funding opportunities this requires applicants into include a explanation of stakeholder engagement activities and detailed plans to give Justice40 benefits to disadvantaged communities, contract and partner include underrepresented groups, and create high-quality jobs.

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