Antiracist Action: Individual. Institutional. Systemic.

The focus of this effort is to increase the level of cultural responsiveness among those who work with and influence youth. To date over 90% of Leadership Council partners have completed a Self-Assessment Survey and nearly all of them are working toward equity-based S.M.A.R.T.E Goals.

This initiative focuses on race, as it remains the single most predictive factor of student success. Due to individual and institutionalized bias, students of color experience potent current and accumulated disadvantages – from access to high quality pre-school all the way to completing a college degree. Differences in educational opportunities are mirrored in differences in academic achievement. But students of color are not failing; our system is failing them. In Marin County, 2 out of 3 students of color move through their school experience and graduate without the necessary preparation to succeed in a personally fulfilling and economically sustainable college or career program. Long-standing systemic racial inequities in our county continue to be a deep and persistent trend. Institutionalized, and oftentimes unconscious, attitudes and beliefs about students of color have resulted in low expectations, increased segregation, and discriminatory policies & practices. Only by engaging in a culturally responsive approach to policies and practices that impact students and their families across all Cradle to Career efforts, will racial equity in Marin’s educational system be achieved.