More than 90 federal agencies released a series of “equity action plans” Thursday with the aim of advancing President Joe Biden’s “ambitious equity and racial justice agenda.”
Senior administration officials said that the plans put forth 300 “concrete, innovative new strategies and commitments to address systemic barriers” hindering “underserved communities” from “accessing the prosperity, dignity, and equity that all Americans are entitled to.”
Susan Rice, the director of Biden’s Domestic Policy Council, is leading the administration’s equity implementation and will expand on the agenda Thursday during a virtual event hosted by the White House. Biden will not take part in the event, as he is traveling to Greensboro, North Carolina, for the second stop on his rural infrastructure tour.
Though Biden isn’t taking part in the convening itself, senior administration officials told the Washington Examiner that the president would still release a statement on the action plans.
“This is delivering on his day one commitment. He stands behind this work, and he’s personally committed to this issue,” one official stated. “Racial equity was the impetus for his run for office, and no president before him has charged agencies to take the steps they are announcing today, so this is very much a priority of the president.”
The official additionally noted that six members of Biden’s Cabinet, Rice, and Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young will speak at today’s virtual event.
The plans themselves are a follow action stemming from an executive order Biden signed on his first day in office. Officials admitted that Biden’s agenda is not a “one-year project” but claimed that Thursday’s announcement marked “an important step forward” in that “generational commitment.”
One White House official stressed to the Washington Examiner that these action plans are not just about advancing “racial equity” and specifically include provisions seeking to help rural, urban, tribal, and other underserved communities.
The full equity agenda can be viewed on the White House’s website.
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The White House added that, across the federal government, the administration is seeking to cut red tape for government services, including grants and other forms of federal aid, and looking to engage with communities and stakeholders directly to “ensure government policies are informed by the broadest cross-section of Americans.”
