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58 | RIVERSIDE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES

The Racial Disparity and Disproportionality (RDD) Initiative Empowers Equity and Inclusion R iverside County Children’s Services Division (CSD) is committed to racial equity in its practices. The Racial Disparity and Disproportionality (RDD) Collaborative in CSD has a goal to address • All children and families shall be treated fairly and equitably. • CSD social services practitioners shall know how race, class, culture and socioeconomic conditions contribute to their perception and service delivery to Black families. •

the overrepresentation and disparate experiences and outcomes of children of color, in particular African American children in Riverside County, at all decision points in the child welfare continuum. This effort seeks to evaluate the experiences, examine existing practices and develop solution-focused strategies that support preventative services, increase timely and successful exit to permanency and reduce re-entry for children of color. The scope of RDD is to focus on changes in policy and practice at decision points by evaluating our prevention, reporting, investigation, service provision, visitation, out-of-home care, and permanency for children of color. The RDD Collaborative is led by a Steering Committee and comprises four key subcommittees: Workforce Development, Continuous Quality Improvement in Practice, Community Focused Partnerships and the newly formed Healthy Crownz Sub-Committee. The RDD Collaborative is led by guiding principles that:

Community, faith based, and culturally specific service providers shall have an enhanced view of Black family strengths and achieve superior engagement and improved outcomes. Now in its third year, the RDD Collaborative is making strides toward fulfilling its mission for equitable services and treatment of all children. Highlights include a new Equity Lens Tool to ensure policy content has integrated racial equity language, a staff quarterly newsletter, a new resource directory of services, and an eLearning video to facilitate staff discussion on hair care for Black children. Continuous Data Monitoring and Analysis is being used to identify disproportionate geographical populations in need of services, and collaborative work on mandated reporting training presentations and child and family team meetings is enhancing prevention efforts.