FINAL_22_21_DPSS_AnnualReport

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RIVERSIDE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES

Overcoming Racial Disparity & Disproportionality

Jenell Ross, Co-Chair of the Community Partnership’s Subcommittee discusses goals with her workgroup.

Committed to Combatting Systemic Racism

I n 2020, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors declared racism as a public health crisis and vowed to take steps to combat it at a systemic level. DPSS has long committed to combating systemic racism at a department level. Specifically, Children’s Services is focused on ending racial disproportionality and disparity, also known as RDD, in the child welfare system and healing generations of trauma caused by disproportionality. The RDD steering committee was established over a decade ago and consists

of more than a dozen employees and community partners who evaluate practices and develop initiatives to ensure that children who enter the welfare system have equitable access to resources and opportunities. The committee recently launched subcommittees to focus on a defined pillar: workforce, practice, and community partnerships. “Together, each group strategizes to make effective changes,” said Committee Co-Chair Monique Jones, “This group is passionate about creating positive change to improve the community we live in.”

Annual Report 2021/2022