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On Thursday (April 14), multiple government agencies unveiled wide-reaching plans to combat racial and social injustice at the federal level.
The plans come a year after President Joe Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office calling for the agencies to figure out ways to connect marginalized Americans to government resources. More than 90 federal institutions submitted steps they're beginning to take to boost equity in government.
In total, there's more than 300 strategies and commitments agencies submitted to fulfill the call, each laid out after internal assessments were completed, a senior administration official told reporters.
Among those plans are the EPA's move from responding to civil rights complaints to launching proactive investigations of its own –– including a series of probes in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley."
The Pentagon also announced it's planning to partner with HBCUs to diversify its artificial intelligence staff. The Department of Homeland Security said it's addressing equity in airport screenings to ensure transgender people are treated fairly. The DOJ is expanding crime-reporting resources for Americans who are not proficient in English.
"We are talking about a new approach to government, one that puts service to all American people at its center," the senior official said, noting that it will take time for the plans to be put into place.
"We really do see this as being a marathon as well as a sprint," they said. "This is going to take a long, sustained effort across the interagency, across the broader equity community to close these critical gaps."
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