Racial Equity

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RAND research has addressed racial equity from several angles. Studies have explored such topics as disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system, unequal economic opportunities and barriers to employment for people of color, the achievement gap between minority and nonminority students, and how differences in access to quality health care can affect individual and community health and well-being.

  • Graduates of City College of New York (CCNY) at its 169th commencement ceremony on June 3, 2022, photo by Erik McGregor/Sipa USA/Reuters

    Tool

    How Does Racial Bias Compound Over Time?

    Jul 27, 2022

    Even small amounts of racial bias in education, income, and wealth can compound over time to create significant differences in outcomes. A new tool illustrates how varying degrees of bias can add up to large inequities over lifetimes and generations.

  • Aerial map image by Google Earth

    Essay

    Environmental Racism: How Historic Redlining Continues to Affect Communities

    Jun 27, 2022

    Starting in the 1930s, neighborhoods across America were redlined—marked on government maps as too hazardous, as in, too Black or too immigrant, for federal home loans. When zoning officials needed somewhere to put a new factory or freeway, those redlined neighborhoods were like a bullseye that they hit again and again.

Explore Racial Equity

  • Customers are served at the Destiny USA mall during the reopening as COVID-19 restrictions are eased in Syracuse, New York, July 10, 2020, photo by Maranie Staab/Reuters

    Commentary

    How Much Do Americans Value Their Health During the Pandemic?

    Do Americans believe that limiting the spread of COVID-19 justifies the social and economic costs of physical-distancing measures? Researchers conducted a survey to better understand how Americans weigh health against other priorities.

    Oct 29, 2020

  • A family wearing masks while unloading their groceries, photo by RyanJLane/Getty Images

    Report

    American Health Attitudes During COVID-19

    In a survey including people of color and those with low- to moderate-incomes, most prioritized health even when it implies limitations to their liberty and to the economy. But white and non-white respondents differed when weighing the risk of getting COVID-19 with opening the economy or protesting injustice.

    Oct 29, 2020

  • Journal Article

    Journal Article

    Integration of Well-Being with Resilience and Other Broad Scale Social Change

    This book is a combination of scientific papers, case studies from the field, and excerpts from a lively, multidisciplinary discussion which intentionally connects issues of measurement to the imperative for action.

    Oct 22, 2020

  • An empty courtroom with judge's gavel in foreground. Photo by imaginima / Getty Images

    Journal Article

    Sentencing Scorecards: Reducing Racial Disparities in Prison Sentences at Their Source

    Scorecards are a common tool for public policy decisionmaking, but none highlight racial disparities in incarceration. We constructed county-level scorecards for racial disparities in incarceration rates for the NY State Permanent Commission on Sentencing.

    Oct 21, 2020

  • Petty Officer 1st Class Steven Huerta hoists two children from their rooftop into a Coast Guard rescue helicopter after flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, LA, August 29, 2005, photo by Senior Chief Petty Officer Kyle Niemi/U.S. Coast Guard

    Commentary

    HSOAC Hosts Seminar Series on Improving Equity in Disaster Policy

    Natural and biological hazards, and critically the human response to these hazards, have the potential not only to exacerbate existing population inequities but also to create them. To better understand the equity implications of disaster policies, the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center invited several experts to share their knowledge.

    Oct 7, 2020

  • A group of people stacking their hands together, photo by pixelfit/Getty Images

    Multimedia

    RAND Remote Series: Advancing Racial Equity Policy

    In this video conversation, RAND's Anita Chandra and Benjamin Preston discuss RAND's efforts to address the challenges of racial equity from a variety of angles—and options for converting research into action.

    Oct 6, 2020

  • A woman looks for information on the application for unemployment support at the New Orleans Office of Workforce Development in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 13, 2020, photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters

    Commentary

    Laid Off More, Hired Less: Black Workers in the COVID-19 Recession

    As the U.S. economy tries to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are adding workers to their teams, yet one group is being picked last: Black workers. Getting back into a job later could do lasting harm to millions of Black Americans' incomes and wealth accumulation for years.

    Sep 29, 2020

  • Array of portraits of a diverse group of doctors, photo by JohnnyGreig/Getty Images

    Commentary

    When It Comes to U.S. Health Systems—Diversity Matters

    Health care systems are a powerful and relatively well-resourced stakeholder in the effort to eliminate inequities both among the health workforce and among patient populations. The deliberate practice of increasing diversity within the workplace may have the power to create significant, positive impacts on workplace culture and patient care.

    Sep 25, 2020

  • Periodical

    Periodical

    RAND Review: September-October 2020

    Feature stories explore how Pardee RAND is helping to shape the future of public policy through its Faculty Leaders Program; the safety and sustainability of the U.S. blood supply; and how telemedicine is changing the delivery of health care.

    Sep 8, 2020

  • Blog

    The Evidence on Kids and COVID-19, China's Use of Big Data, Telemedicine: RAND Weekly Recap

    This weekly recap focuses on what we know (and what we don't) about kids and COVID-19, how China is using big data, the future of telemedicine, and more.

    Sep 4, 2020

  • Young Asian boy using laptop with headphones, photo by allensima/Getty Images

    Commentary

    Learning from School Leaders About SEL During a Time of Crisis

    It would be easy for social and emotional learning to fall by the wayside as school leaders work to address students' health, safety, and learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. Policymakers and funders should take seriously the perspectives and concerns that school leaders have shared.

    Sep 4, 2020

  • Shearon Roberts at Pardee RAND's Faculty Leaders Program in July 2018, photo by Diane Baldwin/RAND Corporation

    Blog

    Pardee RAND's Faculty Leaders Program: Shaping the Future of Public Policy

    To be effective, public policy needs to reflect the aspirations, lives, and perspectives of the people it serves. The Pardee RAND Graduate School seeks to build diversity in public policy by engaging faculty leaders from U.S. colleges and universities committed to serving students of color.

    Sep 3, 2020

  • An illustration of people from diverse racial backgrounds. Image by Lyubov Ivanova / Getty Images

    Content

    RAND Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy

    RAND's Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy supports a portfolio of innovative, high-impact racial equity research and analysis, creates a clearinghouse to help coordinate related efforts, and collaborates with organizations dedicated to advancing racial equity.

    Aug 25, 2020

  • Blog

    L.A.'s High Unemployment, RAND's New Research Center, Twitter: RAND Weekly Recap

    This weekly recap focuses on unemployment in the Los Angeles area, the new RAND Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy, food consumption in the UK, and more.

    Aug 14, 2020

  • Multi-ethnic arms raised in the air on dark gray background, photo by Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images

    Announcement

    RAND Launches Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy

    Against the backdrop of a pandemic inflicting disproportionate physical and economic pain on communities of color, and an overdue reckoning with America's long history of systemic inequity and structural racism, the RAND Corporation is launching the RAND Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy.

    Aug 12, 2020

  • A young Black boy writing at a table, photo by kali9/Getty Images

    Commentary

    Elevating Equity in Los Angeles Juvenile and Criminal Justice Reform

    At age 13, Black children are placed in juvenile detention at nearly 3.5 times the rate of white children. By age 17, that ratio increases to 4.5 to 1. And the trend continues into adulthood. Without ongoing attention and deliberate policies and programs, injustices are likely to persist.

    Aug 12, 2020

  • People socially distance as they protest in support of laid-off hotel workers without health care amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Los Angeles, California, July 23, 2020, photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

    Commentary

    L.A. Has the Nation's Highest Unemployment. For Some Groups, It's Even Worse Than That.

    Los Angeles and its neighboring counties are among the areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 recession. The shockingly high average unemployment rates only tell part of the story, however. For the poor and some racial and ethnic groups, the jobs picture is far worse.

    Aug 6, 2020

  • A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy stands watch at Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles, California, October 3, 2012, photo by Jason Redmond/Reuters

    Commentary

    An Uncertain Future for Jail Reform in Los Angeles

    There is momentum in Los Angeles County to do the difficult work of criminal justice reform. This will take considerable investments of time and resources, as well as a commitment to implementing new strategies and evaluating their effectiveness along the way.

    Jul 21, 2020

  • People watch as crews take down the statue to Confederate general Stonewall Jackson in Richmond, Virginia, July 1, 2020, photo by Julia Rendleman/Reuters

    Commentary

    Confederate Statues Symbolize the Role of Racism in America

    Monuments are public art and symbols important to those who hold power. The renewed debate about monuments to historical figures associated with the Confederacy is part of the larger debate about the role of racism in the United States and the treatment of African Americans by institutions.

    Jul 16, 2020

  • Whitney Maddox and DeShaun Bradford stand in line with hundreds of others outside a career center in Frankfort, Kentucky, hoping for assistance with their unemployment claim, June 18, 2020, photo by Bryan Woolston/Reuters

    Commentary

    The Racial Disparity in Unemployment Benefits

    Economic racial inequality in America cannot be solved through unemployment insurance, but it certainly shouldn't be exacerbated by it. And yet, Black workers are less financially supported during unemployment, simply by virtue of where they live.

    Jul 15, 2020

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