RAND Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy Projects

RAND’s work is on racial equity policy is growing and extends across disciplines and research areas. A slate of RAND-initiated work has is underway addressing critical policy questions in education, environmental policy, health care, the justice system, military service members and veterans, and national security.

Current Projects

• Addressing Racial Disparities in the Military Justice System

  Investigate why Black service members in the U.S. Air Force are more likely to face disciplinary action and the consequences of these disparities. Led by Shamena Anwar, Brandon Crosby, and Nelson Lim.

• Assessing the Impact of Military Service on the Lives of Black Americans

  Assess the downstream consequences of military service on the lives of Black service members and veterans, including both the positive and negative effects on health, economic, and/or psychosocial factors. Led by Tepring Piquado, Stephanie Holliday, Samantha McBirney, and Thomas Trail.

• Closing the Wealth Gap by Race

  This effort is anchored through the lens of reparations, with a fresh look at policy options and as a broader concept that recognizes that the government has played an active role in creating black-white economic disparity, in particular, and therefore could play an active role in reducing it. Led by Kathryn Edwards and Jonathan Welburn.

• Creating Operational Advantage Through Military Diversity

  Explore how greater diversity in the armed forces—including diversity in race and ethnicity, gender, physical ability, and skill set—can create strategic opportunities for military organizations. Led by Ben Caves and Marek Posard.

• Creating Healthier Environments for All

  There are racial disparities in exposure to environmental hazards in the United States. We are identifying policy interventions and creating an interactive visualization tool that can be used to promote environmental equity. Led by Jaime Madrigano and Benjamin Preston.

• Developing Data Analysis Best Practices for Diversity Research

  Develop and disseminate a best practice guide for data analysis in diversity research, including how to appropriately create benchmarks to inform social disparities, the use of equivalent groupings to formally test hypotheses of racial bias, and the use of model interpretation and disaggregation to inform systematic mechanisms of bias that may be influenced by policy levers. Led by Lou Mariano.

• Ensuring technology is Fair and Equitable Across All Sectors

  RAND is developing software and a toolkit for identifying biases within existing machine learning algorithms and for adjusting those algorithms’ output to minimize any racial inequities resulting from their use. This work extends across military and civilian sectors. Led by Irineo Cabreros and Joshua Snoke.

• Illustrating the Compound Effect of Racism and Bias

  Create a web-based tool to illustrate the counterintuitive way that even apparently small amounts of racism or bias can compound over time to create significant disparities in outcomes. Led by James Anderson and Rachel Perera.

• Minority-Owned Businesses and the Defense Industrial Base

  Fuse disparate data sources on federal contracting and interfirm supply chain connections to build an authoritative database of minority business ownership in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). Led by Jon Schmid and Jonathan Welburn.

• Mitigating Vaccine Hesitancy Among Black Americans

  Conduct community-engaged research to determine trusted sources and messages for COVID-19 information for Black Americans, who are more likely to be diagnosed with, and to die from Covid-19. Led by Laura Bogart and Lu Dong.

• Preventing Identity-Based Violence

  Leverage two of RAND's distinct capabilities—RAND-LEX and the Dark Web Observatory—to identify catalysts for radicalization among white supremacists. Led by Heather Williams and Alexandra Evans.

• Promoting Positive Outcomes for Incarcerated Parents and their Children

  Investigate prison-based programs for incarcerated parents that can promote positive outcomes for both the parents and their minor children and reduce racial inequities. Led by Dionne Barnes-Proby, Celia Gomez, and Monica Williams.

• Rooting Out Bias in the Educational System

  We are experimentally testing the extent to which principals’ racial biases are a root cause of racial discipline disparities among students of color. Led by Andrew McEachin and Rachel Perera.

• Supporting Equity-Focused Program Evaluation

  Develop a tool that can help address racial and ethnic inequities by providing program evaluators with the resources needed to measure and contextualize systemic or structural inequities in the programs and services offered in communities. Led by Stephanie Brooks Holliday and Dionne Barnes-Proby.