Leadership & Culture

●      HRAC will be actively transparent about our goals and vision for centering Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) through our platform. This will be communicated in a straightforward manner through our website, contractual agreements (MOU, LOI), grant proposals, and to BIPOC future and current participants.

●      HRAC will prioritize a diverse applicant pool including applicants from the communities we serve, applicants from communities disproportionately impacted by the drug war are heavily encouraged. hiring BIPOC staff and provide opportunities for BIPOC involvement through volunteer and internship opportunities. Our commitment to BIPOC fulfillment as HRAC team members will be recognized through opportunities for leadership and growth within the organization.

●      As part of the recruitment and hiring process, HRAC will include interview questions that assess individuals’ racial equity lens. A candidate’s ability to demonstrate an advanced understanding of social determinants of health and racial equity will be prioritized in hiring.

●      As part of the recruitment and hiring process, HRAC will emphasize the importance of lived experience and hiring communities most impacted by the drug war, and work experience/ability over educational attainment or institutional credentials

Representation & Support Systems

●      Visual representations of BIPOC in HRAC videos, publications, social media, and all other materials

●      HRAC will highlight BIPOC, Spanish-speaking, and immigrant centered drug user health resources. HRAC will develop a system by which participants can provide feedback if a resource is lacking in cultural competence for the purpose of improving our resource descriptions.

●      Content creation by BIPOC people who use drugs for BIPOC people who use drugs is prioritized and resourced financially when lacking.

●      Both publicly facing and infrastructure systems within HRAC are staffed by BIPOC including but not limited to board members, advisory members, participant support staff including service providers, and system technologists.

●      HRAC will actively seek out BIPOC harm reduction partnerships, affiliates, and leadership. HRAC will provide infrastructure and support for outside groups to be involved in HRAC leadership and to incorporate their own work within the HRAC platform.

Infrastructure & Resource Allocation

●      HRAC will focus resource distribution within BIPOC communities. This includes ongoing assessments of if HRAC is holistically reaching BIPOC communities, and if those people who are being served believe they are being centered, resourced, and supported through our platform.

●      HRAC incorporates an ongoing process of evaluation to assess if we are succeeding in supporting BIPOC that use drugs. The process is intended to regularly evolve and focus on emerging needs. Generation for measures of improvement will be solicited from HRAC PWID Advisory Committee and participants on a rolling basis. The evaluation process will include steps for goal attainment.

●      HRAC will prioritize racial equity infrastructure and practice including training, supervision, accountability exercises, written communication, evaluation measures, and outreach activities.

●      HRAC will prioritize funding opportunities by grantors who display equitable principles by 2024. 

●      The orientation process for new team members will emphasize HRAC’s commitment to racial equity in our practice.