MontgomeryCountyMD.GOV

The Mission

The Mission of the Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice is to reduce and eliminate racial disparities and inequities in Montgomery County.

Contact Us

Director: Tiffany Ward
Address: 101 Monroe Street, Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 240-777-5334
MPIA Contact: [email protected]
Administrative Specialist II: Andrea Gardner, [email protected]
Program Manager, Training: Jeanette Rojas, [email protected]
Program Manager, Policy Analyst: Sarah Alvarez, [email protected]
Program Manager, Policy Analyst: Rhiannon Reeves, [email protected]
Program Manager, Policy Analyst: Linda Price, [email protected]
Program Manager, Community Engagement: Harriet Shangarai, [email protected]
Program Manager, Performance Management and Data Analyst: Colette Tano, [email protected]

The Purpose

The Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice (ORESJ) is a county-wide office focused on advancing racial equity and dismantling structural racism within County Government. The ORESJ was created in December of 2019 by The Racial Equity and Social Justice Act to help reduce and ultimately eliminate racial and other disparities experienced by residents of color across Montgomery County. We do this by supporting County Departments in normalizing conversations on race and other equity issues, organizing staff to work together for transformational change, and operationalizing new practices, policies and procedures that are equity centered.impact plans.

We have been given the charge of facilitating the Racial Equity and Social Justice Committee, training County staff and Equity Leads, and conducting department-wide Equity Assessments to assist every department in creating Racial Equity Action Plans.

The Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice recognizes that it will take transformational shifts within government to truly address disparities experienced by communities of color and low-income communities, and therefore we focus our efforts on building capacity within the government to understand what it takes to advance racial equity within every County Department. We believe that equity is everyone's job, and our office provides training, technical assistance and tools to all of our County Departments and the staff.

Background

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced" – James Baldwin

At first glance Montgomery County appears to be a bastion of wealth and opportunity. In fact, until very recently Montgomery County was the richest county in Maryland. Upon closer examination we found revealing disparities in education, housing, transportation, poverty and income.

Data only partially helps us to understand these disparities, as a County government and as a community we need to center the lived experiences of members of communities of color. We must take an honest look at history, systems and institutions to analyze how disproportionality exists across all sectors and issue areas.

We will take a systems approach to our analysis ridding ourselves of the myth that individual people are the problem. We must understand that people are not the problem, it is the systems and institutions (including government), and the policies and practices that they have created, perpetuated and maintained that lead to these outcomes.