Supporting LA County’s Transformation into an Actively Anti-Racist Institution | FUSE

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FUSE is a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the capacity of local governments to engage communities, advance racial equity, and work more effectively for everyone.
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The FUSE Model centers around a one-year full-time public service role in city or county government and includes three primary phases from start to finish.
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FUSE Executive Fellows and Alumni are experienced leaders committed to advancing equity through action-oriented partnerships with government agencies.
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The pandemic highlighted systemic racism in Los Angeles County, particularly in communities of color. The government has committed to not just recovering from COVID-19 but also transforming the system entirely. The Board of Supervisors has declared racism a public health emergency and established an Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Equity (ARDI) Initiative to fight systemic racism. The Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office (CEO) is partnering with FUSE to host an Executive Fellow to lead a training and education initiative to build a movement toward racial equity in County departments and programs.

The CEO first partnered with FUSE to host an Executive Fellow for one year who supported the Executive Director in building out a comprehensive strategic plan for the initiative. Building from that initial work, FUSE Executive Fellow TeNita Ballard will lead the initiative to create positive change in the culture and climate around diversity, equity, and inclusion in LA County. TeNita will design and implement an education, training, monitoring, and evaluation strategy and develop metrics, baselines, and benchmarks for progress. She will use data from the Government Alliance on Race & Equity survey to identify cross-cutting themes and gaps that can be scaled Countywide. The ultimate goal is to make the County an actively anti-racist institution.

TENITA BALLARD is an experienced leader who blends corporate and entrepreneurial know-how, boasting 18+ years advising top executives on HR strategy, risk management, and more at companies like AT&T, DIRECTV, and Coca Cola. At Intel, TeNita served as a Global HR D&I Partner, where she was responsible for guiding the development and implementation of D&I initiatives across the organization. TeNita holds an MBA in Business Administration and BA in Psychology. She's a member of LAAAWPPI and a USC Adjunct Professor.

Spring 2023 FUSE Executive Fellow TeNita Ballard

Los Angeles County - Chief Executive Office

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