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.