Social Equity in Public Administration: A Call to Action

Abstract

This article presents a “Call to Action” Social Equity Manifesto developed at the Minnowbrook at 50 conference. The Social Equity Manifesto identifies several critical areas of emphasis that can help move toward the achievement of social equity in the research, teaching, and practice of public administration. Regarding research, we discuss the presence of social equity manuscripts in PAR, JPART, and ATP. Interestingly, the coverage of class inequality is low across all three journals. However, a clear research strength is the plurality of methodological and theoretical approaches. In terms of teaching, all of the NASPAA social equity award winning public affairs programs in the United States offer multiple courses that provide intentional coverage of social equity. With respect to practice in the United States, inequities exist across multiple policy areas. Programs and policies ranging from nondiscrimination to diversity management are discussed. In essence, exposing students to social equity perspectives within the context of public administration curricula can make PA graduates more responsive to the needs of all people.

Social Equity and COVID‐19: The Case of African Americans

“…As the importance of effective public administration amid COVID‐19 grows, so too must the discipline's commitment to advancing social equity through public policy creation and implementation—particularly for populations, such as African Americans, disproportionately affected by this global pandemic. As Blessett et al (2019, 296) state, public administration scholars and practitioners “must engage in intentional, active, and ethical efforts to serve and safeguard all people, especially the most vulnerable in our society.” In this sense, the discipline's commitment to crafting equitable responses to COVID‐19 to uplift African Americans is an ethical imperative. We hope the preliminary strategies offered in this article not only advance this imperative in practice but foster additional scholarship and dialogue on issues at the intersection of social equity, COVID‐19, and the African American community.…”

Stepping up to the plate: Making social equity a priority in public administration’s troubled times

“…While the nation struggles with a convergence of these two crises, COVID-19 and police brutality, the ASPA Section on Democracy and Social Justice (DSJ) released the statement shown in Table 1. This statement was influenced by the discussion of Minnowbrook 50 in which scholars developed a call to action noting the responsibility of everyone in the field to promote social equity (Blessett et al, 2019). With increasing public attention around issues of racism and inequities across policy domains, all in public administration must boldly speak truth to power and take responsibility for making positive change.…”

LGBTQ+ Civil Rights: Local Government Efforts in a Volatile Era

“…Equality, as the debate on civil rights and affirmative action in the United States shows, has been interpreted increasingly as formal equality—as part of a right not to be treated differently—rather than as substantive equality—oriented toward the achievement of equality of outcomes for structurally disadvantaged communities (Grigolo 2017). While the importance of promoting social equity is salient and well documented in the literature (Blessett, Fudge, and Gaynor 2017; Gooden 2017), research on government action pertaining specifically to the LGBTQ+ community is extremely limited and tends to focus on the federal government. This literature review is divided into three sections: the public value of social equity; municipalities promoting civil rights generally; and municipalities promoting LGBTQ+ civil rights specifically.…”