Racial Equity Committee Meeting - April 28, 2026: Approval of SCORE Work Plan
Racial Equity Committee Meeting – April 28, 2026
This special meeting of the Sacramento City Council's Racial Equity Committee was held on April 28, 2026, from 9:08 a.m. to 9:35 a.m. in the Council Chamber. The committee approved the minutes from the March 3, 2026 meeting and, after a presentation and public testimony, unanimously approved the Sacramento Centered on Racial Equity (SCORE) Work Plan, which aims to operationalize racial equity across the city.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of March 3, 2026 Minutes: A motion to approve the minutes passed 3-0 (Member Guerra absent). The minutes were adopted without discussion.
Public Comments & Testimony
Three members of the public spoke on the SCORE Work Plan:
- Lambert Davis: Expressed skepticism about the city’s sincerity and the pace of equity work, questioned who was included in the community leader forum, and asked about the $250,000 equity study (who received it and whether it was sole-sourced). He also noted the current federal administration’s efforts to abolish DEI, suggesting the city may be using that as an excuse to delay.
- Malachi Amen (Executive Director, Urban Partnership; founding member, Racial Equity Alliance): Thanked the committee and staff, emphasized that equity work requires continuous commitment and resources, and noted that the Alliance has volunteered for years without pay.
- Tiffany Wilson (Member, Racial Equity Alliance): Made three requests: (1) approve the SCORE Work Plan, (2) spread the work across all city administration and council, and (3) provide funding despite the budget deficit. She argued that addressing equity upstream prevents downstream problems like homelessness and economic instability.
Discussion Items
Sacramento Centered on Racial Equity (SCORE) Work Plan Aimée Zenzele Barnes, Diversity & Equity Manager, presented the updated work plan. Key points:
- The plan is iterative and was shaped by input from a community leader forum (February 24, 2026) and the Racial Equity Alliance.
- Three major questions from the March committee meeting were addressed: (1) funding – two current commitments exist: $54,000 remaining from a 2022 Race Forward contract and $250,000 allocated in 2023 for a historical racial equity analysis and equity study; (2) community organization roles – as co-designers, implementation partners, and accountability stewards; (3) long-term infrastructure – the city faces a structural budget deficit, but staff are exploring creative resourcing and partnership strategies.
- Barnes clarified that the $250,000 has not yet been spent and will be reallocated to support Phase 1 of the SCORE plan, going through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process.
Committee members discussed the plan. Chair Vang acknowledged the budget constraints and requested an update on the timeline for the racial equity resolution (which had a deadline tied to the work plan) at the next committee meeting in June 2026.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to Approve SCORE Work Plan: Moved by Councilmember Guerra, seconded by Councilmember Jennings. The motion passed unanimously (4-0). The plan is adopted as the start to operationalize racial equity in the city.
- Future Action: Chair Vang requested that staff provide a status update on the racial equity resolution timeline at the June 2026 Racial Equity Committee meeting.
- No other items were discussed or acted upon.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. I like to call our racial equity committee uh meeting to order at 9 10. Um clerk, would you call the role to establish quorum? Thank you, Chair. Vice Chair Telamantes. Member Gareth is currently absent, member Jennings. And Chair Banks. I am here. Um I will lead the land acknowledgement, and Councilmember Jennings, would you help us with the Pledge of Allegiance? Thank you so much. Please rise if you are able. To the original people of this land, the Nissanon people, the Southern Maidu, Valley and Plains Mewak, Putwin and Winti Peoples, and the people of Walton Rancheria, Sacramento's only federally recognized tribe. May we acknowledge and honor the native people who came before us and still walk besides today on these ancestral lands by choosing to gather in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's indigenous peoples, history, contributions, and lives. Thank you. Will we please remain standing and salute? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which you stand. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Councilmember Jennings. We have one item on consent, our racial equity meeting committee meeting minutes. Uh clerk, do we have any comments on these items on this item? Thank you, Chair. I have no speaker slips for the consent calendar. Okay. Is there a motion on the floor? There's a motion. Okay, move by Councilmember Jennings. I'll second that item. Um all in favor? Okay, that item passes. Uh, do we have any public open public comments? Is this or for item two, Chair? Or just open public comments. Oh, for matters not on the agenda. I have no speaker slips on the agenda. Thank you so much. We will move to item number two on the discussion calendar. This is the Sacramento Center on Racial Equity Score Work Plan, and Ami will present. Thank you so much. Okay. Good morning. Um members of the Racial Equity Committee and those online. Uh Ami Zenzelay Barnes, uh, diversity and equity manager, pronouns are she and they. I'm here to um provide some background, a little grounding, and then uh the city manager's response uh to the request uh from the last meeting on March 30th, and round out with a recommendation to approve um the score work plan. So just want to ground us in in January 21st um at our racial equity committee. Uh we learned from the Racial Equity Alliance uh and their feedback and vision around uh the score work plan that we have been working on since the fall. Um really want to just emphasize uh a couple of things that this is a roadmap, the score work plan. It's iterative, it's going to emerge, it's going to be shaped by our uh partnership. There's shift in language from urgency to sustained commitment. Um the work plan is to help break down silos and center the human experience of our Sacramento community.
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