Executive Order on Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden (D-DE) charged the federal government with advancing equity for all, including communities that have long been underserved, and addressing systemic racism in our Nation’s policies and programs. In this new executive order, the President extends and strengthens equity-advancing requirements for agencies, and positions agencies to deliver better outcomes for the American people. The order calls for:

• Federal departments and agencies to establish Agency Equity Teams to coordinate the implementation of equity initiatives and ensure that their respective agencies are delivering equitable outcomes for the American people. 
• The creation of the White House Steering Committee on Equity to coordinate government-wide efforts to advance equity.
• Agency heads to support ongoing implementation of a comprehensive equity strategy that uses the agency’s policy, budgetary, programmatic, service-delivery, procurement, data-collection processes, grantmaking, public engagement, research and evaluation, and regulatory functions to enable the agency’s mission and service delivery to yield equitable outcomes for all Americans, including underserved communities. 
• Agencies to increase engagement with underserved communities by identifying and applying innovative approaches to improve the quality, frequency, and accessibility of engagement. 
• Creating Economic Opportunity in Rural America and Advancing Urban Equitable Development.
• Agencies to comprehensively use their respective civil rights authorities and offices to prevent and address discrimination and advance equity for all, including to increase the effects of civil rights enforcement and to increase public awareness of civil rights principles, consistent with applicable law. 
• Agencies consider opportunities to prevent and remedy discrimination, including by protecting the public from algorithmic discrimination.