Equity committees and unit equity teams are common in Minnesota state government, and they are easy to set up badly. A group forms with energy, meets monthly, generates ideas, and a year later members cannot say what changed or who was supposed to act. Most of these problems trace back to an unclear purpose and unclear decision rights, not to the people involved.
Start with context. Governor Walz's first executive order created the One Minnesota Council on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, and a later order replaced that first order, renewing the council alongside the Governor's Community Council on Inclusion and Equity. That later order refers to agency-specific equity plans and a statewide long-range plan, with annual reporting to the Governor. Executive orders can be changed by future governors, so check the current order before citing it. Within DHS, the agency's published equity policy has called for equity committees in each administration to advise leadership and for equity analysis of legislative proposals. Your committee sits inside this landscape: it helps the agency carry out commitments that leaders are already accountable for, rather than inventing a parallel mission.
A charter makes the group's role explicit. At minimum it should state the purpose in one or two sentences, the scope (which division, unit or program), membership and terms, how members are selected, meeting time and whether it is paid work time, the executive sponsor, how decisions are made, how the group reports and to whom, and when the charter will be reviewed. It should also state what the group does not do. An equity committee does not investigate complaints, decide accommodations, handle grievances, conduct Tribal consultation or give legal advice. Those belong to the Equal Opportunity and Access Division, Human Resources, labor relations, the ADA coordinator, the Tribal liaison and legal counsel. Knowing when to refer is one of the most valuable things a committee can do.
Decision rights are the heart of the charter. For each kind of work, say whether the group decides, recommends, is consulted or is informed. A unit equity team might decide its own meeting agenda and training topics, recommend changes to a notice template, be consulted on a hiring process redesign and be informed of budget decisions. Writing this down protects members from being blamed for decisions they never controlled and protects leaders from surprise when a recommendation arrives.
