People, Access and Culture
DHS Equity Policy
The policy commits the Minnesota Department of Human Services to operate as an antiracist, multicultural, and intercultural organization, to put an equity lens on its actions, and to use the Equity Analysis Toolkit before work that lasts or needs leadership approval is final.
- Official text
- Read the policy (PDF)
What the policy names
Antiracist
Racial equity is defined as measurable change in the lives of people of color: an outcome in the work, not a values paragraph.
Multicultural
Programs, notices, and channels are built for the languages, households, and communities that actually use them.
Intercultural
Staff can see who a process was built for, in language, disability, culture, nationhood, and place, and change the work when it does not reach them.
What it asks of staff
- Apply an equity lens to decisions, budgets, hires, technology changes, contracts, and service design.
- Use the current official Equity Analysis Toolkit and User Guide to determine the required review. A short timeline alone does not establish that an equity scan is sufficient.
- Name who benefits and who is burdened, look at the data, hear the people who live with the result, and date an accountable role.
- Route civil rights, Tribal consultation, and labor relations through their formal paths. The toolkit does not replace them.
Learn it, use it, see it
The Equity Strategic Framework connects this policy to everyday decisions and follow-through.
1. Learn
The toolkit companion
Five learning stages and a fictional example, with the official toolkit and related resources.
Open the companion2. Use
Toolkit Studio
Try the eight practice questions with a published example, then download a copy for your own work.
Open Toolkit Studio3. See
Return to the policy
Use the official policy and Equity Analysis Tool when you need to check the requirements or method.
Read the policy (PDF)