Six Greater Boston communities will receive technical assistance to create and begin to implement racial equity action plans over the next year.

The towns of Bedford, Natick, and Stoughton and cities of Framingham, Lynn, and Revere will participate in the Racial Equity Municipal Action Plan (REMAP) program, a collaboration between MAPC, the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (FRBB).

MAPC, GARE, and FRBB received 22 applications for this first round of the REMAP program. Applications were evaluated on criteria including a commitment to implementation, ability to measure or quantify improvements, a commitment to regional collaboration, and valuing racial equity.

Communities across the state and the country are grappling with the daily impacts of the racial wealth divide, unequal law enforcement, and segregation. The public is raising critical questions about municipal hiring, decision-making, and funding priorities. Cities and towns are looking for ways to address racism transparently and effectively. But it's sometimes difficult to identify the ways to address the root causes of inequality, and strong differences of opinion within individual communities may bar the way to progress. That’s why MAPC, GARE, and the FRBB created the REMAP program to support communities as they grapple with these difficult topics.

The first four months of the year-long program will focus on training, reflection, and self-assessment. In the final eight months, each municipality will develop a racial equity municipal action plan and begin to implement elements of the plan. If successful, the program will help municipalities achieve tangible community-level economic and administration improvements and address institutional and structural policies and practices that contribute to racial inequity.

Want to learn more? Check out the REMAP webpage or email Raúl González at [email protected].